The Toronto Maple Leafs finally exorcised the postseason demons that have haunted the storied franchise for nearly two decades with a 2-1 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday to reach the second round of the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs.
John Tavares scored the series winner when he took the puck from behind the Lightning net, skated in front before making a quick turnaround and unleashed a shot that went in off Tampa Bay defender Darren Raddysh's skate.
Toronto's last postseason series win came long before the arrival of gifted goal scorer Matthews , explosive winger Mitch Marner and durable captain Tavares . "It's a little bit of a relief for sure just to be able to get that done," Marner said. "But got to make sure we're ready because it just gets harder and harder."
Toronto opened the scoring with about six minutes left in the second period when Matthews unleashed a slapshot from the right faceoff circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy.
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