The Toronto Maple Leafs have finally beaten the insurmountable odds of advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Leafs forward and captain John Tavares, helped push Toronto over the Tampa Bay Lightning in game six. The Leafs have finally been able to break the 19 year long curse, that lasted over 17 seasons or 6,948 days to be exact.
With everyone’s jobs on the line and backs up against the wall in the Leafs front office, a lot of them will look to keep their jobs. If the Leafs fell short again this season they would be cleaning house, no matter who you are. Luckily for Head Coach Sheldon Keefe and General Manager Kyle Dubas, it looks like they will be sticking around.
Ilya Samsonov, was solid between the pipes all series. In the regular season he struggled in away games, but it was a different story come playoffs. In Tampa Bay, Samsonov was 3-0-0 with a .922 SV% only allowing 8 goals. Samsonov stopped 31-32 shots in Game 6, he was a big part of why the Leafs could advance for the first time since 2004. As the Leafs only had 22 shots in 3 and 1/2 periods.
As for the Tampa Bay Lightning, what a dynasty they have put together. Going to the Stanley Cup Finals for three-straight years and winning the Stanley Cup back-to-back during that stretch is remarkable. The last time the Lightning were eliminated in the first round was 2019 after being swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets, which proved almost anything can happen in the Playoffs. As that was the year the Lightning had the incredible year just like the Bruins this year…
Andrei Vasilevskiy, is not human. All though the Leafs got to him this year, he has put together some incredible records and stats himself. Vasilevskiy, holds the most playoff wins since 2019-20 with 50. As he holds a .921 SV% all time in the playoffs with 7 shutouts and has only allowed 264 goals in 110 games played. Championship teams are only successful when there goalies are playing their best and Vasilevskiy showed up every time during the Bolts three-year run.
The Last Time The Leafs Advanced Vs Now:
Number 1 Song:
Last: “Yeah” By Usher Ft. Lil’ John and Ludacris
Now: “Flowers” By Miley Cyrus
Top Movie (At Box Office):
Last: Kill Bill” Vol 2.
Now: The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Gas Prices:
Last: .76 Cents A Litre in Toronto
Now: 145.9 Cents A Litre in Toronto
brotherlypuck.com 