Montreal Canadiens centre Nick Suzuki scores the game winning goal on Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell during overtime NHL Stanley Cup playoff action in Toronto on May 27, 2021.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The Maple Leafs will have to wait for another chance to win their first playoff series in 17 years after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Canadiens on Thursday at Scotiabank Arena. Toronto rallied from 3-0 down to send the game to sudden death, but Montreal staved off elimination and set up a sixth game between the long-time rivals on Saturday at the Bell Centre.
Nick Suzuki beat Toronto goalie Jack Campbell on a 2-on-0, with an assist from Cole Caufield 59 seconds into extra time for the Canadiens. A give-away by Alex Galchenyuk led to the winning goal.
‘”I just have to make the save on that,” Campbell said. “I was a little aggressive. I will learn from it.”
After winning the opener, the Canadiens lost three successive times and still trail the best-of-seven series 3-2. Saturday’s game will be the first in well over a year in which either team will play before fans. Approximately 2,500 spectators will be allowed in Montreal’s home rink.
Toronto’s last series-clinching victory was on April 20, 2004, at Air Canada Centre when they earned a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of the conference quarter-finals.
The Winnipeg Jets await the winner of Toronto-Montreal after their surprise sweep of Connor McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers in the North Division’s other first-round matchup.
“It’s tough to close a team out,” Campbell said. He stopped 26 of 30 shots. “They came out hard. I thought we pushed back. We played well enough to win. I just can’t give up three [goals] in regulation. I’ve got to be better and I will be.”
The Canadiens scored only four goals in the first four games and had just two in the previous three. But Joel Armia scored twice in a span of a little more than three minutes in the first period to stake them to an early lead. Those were the first two goals of the series for Armia. Don’t even try to figure it out; there is no logic to hockey.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a goal just shy of five minutes into the second to make it 3-0, and then the Maple Leafs staged a furious rally. Zach Hyman got one back on a short backhand, with 13:38 remaining in the second, and then Jake Muzzin scored on a one-timer and a deflection five minutes apart in the third.
The defenceman had four goals in 53 games during the COVID-shortened regular season. Then, quickly two. Again, no logic.
“They were much more desperate than us in the first period and I think it showed,” Auston Matthews, Toronto’s star centre, said. “I’m proud of the way that we fought back and battled and gave ourselves a chance, [but] we came up short.”
Matthews, who led the National Hockey League with 41 goals during the regular season, has one through five playoff games. Mitch Marner, who was second on the team with 20, is yet to score.
William Nylander, who had goals in each of the first four contests, was held off the scoreboard for the first time. He needed a goal in a fifth straight on Thursday to equal the franchise postseason record established in 1993 by Dave Andreychuk.
Nylander had several dangerous chances, including two that were thwarted by Montreal goalie Carey Price in the final 40 seconds of the first period. Price stopped 32 of 35 shots while giving his team a chance to even things up on its home ice on Saturday. If necessary, a seventh game would be played in Toronto on Monday.
Maple Leafs captain John Tavares skates for first time since suffering injury in Game 1
Toronto captain John Tavares was on hand for the first time since he suffered a concussion and knee injury in the series opener seven days earlier. He skated for the first time since then on Thursday, but it is unknown when he can return to the lineup. For sure, it won’t be against the Canadiens.
The Maple Leafs have two more chances to do what they have been unable to achieve in such a long time that it actually spans parts of three decades. They have been eliminated in the first round in three of the past four years, and were knocked out of the Stanley Cup qualifying tournament in 2020.
Montreal surprised the Pittsburgh Penguins in last year’s qualifying round, but then lost in six games to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Canadiens played their best game of this series on Thursday, with elimination only a loss away.
“I just thought Montreal came out real hard, not unlike game one, and we didn’t deal with that well,” Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto coach, said. “We got ourselves in a hole. We’re a good team. We look at the two games that we’ve lost, and we haven’t played nearly at our best, yet in both we were right there. When we have played well, we’ve been in control.
“We’ve got lots of reasons to be confident and lots of reasons to believe in our group. At the same time, we got another reminder today that Montreal is going to make it real difficult and that they’re a very good team.”
Muzzin, who won a Stanley Cup when he played for the Los Angeles Kings, was unusually terse after the defeat. He is usually one of the most amenable of players.
He said there is no time to dwell on mistakes. Forget about them, he said, and get ready for Saturday.
“We’ll be alright,” Muzzin said.