In Tampa, Nikita Kucherov scored in the third period for the Lightning on Thursday. The goal tied the game, 3-3, and forced overtime in Game 6 with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Brayden Point hit for the game-winner with less than two minutes left in the first extra session for a 4-3 win to Tampa, sending the series back to Toronto tied 3-3.
“[Brandon Hagel] does a good job to pick off the pass [and] driving the net is something we’ve tried to focus on this series,” Point said. “Hagel makes a great play to [Alex Killorn] and ‘Killer’ puts the puck on net. The rebound comes to me and, fortunately, it went in.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves in the Lightning win.
“We know all we did was buy ourselves another chance to keep our season going,” Point said. “Going into their building, their crowd has been rocking. They play really good there. We just want to focus on a good start and see what happens.”
John Tavares scored twice in the closing seconds of the middle frame to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead.
“Losing two in a row is never a good thing in the playoffs,” Tampa’s Victor Hedman said. “It’s been back and forth the whole series and now we’ve got to win coming off of a win. It was the best out of seven, then the best out of five, best out of three and now it’s the best out of one.”
Kucherov’s goal to tie the game in the third came off the power play.
“I’ve watched [the power play] do it a ton,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “You’re not going to score every single time, but clearly we needed it there. That was one we needed and ‘Kuch’ delivered.”
Game 7 ins Saturday in Toronto.
“Not a lot between the two teams, which is why you get it to overtime,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Loved how we played in overtime. We attacked, we had chances, plenty of opportunities to finish it, and really gave them nothing until they had the look, and they made good on their one look, so that’s the difference.”
Toronto trailed 0-2 in the game when Tampa got goals from Ondrej Palat in the first period, and Anthony Cirelli in the second period.
The Maple Leafs rallied with three straight goals in the period, starting with Auston Matthews cutting the deficit to 1-2.
“We had our chances, I thought,” Matthews said. “We did a lot of good things but, obviously, we couldn’t get the job done. We’re going back on home ice with another opportunity to close out a series, do or die, so I think the guys are excited about that, and I think we should be.”
Jack Campbell made 31 saves in the Maple Leafs loss.
“We just kept on competing, just kept our composure, and we just kept playing,” Tavares said. “We worked, got the lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out where we were able to hold it, but we stayed with it. We kept pushing, finding chances and opportunities. We had looks.”
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