New York. Nineteen years later, the curse is broken.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won their first playoff series since 2004 last night – with an already legendary overtime goal by John Tavares.
– After all the disappointments over the years, of course, it feels very special, says the champion after the 2-1 win that kicked Saturday night out of the decade at home in Toronto.
April 29, 2023 will be a classic date in Canada’s largest city.
Because that’s when a whole generation of Maple Leafs fans got to see their favorite win a run in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time.
It happened at Tampa’s Amalie Arena, against the longtime champion Lightning, when the first overtime period of game six lasted exactly four minutes and 36 seconds.
John Tavares grabbed the puck behind Tampa’s chest, went out to the left facing circle, quickly turned around and sent a quick shot – which somehow found its way past Andrei Vasilevsky.
Born and raised in Toronto
At the same time, a demon that had haunted Toronto for nearly two decades died — and soon after, reports came in from the authorities that central parts of the cosmopolitan city were absolutely packed with celebrating hockey fans.
– I was born and raised in Toronto and I know what that means, says Tavares when he meets the media after the decision.
After all the disappointments over the years, of course it’s great to be able to score this goal.
Superstar Auston Matthews shares the cheer.
– I can’t express how I felt when we got close so many times. When I entered the disc, how stress and anxiety decreased, he smiled.
– So we will enjoy this night, but at the same time it is only the first step in a long journey that we hope to have begun.
No Finals in Tampa
But the journey is over for Tampa. For the first time since 2019, they will not play in the Stanley Cup Final this year.
“It’s a hard pill for us to swallow, but I’m very proud of how we fought in this series,” says Victor Hedman.
– I think we loaded the game more for the long sequences, but it’s more about winning games and we only won two games. Congratulations to Toronto.
In theory, former winner Conn Smith is now available for the World Cup, but it’s clear he played injured in the qualifiers and certainly won’t be able to help the three titles in Riga.
For Toronto, a few rest days await and then a new series against Boston or Florida.