{"id":1921594,"date":"2023-04-30T11:41:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T15:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nhl-maple-leafs-oust-lightning-for-first-playoff-series-win-since-2004\/"},"modified":"2023-04-30T11:44:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T15:44:15","slug":"nhl-maple-leafs-oust-lightning-for-first-playoff-series-win-since-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nhl-maple-leafs-oust-lightning-for-first-playoff-series-win-since-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL-Maple Leafs oust Lightning for first playoff series win since 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnhl-maple-leafs-oust-lightning-for-first-playoff-series-win-since-2004%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1921594&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h2>Maple Leafs Exorcise Postseason Demons with Overtime Win<\/h2>\n<p>By Frank Pingue<\/p>\n<p>After nearly two decades of postseason heartbreak, the Toronto Maple Leafs have finally broken the curse with a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The win secures their spot in the second round of the NHL&#8217;s Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px; text-align: center;\">\n\t\t\t<script>\n\t\t\t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1'); });\n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<p>John Tavares scored the series-winning goal when he took the puck from behind the Lightning net, skated in front, and unleashed a shot that went in off Tampa Bay defender Darren Raddysh&#8217;s skate.<\/p>\n<h3>Breaking the Curse<\/h3>\n<p>For the Maple Leafs, this win is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/quiet-biden-student-loan-forgiveness-for-200000-borrowers-gave-black-eye-to-colleges-administrator\/\" title=\"Quiet Biden student loan forgiveness for 200,000 borrowers gave black eye to colleges: Administrator\">long-awaited relief<\/a>. The team has been under immense pressure to perform after years of underachieving in the postseason. This victory marks their first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nba-bombshell-kevin-durant-requests-trade-from-nets\/\" title=\"\u200b\u200bNBA Bombshell: Kevin Durant Requests Trade from Nets\">playoff series win<\/a> since 2004 and puts an end to the loud calls for major organizational changes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Obviously it&#8217;s a bit of a monkey off our back, and we still got plenty of work to do, but this one obviously feels really great,&#8221; said Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto&#8217;s core trio of Matthews, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares have endured their share of playoff heartache, most recently in 2022 when Tampa Bay beat Toronto in a decisive seventh game as the Maple Leafs lost their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nhl-maple-leafs-oust-lightning-for-first-playoff-series-win-since-2004\/\" title=\"NHL-Maple Leafs oust Lightning for first playoff series win since 2004\">opening postseason series<\/a> for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-sets-record-for-most-expensive-weather-disasters-in-2020\/\" title=\"U.S. sets record for most expensive weather disasters in 2020\">sixth consecutive year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And while ousting a Lightning team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of the previous three seasons has brought this group to unchartered territory, it is also just the first step for a Maple Leafs team with lofty ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a little bit of a relief for sure just to be able to get that done,&#8221; Marner said. &#8220;But got to make sure we&#8217;re ready because it just gets harder and harder.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>A Thrilling Game<\/h3>\n<p>The best-of-seven series returned to Tampa with the Maple Leafs ahead 3-2, and the visitors were desperate to close things out rather than take their chances in a do-or-die seventh game. 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. The Lightning drew level when captain Steven Stamkos, alone in front of the net, fired home a rebound with just under 16 minutes left in regulation.<\/p>\n<p>The Tavares goal less than five minutes into overtime allowed the entire Maple Leafs organization and their fan base to breathe a collective sigh of relief.<\/p>\n<p>The Maple Leafs will next face the winner of Sunday&#8217;s game between the top-seeded Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Frank Pingue (Reuters) \u2013 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\u2019s Stanley Cup Playoffs. John Tavares scored the series winner when he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":1921595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[542],"tags":[14786,25454,15351,25455,5514,13462,8612,7627],"class_list":["post-1921594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oann","tag-14786","tag-leafs","tag-lightning","tag-nhl-maple","tag-oust","tag-playoff","tag-series","tag-win"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1921594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1921595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1921594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1921594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1921594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}