What Toronto Maple Leafs players said after knocking Sens out of playoffs
For all the fears that the Toronto Maple Leafs put into their fanbase over the last few days, they eventually calmed most of them on Thursday night.
Facing off against the Ottawa Senators in a pivotal Game 6 on the road at the Canadian Tire Centre, the Leafs eventually got their fourth win of the series over their provincial rival to move onto the second round of the playoffs for just the second time since 2004.
Auston Matthews scored the first goal of the game, and Max Pacioretty scored the game-winner in a 4-2 victory for Toronto, with William Nylander scoring both the 2-0 goal and the empty-net clincher in the closing stages of the third period.
“Feels good to get this one. Onto the next one,” Matthews told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas in an on-ice interview after the game. “We came into this game, a lot of outside noise, but the belief in this group, the belief in the locker room, shift-by-shift, proud of the guys. That’s one step. Big game tonight, and we’ll just keep moving forward.”
Though the Leafs coughed up a 2-0 lead they picked up early in the second period, Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz shouted out his team for being able to stop the bleeding and eventually fired home a pair of goals to ice the game.
“We sure showed great perseverance,” Stolarz said. “At the end of the day, I was just focused on that next shot. Teams are going to lay it on the line, and I’m extremely proud of the way we handled business.”
Toronto started the series looking like they might sweep the Senators, picking up three wins (including two in overtime) in the series’ first three games. But after consecutive losses to Ottawa, including a 4-0 drubbing on Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena, it was natural for Leafs fans to feel a little bit weary of a possible new collapse to add to their unfortunate history book full of them.
“After the Game 5 loss at home, it is a tough one. We came in here with a little bit of a different mindset,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “That was a big key and a big moment by the team: to come in here with a little bit of a different mindset. It wasn’t do or die, but you want to finish it off here, for sure.”
For Toronto, the 36-year-old former Montreal Canadiens captain Pacioretty was perhaps an unlikely hero to score the series-winning goal, as it was just his sixth goal of the season.
“You keep playing because you want to pitch in. When you’re sitting out and the team’s winning, you’re happy for them, but you want to be a part of it,” Pacioretty said.
Toronto moves on to face the Florida Panthers, with the schedule for that series yet to be announced.