{"id":96303,"date":"2022-05-15T06:51:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T10:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=96303"},"modified":"2022-05-15T06:51:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T10:51:58","slug":"maple-leafs-eliminated-from-playoffs-after-2-1-loss-to-lightning-in-game-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/desporto\/modalidades\/maple-leafs-eliminated-from-playoffs-after-2-1-loss-to-lightning-in-game-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs eliminated from playoffs after 2-1 loss to Lightning in Game 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"milenio<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the winner late in the second period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> 2-1 in Game 7 on Saturday to win their first-round playoff series 4-3.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.<\/p>\n

Morgan Rielly replied for Toronto, which hasn’t moved onto the second round since 2004 and is now 0-9 in games where it can eliminate an opponent over the last five post-seasons after also losing Game 6 by a 4-3 overtime scoreline in Tampa two nights earlier.<\/p>\n

Jack Campbell stopped 23 shots.<\/p>\n

Despite their best efforts, the Leafs<\/a> were once again unable to push through and finally flip an long, ugly narrative of playoff failures for a franchise that has now lost its last seven series, including six straight dating back to 2017.<\/p>\n

Toronto is now 7-3 all-time at home in Game 7s, including a loss at Scotiabank Arena last season after blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n

Down 1-0 after 20 minutes Saturday, the Leafs appeared to tie the game at 11:28 of the second when John Tavares roofed a shot on Vasilevskiy, but the goal was waved off after Toronto defenceman Justin Holl was whistled for interference.<\/p>\n

Campbell had to make a couple of desperation stops on the ensuing penalty kill to set the stage for Rielly’s equalizer off a setup from Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews to score his third of the playoffs at 6:35 to send the crowd of 19,316 into a chaotic frenzy.<\/p>\n

The goal was the first surrendered by Vasilevskiy and the Lightning in their last six series-deciding games.<\/p>\n

William Nylander then missed high on a breakaway and the Tampa goaltender robbed Matthews with the Leafs buzzing.<\/p>\n

But Paul scored his second of the night – and second ever in the playoffs – with 3:28 remaining in the period on a terrific play where he kicked the puck from his skate to his stick.<\/p>\n

Tampa nearly made it 3-1 late in the period when Kucherov hit Campbell’s post from the slot.<\/p>\n

Vasilevskiy was under siege throughout a Leafs’ power play just over six minutes into the third, but kept the home side at bay despite some furious pressure.<\/p>\n

Toronto continued to press inside an anxious, tension-filled rink as the clock ticked down.<\/p>\n

The Leafs, however, just couldn’t find a way through with Campbell on the bench for an extra attack to complete another chapter of playoff disappointment.<\/p>\n

Both teams had terrific opportunities for early breakthroughs, but Vasilevskiy and Campbell were there at every turn.<\/p>\n

Tavares nearly blew opened the scoring on a great chance in close where Vasilevskiy shot out his left pad before the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner denied Marner.<\/p>\n

Campbell then held the fort on a Lightning power play on a couple of great looks for the visitors.<\/p>\n

Brayden Point, who scored the winner in Tampa’s Game 6 victory to extend the series, was injured late in the first when his right leg got caught underneath him as he fell to the ice. The winger – in agony as he headed down the tunnel to the locker room – tried to return for the second period, but shut it down after a brief shift.<\/p>\n

The Lightning went up 1-0 moments after Point went down in the first when Paul, who had a number of chances in Game 5 with his team ahead before Toronto roared back, scored his first.<\/p>\n

Campbell made the initial stop on Ross Colton’s one-timer off the rush that nicked Rielly’s stick, but the rebound fell to Paul at 1:36 as Toronto surrendered the first goal for a fourth straight game.<\/p>\n

The Lightning were playing in just their second Game 7 since the start of the 2020 playoffs after defeating the New York Islanders 1-0 on home in the semifinals last June.<\/p>\n

Toronto’s last Game 7 at home with fans – the club’s 2021 loss against Montreal was played in front of 550 health-care workers because of COVID-19 restrictions – since 2004 when Joe Nieuwendyk scored twice to oust the Ottawa Senators.<\/p>\n

The Leafs didn’t make the playoffs again until 2013 when they collapsed in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins. The club’s new generation made the playoffs for the first time in 2017, but has suffered a string of heartbreak that continued Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the winner late in the second period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":96304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4433],"tags":[4549],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/toronto-maple-leafs-1-5903849-1652579355270.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96306,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96303\/revisions\/96306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}