Maple Leafs aim to top Lightning in Game 6, win first series since 2004
Seeking urgency on road in Eastern First Round
By
Dave McCarthy
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
The 26-year-old forward grew up in nearby Scarborough, Ontario, and knows all too well what it would mean to have the Maple Leafs advance.
"I've been a Leaf fan my whole life and I grew up watching this team play," Bunting said Wednesday. "We've got great fans in this city, die-hard fans, and I'm sure it would mean a lot to them if we were able to close this out.
"Believe us, we want to do that and we're going to do everything we can to make that possible."
A come-from-behind 4-3 victory at home in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday put the Maple Leafs one win from eliminating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions in the best-of-7 series. Their first chance will be in Game 6 at Tampa Bay on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSUN).
But for the Maple Leafs, there is much more at stake than an opportunity to advance after losing six straight playoff series.
There is the chance to prolong the dream of veteran forwards Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds winning the Stanley Cup for the first time, and to keep hope alive for Toronto's first Cup championship since 1967. And there is the chance to end a streak of seven straight losses in games when the Maple Leafs had a chance to advance, dating to a 7-4 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2018 first round.
"It's a pivotal focus for us," goalie Jack Campbell said. "That's everything trying to get Spezza a ring and [Simmonds] and so many guys and for this city. So a lot of motivation."
Though he did not get a point in Game 5, Spezza, a 19-season NHL veteran, had a significant impact on the win. The 38-year old addressed the Maple Leafs with an impassioned speech during the first intermission after a lackluster first period with Toronto trailing 2-0 and having been outshot 14-4.
"I just felt like it was needed at the time and spoke from the heart," Spezza said.
Near the end of the first period, a fan holding a sign reading "Do it for Spezza" was shown on the big screen at Scotiabank Arena.
"I appreciate the support of the city," said Spezza, who was born in Toronto and signed with the Maple Leafs as a free agent July 1, 2019. "The city has been great to me ever since I've been back here. I think we all want to win, we're all here fighting together and we worked really hard to get ourselves in a position to be in the playoffs and now that we are here, we can't let the moment slip away."
"It feels good, we're happy with the result last night but we know there's a lot of work to be done."
The Maple Leafs understand full well the demons of their recent history. Going to Game 7 would bring up another dubious statistic: They are 0-4 in their past four Game 7s dating to a 5-4 overtime loss to the Bruins in the 2013 first round. And during that span they also lost Game 5 of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers against the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2020.
The most recent Game 7 loss came in the Stanley Cup First Round last season, 3-1 against the rival Montreal Canadiens, when they blew a 3-1 series lead.
It is why Spezza said he feels the urgency shown in the final two periods of Game 5, which led to the comeback win, needs to be there from the start in Game 6.
"We had opportunities last year, we didn't get it done, we know that," Spezza said. "You get into a Game 7 and anything can happen. We've given ourselves two chances to win a series, but more importantly there needs to be urgency and similar urgency that we had last game to come back from down, that urgency needs to follow us to Tampa."
The Lightning are 16-0 following a loss since the beginning of the 2020 playoffs.
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said he respects the challenge the Lightning present but pointed out it was not long ago that Tampa Bay, having been swept by the Blue Jackets in the 2019 first round after winning the Presidents' Trophy with the best regular-season record in the NHL, was in a similar position to Toronto, trying to prove it had a killer instinct.
"We look at the team we are trying to beat here and they have that," Keefe said. "That's carried them through two playoff runs and two championships and that's what is going to make it that much more difficult to finish the job on them. But they went through their own experience to get them to where they are at here now. For us, it has been a challenge to close out series, but it's one that our team has worked for all season and has had the attitude to rise to challenges.
"The [win] last night in terms of perseverance and staying with it and stepping up in big moments and not being denied I think sets the table for us to have confidence to finish this."
