The Maple Leafs looked to be in serious trouble.
Past iterations of the storied Original Six franchise — one with plenty of playoff pain both recent and a distant memory — might have caved after being knocked off its axis at a crucial moment in a hostile environment.
Senators forward David Perron had just tied Game 6 with a third-period goal from below the goal line off the back of netminder Anthony Stolarz to send a towel-waving, incandescent Canadian Tire Centre into a frenzy.
These Leafs, however, have looked different most of this season. A different energy. A different feel. They showed it again Thursday.
Calm, cool, composed. And off to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It just took a little longer than they would have liked.
Max Pacioretty scored the winner with 5:39 left in regulation as Toronto beat Ottawa 4-2 to take the best-of-seven Battle of Ontario in six games.
William Nylander, with two goals and an assist, and Auston Matthews provided the rest of the offence for the Leafs, who led the series 3-0 before their provincial rival won two straight to put pressure on a star-studded roster fighting demons of failures past. Pacioretty added an assist for a two-point night.
“Nothing else really matters,” said Matthews, Toronto’s captain. “The outside stuff doesn’t really matter. It’s about the guys that are in our room, and the belief in one another, doing it for one another.
“This one feels good.”
Stolarz made 21 saves as Toronto improved to 2-13 in potential series-clinching games since 2018 — an era led by Matthews, Nylander and Mitch Marner — and advanced in the post-season for just the second time in more than two decades.
“We’re playing for each other,” Stolarz said. “Everyone knows their role, everyone knows their job. We have the confidence.”
The Leafs now face a tough test in the second round against the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers after they disposed of the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
“We were hunting,” Nylander said. “Unbelievable team effort.”
Brady Tkachuk had the other goal for the Senators, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2017 following a long and painful rebuild. Linus Ullmark stopped 19 shots. Thomas Chabot chipped in two assists.
“I really believed that we were going to come back and win the game,” Tkachuk said. “Just tough, just tough.”
Toronto grabbed a 3-0 series edge with a blowout opener and a pair of 3-2 overtime victories, but Ottawa stayed alive with a 4-3 OT decision in Game 4 and a 4-0 shutout in Game 5 that caused the collective blood pressure of a tortured fan base to rise significantly.
“We came in here with a little bit different mindset,” said Toronto head coach Craig Berube, hired last spring to get the Original Six franchise over its post-season hump. “It wasn’t do-or-die, but we wanted to finish it off here.
“A little bit more aggressive and on our toes.”
Only four NHL teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series — the 1942 Leafs, 1975 Islanders, the 2010 Flyers and the 2014 Kings.
“They’ve taken a big step,” first-year Senators head coach Travis Green said of his group. “It’s not easy to make the playoffs. It’s even harder after you do.”
Pacioretty, a heathy scratch the first two games, bagged the winner off a pass from Max Domi that beat Ullmark to the glove side through a screen for his first goal of the post-season.
Scott Laughton hit the post with a chance to deliver the dagger for Toronto before Nylander iced it into the empty net with 18.3 seconds left on the clock after fighting off Jake Sanderson.
Pacioretty, who blew his right Achilles tendon twice in less than 12 months in the twilight of his career before dealing with a couple injuries this season, contemplated retirement more than a few times, but chose to push on.
It paid off Thursday.
“I thought that I was done playing a number of times,” said the 36-year-old winger. “My story is just one of many. But there’s a lot of resilient guys in this organization, been through a lot as well.
“Guys like that motivate me to keep going.”
Matthews opened Tuesday’s scoring on a power play with 70 seconds left in the first period when he fired a low shot through traffic for his second.
Elevated to the second line alongside Nylander and John Tavares to start Game 6, Pacioretty hit Ullmark’s post earlier in the period during a scramble before Ottawa counterpart Tim Stutzle got his signals crossed at the other end on a great opportunity.
Nylander, who turned 29 on Thursday, made it 2-0 just 43 seconds into the middle period when he ripped his second after Pacioretty forced a turnover.
Ottawa got on the board at 7:28 when Tkachuk — a physical force all six games — tipped in his fourth.
Toronto, which beat Ottawa four times in five playoffs in the early 2000s, came close to restoring its two-goal lead when Tavares poked a loose puck off the post.
Chabot fired a shot that Stutzle also tipped off the iron early in the third. The Senators went to the power play midway through the period and didn’t get anything going, but Perron scored with 7:20 left in regulation on that shot off Stolarz to set up the dramatic finish — and the flipping of a familiar script.
“That’s a hard-earned series,” Matthews said. “Move on to the next one.”
The champs are waiting.
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