So It Goes To Game 7

 

First off, I apologize for not writing about the game 5 result Migraines are no fun at all, but I am back to talk about last night’s disappointing result. Last night there were 2,500 fans allowed in the Bell Centre to watch this must win game for the Habs and their voices were heard, and the crowd was a factor throughout the game. Now I am going to take a different approach with this article because in the first two periods not a lot of things happened in period one. Jack Campbell was tested early and often but stood tall in goal stopping all 15 shots he faced keeping the score tied a zero after 20 minutes.

 

In the second period injuries struck Toronto as Jake Muzzin went down with a lower body injury midway through the second period and did not return to the game so either Rasmus Sandin will draw back into the lineup or Ben Hutton could make his first appearance in the post season to provide some more physical play for Toronto. Now the third period of this game was eventful for sure, and penalties would be a factor as early in the final period the Toronto Maple Leafs would be shorthanded as Mitch Marner would serve two minutes for sending the puck over the glass and with just over five minutes played Montreal would open the scoring as with all kinds of traffic and Tyler Toffoli in the crease veteran Corey Perry would chip the puck into the open goal giving Montreal the important 1-0 lead. Now Toronto would challenge this goal which I thought was questionable, but Toronto felt Toffoli was interfering with Campbell preventing him to attempt for a save but after reviewing the play the goal would stand Montreal would lead 1-0 and head back to the man advantage as Toronto lost the challenge meaning they needed to serve a second delay of game penalty. It would not take long for Montreal to strike once again; in fact, it was just over a minute and the Canadiens would double their lead as Tyler Toffoli would have his shot sneak through Jack Campbell and stop just over the goal line. So, thanks to two power play goals Toronto would be looking at a 2-0 deficit and time would not be on their side. Toronto would start to press the play looking for a way to get back into this contest and five minutes after Montreal doubled Toronto would finally get on the board as Jason Spezza would be in the slot, he would fire a wrist shot that would deflect off Montreal’s Jeff Petry and passed Carey Price. This goal would ho to the legs of the Maple Leafs, and they would have a lot more jump as they now looked to grab the momentum with an equalizing goal. Late in period three with just 4 minutes left and things looking as if Toronto would fall short the tying goal came from an unlikely source as Pierre Engvall would send the puck to TJ Brodie at the point who would send the puck towards the goal and thanks to a deflection off Jeff Petry once again Toronto would level the game at 2 quieting the Montreal fans. Toronto would press once again but the remaining minutes would expire and like we saw Thursday night for game 5 these two teams would head to the overtime session.

This overtime period I am willing to bet was frustrating not only for me but for every other Leaf fan watching because the Leafs were all over Montreal in the extra period outshooting their opponents by a total of 13-2, sadly no matter how many chances the Maple Leafs had they were unable to solve Price for the winning goal that would have ended Montreal’s season. With five minutes remaining and things going Toronto’s way disaster would strike for the second time as for some reason Travis Dermott who for majority of the night played a fairly good game but he tried to back hand the puck out of his zone but turned the puck over instead to the dangerous Jesperi Kotkaniemi who would fire a shot that deflected off defender Zach Bogosian and the puck would go knuckling passed goalie Jack Campbell giving Montreal the overtime win keeping their season alive and sending the fans in attendance into a frenzy that would spill into the Montreal streets.

 

So, with the series down to one final game on Monday night back in Toronto the Leafs better have that extra level needed to win in the playoffs because this team is too good to be facing yet another round one elimination. This team faced adversity throughout the regular season and managed to overcome it and playoffs are no different Matthews is shooting at 4% right now and that percentage is too high to only produce one goal surely something must give for the league leading scorer. I know things seem all doom and gloom right now but we fans have seen our team play with their backs to the wall and rise to the occasion and I believe game 7 Monday night will be no different, The Toronto Maple Leafs will get the job done.