The Leafs delivered one of their most clutch performances over the past decade on Monday night. They found themselves trailing 4-1 with just over ten minutes remaining and somehow managed to equalise. Alex Kerfoot scored the game-winner in overtime to give Toronto a 3-1 lead.
Ilya Samsonov stood tall early on. After Brandon Hagel scored a penalty kick, which he calmly took, Samsonov calmly denied the Lightning winger …
Samsonov denies Hagel from a penalty kick 🙅♂️ pic.twitter.com/j0WoXGb4KP
– Sportsnet (Sportsnet) April 24, 2023
Two minutes later Alex Killorn went down from Schneid. The two-time cup champion had not scored in 29 consecutive playoff games before that tally. He finished off a beautiful pass from Nikita Kucherov to put the Bolts ahead 1-0…
Killorn turns in the power play to open the scoring! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/06ankloUW0
– Sportsnet (Sportsnet) April 24, 2023
Late in the first Mikhail Sergachev doubled Tampa Bay’s lead. Kucherov with another essential assistance in moving the disk across the seam …
Sergachev rips off Samsonov once to lift Tampa twice! ✌️ pic.twitter.com/LVvFABBWws
– Sportsnet (Sportsnet) April 25, 2023
Noel Accari got things going for the Leafs in the second half. Ryan O’Reilly stripped Kucheroff naked to keep the play alive. He found Justin Hall at the point and the Toronto defender threw the puck over the net. Acciari outlasted Andrei Vasilevskiy to bring the match to a one stop…
Cookies get us on board! 🍪 pic.twitter.com/HzVoV56zSm
– Toronto Maple Leafs (MapleLeafs) April 25, 2023
Lightning kept pressing for an insurance target and almost got it. Anthony Cirelli pushed the puck into the net but Matthew Kniss was there to block the goal…
Synagogue saves Matthew 👀 pic.twitter.com/zfVNNpyQZi
– Toronto Maple Leafs (MapleLeafs) April 25, 2023
A few minutes later, Stephen Stamkos scored his first goal of the series. Immediately after the penalty kick ended, Victor Hedman kicked the ball off Stamkos’ foot to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead…
Stormer gets his first Stanley Cup qualifier! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/8Y6Hxgx0dd
– Sportsnet (Sportsnet) April 25, 2023
With 1:11 left in the second period, Killorn scored his second goal of the game. Sergachev hit Hagel with a beautiful pass and it fell to Killorn who fired a shot off the post and into. 4-1 Lightning…
Treat yourself to a night, Alex Killorn! 👏 pic.twitter.com/cfAO4kVmUb
– Sportsnet (Sportsnet) April 25, 2023
It took nearly half of a third for the Leafs to start a comeback. William Nylander made a great drop pass to Mitch Marner and found Auston Matthews to cut the lead to two…
Austin brings us back again!! pic.twitter.com/gPbErFNGEI
– Toronto Maple Leafs (MapleLeafs) April 25, 2023
Two minutes later Matthews found the back of the net again. He fired a long shot off Nylander’s wrist for his second goal in less than three minutes. 4-3 Lightning…
TONE TIPS IT HOME!!! pic.twitter.com/2QgeSKlOHu
– Toronto Maple Leafs (MapleLeafs) April 25, 2023
Morgan Rielly completed the comeback with 3:56 to play. His point shot found its way through a lot of traffic up front and beat Vasilevskiy to force overtime…
Morgan Riley ripped one home and that’s how we got a tie game‼️ pic.twitter.com/whg3dfJHC3
– Sportsnet (Sportsnet) April 25, 2023
In the extra frame, Kerfoot capped off a tumultuous night of leaves. Mark Giordano put the puck into the net on the Powerplay and Kerfoot converted it to score the game winning goal and put a chokehold on the series. Four unanswered goals by the Leafs to take a 3-1 series lead back in Toronto in the Game 5 5-4 Leaf Finals.
Sir Alexander Kerfoot!!! pic.twitter.com/XzD8nVu5Y5
– Toronto Maple Leafs (MapleLeafs) April 25, 2023