Maple Leafs recover, eliminate Senators in Game 6 of Eastern Conference 1st Round

OTTAWA -- Max Pacioretty broke a tie with 5:39 remaining in the third period for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who eliminated the Ottawa Senators with a 4-2 win in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

“It’s a huge goal, obviously,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I thought he had some opportunities early, you know, he hit the post there in the first (period) maybe, had a nice play on [William Nylander’s first] goal with a good stick, broke a play up. He did a real good job for us. Veteran guy, he’s been around, he’s played in a lot of playoff games, so he came through tonight for us.”

Pacioretty, who also had an assist, beat Linus Ullmark to the glove side with a wrist shot from above the left face-off circle.

“It means a lot,” Pacioretty said of the moment. “You keep playing because you want to pitch in. Obviously, when you’re sitting out and the team is winning, you're happy for them, but you want to be a part of it. Just thankful for the opportunity.”

Pacioretty, 36, missed the final 27 games of the regular season due to injury. He returned in Game 3 of the series.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with people in my family and others and I thought that I was done playing a number of times,” Pacioretty said. “Everyone always supported me to keep going, but my story is just one of many and it’s one that is public, so it’s one that’s talked about. But a lot of resilient guys in this organization, been through a lot as well. Guys like that motivate me to keep going.”

Nylander had two goals and an assist, Auston Matthews scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs, who are the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Division. They will face the Florida Panthers in the second round.

The Maple Leafs had lost two in a row after taking a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

“I thought we had great energy this morning, just the confidence in ourselves,” said Matthews, the Toronto captain. “You know, like I kind of talked about, nothing else really matters; all the outside stuff doesn’t really matter. It’s about the 20, 25 guys that are in our room and the belief in one another, doing it for one another and just going out there and competing. This one feels good.”

Brady Tkachuk and David Perron scored, Thomas Chabot had two assists, and Ullmark made 19 saves for the Senators, who played their first Stanley Cup Playoff series since 2017. Ottawa was the first wild card from the Eastern Conference.

“Much like our players, [I’m] disappointed,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “I guess that’s the best way to say it. I thought our guys played, much like the whole series, it was another good game, could’ve gone either way, came down to a couple of plays here and there.

“I’m proud of our team. You know, when you haven’t won, when you’ve haven’t played in the playoffs, you’ve kind of got to fast track them when you get there. And they held their head above water, they didn’t get too down, much like the regular season when things weren’t going their way. They just stuck with it.”

Matthews gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 18:50 of the first period on the power play, scoring with a soft wrist shot from above the left circle that beat a screened Ullmark past his right pad. It was the Maple Leafs’ first goal in 31 power plays in games with a chance to eliminate an opponent.

“Work ethic and competitiveness the whole game, high end,” Berube said of Matthews. “I don’t know what his face-off percentage [was] right now (72.7 percent; 16-for-22), but it was high. I didn’t see him lose too many draws. It starts there. And just heavy, physical, work, competing. Touched all areas of the game tonight for us, in a good way.”

Nylander gave Toronto a 2-0 lead at 43 seconds of the second period. He jumped on a Nick Jensen turnover at Ottawa’s blue line, skated into the right circle on the rush and beat Ullmark with a wrist shot under his right arm.

“It’s a lot of sadness, no anger or anything, it’s just sadness, emptiness in a way,” Ullmark said. “When you put everything on the line and you tell yourself every day that, ‘I’m going to leave everything out there,’ and then you don’t come out victorious or successful at the end, it’s just gut-wrenching in a way. Because it’s kind of like a weight off of your shoulder in a way that there’s now no more pressure or there’s no more games, but at the same time when you think about that, you get really sad because there’s no more hockey until September. That’s why I’m so sad now.”

Tkachuk cut it to 2-1 at 7:28 when he tipped a Chabot point shot.

“It’s devastating,” said Tkachuk, the Ottawa captain. “I really believed. It’s a tough pill to swallow right now.

“I’m really proud of this team. I’m really proud of every single guy in this room, everybody that wasn’t playing, our staff, trainers, everybody, everybody in this organization. I mean, I think it takes will, it takes guts to get the job done. I think we’ve got to take these lessons and be that much better because of it.”

Perron tied it 2-2 at 12:40 of the third period with a shot from below the goal line that banked in off the back of Stolarz’s helmet at the left post.

“It was tight pretty much all series except the first game there (a 6-2 Toronto win),” Perron said. “I’m proud of the guys. It’s tough to kind of think too much right now. You can always look at plays, but I’m proud of the guys, how much they grew this year. And even from game to game it felt like we really had a chance to kind of push this to seven. It’s tough.”

After Pacioretty put the Maple Leafs ahead, Nylander scored into an empty net at 19:41 for the 4-2 final.

“They were businesslike today,” Berube said of his players. “I think after the (4-0) Game 5 loss at home, it’s a tough one. We came in here with a little bit different mindset.”

NOTES: With his 25th career playoff goal, Matthews tied Darryl Sittler, Syl Apps and Bob Pulford for seventh in Maple Leafs history. … Nylander became the first Toronto player with three points in a series-winning game since Wendel Clark (two goals, one assist) in Game 7 of the 1994 Western Conference Semifinals against the San Jose Sharks. … Pacioretty (36 years, 162 days) became the second-oldest player in Maple Leafs history with a series-winning goal, behind Joe Nieuwendyk (37 years, 223 days), who helped eliminate the Senators in Game 7 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. … Toronto is 5-0 in playoff series against Ottawa.