- Toronto Maple Leafs dropped a three-goal lead to lose against Columbus Blue Jackets after OT, 4-3.
- They are one loss away from the elimination.
- Meanwhile, Calgary Flames defeated Winnipeg Jets 4-0, to advance to the playoffs after winning the series with 3-1.
Maple Leafs Shocking Defeat
Everything was excellent for Toronto over the first half an hour in the match against the Blue Jackets. The offense was clicking, they had luck, on the other hand, the rivals couldn’t do anything on the ice, and in no time, the Maple Leafs were up 3-0.
A perfect scenario every head coach would have wished for. However, in the end, Sheldon Keefe experienced one of the worst defeats in his career.
“We got what we deserved,” he said, pretty frustrated following the game. “I thought we brought back a lot of really bad habits, we didn’t have any real purpose or plan to our game today. We were just making it up as we go along, so we got what we deserved.”
After Nick Robertson’s goal for 3-0, with 8:48 into the second frame, the catastrophe was at sight for the Blue Jackets. It was a one-timer from near the left face-off which ended behind Joonas Korpisalo’s back. After this goal, John Tortorella replaced his Korpisalo who wasn’t focused at all.
And apparently, that gave some results. Pierre-Luc Dubois was the one who refused to make peace with a loss, and the Blue Jackets’ center scored three goals until the end, netting a game-winner in overtime.
Apart from Dubois Seth Jones also scored for the winners.
Meanwhile, Cody Ceci and William Nylander both netted for the Maple Leafs who scored all three goals in the span of 9:56 throughout the late first and early second periods.
Columbus leads 2-1 in the series and is just one win away from it. The next game is scheduled for today, at 8 pm ET.
Flames Route Jets, Advance to the Playoffs
It was a routine win for the boys from Calgary who solved everything in the opening frame. After the first 20 minutes, the Flames led 2-0, and there was no way back for the Jets who were already down 2-1 in series.
Dillon Dube opened the show with 3:21 into the match, and that was his first goal in this postseason. Sam Bennett doubled the lead just one second before the end of the period, and that was a morale killer for Winnipeg’s players, who were already shaken.
This was their third match appearing without Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine, who are among the best attackers in the league.
“I’m not saying that this series gets flipped on its head by having Mark and Patty — you’ve got to give Calgary a lot of credit — but I would have loved to have played a series with those two guys and seen how that would have shaken out,” said Jets’ captain Blake Wheeler.
Sean Monahan and Rasmus Anderson added both one goal in the late phase of the match. It was a blitz of the Flames that lasted 19 seconds, which eventually solved the game.
They are now waiting to see the name of the opponent in the playoffs.
