Maple Leafs win 1st playoff series in 19 years with OT victory over Lightning in Game 6

The Maple Leafs finally exorcised their playoff demons — and are off to the second round of the NHL playoffs.

John Tavares scored at 4:36 of overtime and Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves as Toronto defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Saturday to win their series 4-2 and advance in the post-season for the first time in nearly two decades.

The Leafs captain threw a puck in front on the winning sequence that went in off Lightning defenceman Darren Raddysh's skate and in to send Toronto players spilling off the bench.

WATCH | Tavares scores in OT to eliminate Lightning:

Auston Matthews had the goal in regulation for the Leafs, who lost to Tampa in seven games last spring and were under intense pressure to finally break through in the playoffs after a string of failures.

The Leafs last made the NHL's final eight in 2004 — before the league instituting a salary cap, before Twitter was launched, and just over four months after Paul Martin became Canada's 21st prime minister — when they beat the Ottawa Senators in seven games.

Joe Nieuwendyk was the hero that night with two goals in the first period on a shaky Patrick Lalime. Toronto would go on to lose a second-round matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers when Jeremy Roenick scored the clinching goal in overtime in Game 6.

The wait for another series triumph in hockey's biggest market would last 6,948 days.

Including a first-round defeat in 2013, Toronto's record in games where it could clinch a series sat at 0-11 before puck drop — the second-longest streak in NHL history.

Coming off Cup triumphs in 2020 and 2021 before falling in last year's final to Colorado in Game 6 at home, the Lightning tied the score 1-1 at 4:11 of the third when Stamkos scored his second of the series