Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored the game-winning goal in overtime for the Montreal Canadiens to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in Game 6 on Saturday, thrilling fans in their return to Bell Centre and forcing a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series.
The fourth-seeded Canadiens have won consecutive games since falling behind 3-1 against the top-seeded Maple Leafs. Game 7 will be Monday in Toronto.
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With 2,500 fans present — the first fan attendance at any NHL game in Canada since March 2020 — the Canadiens scored two third-period, power-play goals just 77 seconds apart. Corey Perry broke a scoreless tie with 5:26 gone in the third period. Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe challenged for goaltender interference, Toronto was penalized for failed challenge and 19 seconds later, Mitch Marner flipped the puck out of play for delay of game. That led to a 5-on-3 advantage for Montreal, and Tyler Toffoli cashed in to push the lead to 2-0.
Jason Spezza scored with 8:25 to play to get the Maple Leafs within one, then T.J. Brodie added the tying goal via a deflection of a Pierre Engvall shot with 3:11 left in regulation.
The winner of the series will face the third-seeded Winnipeg Jets, who swept the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.
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Keys to Game 7
Arpon Basu, Canadiens senior writer: The Habs will need to start strong as they did in Game 6, even without the crowd behind them in Toronto. But the biggest factor will be how many minutes their top four on defense can play and whether they can maintain their physical presence that is becoming more effective as the series wears on.
Captain Shea Weber, Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry each played around 35 minutes while Joel Edmundson was at 28. The two pairs were simply rotating throughout overtime. How long can they keep that up? They will likely need to do it for one more game.
Jonas Siegel, Maple Leafs beat writer: First is pretty obvious: The Leafs need to come out with far more energy. Slow starts have doomed them in Games 5 and 6. They're also going to need better performances from their two best players, Auston Matthews and Marner. Those two remain stuck on a single goal combined in the series.
Special teams were costly in Game 6. The Leafs gave up two power-play goals and scored none. Both obvious areas for improvement. Above all, the Leafs are going to have find comfort playing in a pressure-packed game.
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The impact of fans returning
Basu: Right away, as soon as warmup began, you felt it. The Maple Leafs came on the ice, and there were a smattering of cheers from the Toronto fans in attendance that were quickly drowned out by boos from the majority Canadiens fans among the crowd of 2,500 people.
Then the Canadiens took the ice, and those 2,500 people — or at least those that were Montreal fans — welcomed their team to the ice for the first time in more than 14 months. It continued throughout the game. It was a welcome sense of normalcy for everyone in the building, including the players.
“It felt like a lot more than 2,500 people,” Weber said. “It felt amazing. I can’t imagine what 20,000 people would be right now, because that was electric.”
(Photo: Francois Lacasse / NHLI via Getty Images)