Brayden Point played the heroes late in overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning will live another day with a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
After Auston Matthews missed a golden opportunity near Andrei Vasilevskiy’s net, Brandon Hagel passed to Alex Killorn, who fired a low shot. Jack Campbell caught, but Point grabbed the rebound and pushed the puck just over the red line.
It was the third career playoff overtime goal for Point, who scored his first two against the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2020.
The Lightning tied the series at 3-3 and the final game will take place on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Nikita Kucherov forced overtime by tying the score in power play midway through the third period. Ondrej Palat and Anthony Cirelli also moved the ropes for the Florida team.
Vasilevskiy inspired confidence in overtime, notably making the key to the rescue against Alexander Kerfoot. He stopped for 30 pucks.
John Tavares has twice hit the target for the Maple Leafs, who have not had back-to-back playoff victories since Games 3 and 4 against the Montreal Canadiens last year.
Matthews also scored as Campbell gave up 4 times on 35 shots. The Toronto team has been eliminated in the first series in the past five years.
Source: Radio-Canada
