x-Toronto Maple Leafs: Leafs Beat Penguins, Clinch Playoff Berth

On the 81st game of the 2016-2017 season the Toronto Maple Leafs clinched their first postseason berth since 2013. While the Maple Leafs walked away with a 5-3 victory Saturday night, like most things they do, it was anything but pretty.

Just under 7-minutes into the third period of today's game, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel harmlessly threw a puck towards the net that initially bounce off of the leg of Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, and then as it continued its path to the net, was kicked by Jake Gardiner past Curtis McElhinney and as Pittsburgh took a 3-2 lead on the Maple Leafs, you could feel the atmosphere inside the Air Canada Centre deflate. However, unlike in the past, the Maple Leafs did not fold in the third period, but rose to the occasion.

Little under 8-minutes after the Penguins captured the lead, and completely removed all life from the ACC, Matt Hunwick who was pinching to the left of the Penguins net threw a pass towards Kasperi Kapanen who had a yawning cage to pot the tying marker, and he made no mistake. Kapanen's first career NHL (while this sounds cliche) could not have come at a better time. The Air Canada Centre was electric and chants of Go Leafs Go draped the ACC as the Maple Leafs had clawed their way back into a tie-game.

Momentum had changed in the matchup, suddenly the Maple Leafs were dictating the play and with under three-minutes to play, Hunwick's wrist-shot from the right wing point missed the net, but bounced all the way around to the opposite point where Jake Gardiner was waiting. Gardiner then tossed a low wrist shot in the direction of the Penguins net, possibly the most overlooked Maple Leafs rookie became the centre of attention when Connor Brown deflected the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury. The Toronto Maple Leafs were now the owners of a 4-3 lead late in the hockey game.

With time winding down, and the Penguins pressing, Phil Kessel sent a feed from the left face-off dot in the Maple Leafs zone out front to Sidney Crosby who was left unattended in front of the Maple Leafs net. The second the Crosby received the pass, the puck was off of his stick and catapulted towards the Leafs net where Curtis McElhinney (who was in place of the injured Frederik Andersen) made his best safe of the night completely high-jacking Crosby of a tying goal. Auston Matthews would later add an empty net goal, and in dramatic fashion, the Leafs were playoff-bound.

Tonight's victory means that there is NO MORE SCOREBOARD WATCHING. No more checking up to see how the Lightning, Islanders, or Bruins are doing. The Maple Leafs are in the playoffs for the first time since 2013, but they currently are slated to battle the Washington Capitals, the NHL's best franchise this season. If the Maple Leafs want to avoid this playoff matchup, they must accumulate at least one point from tomorrow's matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. If the Maple Leafs do manage to vault themselves out of the 2nd Wild Card spot, and track down the 3rd spot in the Atlantic Division, the Leafs would battle the Ottawa Senators in the 1st round of this years playoffs.

The win did not come without some bad news. Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen had to leave Saturday night's showdown as Penguins forward Connor Sheary made a large amount of contact with the netminders head which then snapped aggressively to the right. Andersen would go down on the play, get up under his own power, but left the game. Opposing team players making contact with Andersen has become trend as of late and is something that the Maple Leafs need to start doing a better job in preventing. Frederik Andersen has been the best Maple Leaf for the past month, and the team needs to do a better job of protecting their star and preventing other teams from taking liberties on their goalie.

While the Maple Leafs did not make it easy, the end result is that the team did it and clinched a playoff berth. I would be remiss if I did not complete the article with this: Get Maple Leaf Square ready, the Maple Leafs are returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

*** Next Toronto Maple Leafs Game:

vs. Columbus Blue Jackets, Sunday, April 9th (6:00PM)