Playoff Game 76
Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT)
Stanley Cup Quarterfinals, Game 5
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Ontario

Nick Suzuki scored 59 seconds into overtime, and the Montréal Canadiens recovered for a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup First Round at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Suzuki won it with a one-timer on a 2-on-0 breakaway with Cole Caufield after a turnover by forward Alex Galchenyuk at the Maple Leafs blue line to extend the best-of-7 series.

“Sometimes those 2-on-0’s are a little bit more difficult,” Suzuki said. “Some guys are hesitant to shoot, but we were just confident to make the play and I was lucky enough to score. I don’t know, I think we are both capable of scoring. I just felt like I had a good lane to the net on my one-timer side, so it was just a great play by him to touch it right back to me.”

Joel Armia scored twice and Carey Price made 32 saves for the Canadiens, the number four seed in the Scotia North Division.

“(We showed) resiliency, something that is not easy to have the right mentality going into an overtime like that after giving up a two-goal lead in the third,” Price said. “But I thought our group was calm and composed in the locker room after (the third period). We came here to win this game, and I thought overall our game was pretty solid. We got rewarded tonight.”

Jake Muzzin scored twice in 5:02 in the third period and Jack Campbell made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs, the number one seed in the North. They hold a 3-2 series lead and are trying to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“It’s tough to close a team out,” Campbell said. “They came out hard. I thought we played well enough to win the game; I just can’t give up three in regulation. I have to be better, and I will be. I just have to make the save on that 2-on-0. I was a little aggressive, so I’ll learn from it.”

Game 6 will be played at Montréal on Saturday. The Canadiens are expecting to have roughly 2,500 in attendance, which would be the first NHL game in Canada with fans since March 11, 2020.

“I think to be honest, the fans will deserve that game big time,” Montréal forward Phillip Danault said. “It’s going to be crazy there, it’s going to be awesome and I can’t wait to be in front of our fans.

“We’ve been waiting for that all year and here we are, Game 6 against Toronto Saturday night at home. It can’t get any better than that.”

The Maple Leafs trailed 3-0 but started to rally at 6:32 of the second period when Zach Hyman scored from the slot after Mitchell Marner played it in front from the side of the net with Price out of position to make it 3-1.

Muzzin cut it to 3-2 with a shot from the point at 6:52 of the third, then tied it at 11:54 when he deflected a shot from Galchenyuk in the slot to make it 3-3.

Toronto outshot Montréal 16-6 in the third period.

“I think everybody knew what the overall message should have been (after the third),” Price said. “I don’t think anybody needed to say anything. Our coach came in and gave us a few words, but you look around the room and everybody knew what was at stake.”

Armia scored twice in 3:05 in the first period. He gave Montréal a 1-0 lead at 5:13 after Corey Perry’s hit on Rasmus Sandin created a turnover in the offensive zone, then made it 2-0 at 8:18 when he jammed a loose puck in the slot.

“They were desperate and they won every battle and we weren’t ready for it,” Muzzin said. “We battled back, but not enough.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi made it 3-0 at 4:52 of the second period when he stole the puck from Sandin behind the net, skated into the slot and shot it past Campbell.

“Well it wasn’t his best, obviously,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said of Campbell. “He was playing at a really high level for us and today, like our team, (he) wasn’t his best. But he’s earned the opportunity and the trust that he will bounce back for us.”

NOTES: Maple Leafs forward William Nylander had his goal streak end at four games. He had two assists…Danault won 19 of 29 face-offs (65.5 percent)…Canadiens defenceman Jeff Petry had six hits and six blocked shots in 24:23 of ice time.

Story, photo property of NHL.com

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL GOAL – 05:13 – Armia
MTL GOAL – 08:18 – Armia (Perry, Staal)

2nd Period
MTL GOAL – 04:52 – Kotkaniemi
TOR GOAL – 06:32 – Hyman (Marner, Matthews)
TOR PEN – 13:39 – Hyman, tripping

3rd Period
MTL PEN – 04:41 – Gallagher, interference
TOR GOAL – 06:52 – Muzzin (Simmonds, Nylander)
TOR GOAL – 11:53 – Muzzin (Galchenyuk, Nylander)

Overtime
MTL GOAL – 00:59 – Suzuki (Caufield)

GOALTENDERS
MTL – Price (W, 32-35)
TOR – Campbell (L, 26-30)

SHOTS ON GOAL
MTL – 14+9+6+1 = 30
TOR – 8+11+16+0 = 35

ROSTERS
MTL – Goaltenders: Jake Allen, Carey Price. Defence: Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, Erik Gustafsson, Jon Merrill, Jeff Petry, Shea Weber (C). Forwards: Josh Anderson, Joel Armia, Paul Byron (A), Cole Caufield, Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher (A), Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Corey Perry, Eric Staal, Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, Tyler Toffoli.
TOR – Goaltenders: Frederik Andersen, Jack Campbell. Defence: Zach Bogosian, T.J. Brodie, Justin Holl, Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly (A), Rasmus Sandin. Forwards: Adam Brooks, Pierre Engvall, Alex Galchenyuk, Zach Hyman, Alexander Kerfoot, Mitchell Marner (A), Auston Matthews (A), Ilya Mikheyev, William Nylander, Wayne Simmonds, Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton.

ATTENDANCE
0

THREE STARS
⭐ Nick Suzuki (MTL)
⭐⭐ Jake Muzzin (TOR)
⭐⭐⭐ Joel Armia (MTL)