Auston Matthews urged the Toronto Maple Leafs to finish the job at the earliest opportunity as they bid to clear the first hurdle in the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2004.
A dazzling fightback on Monday saw Toronto surge from 4-1 behind against the Tampa Bay Lightning to win 5-4 in overtime and seize a 3-1 series lead.
The Eastern Conference first-round tussle is a repeat of last year's matchup, when Toronto led 3-2 but wound up losing 4-3.
Tampa Bay went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, denied glory by the Colorado Avalanche.
Toronto have endured a long wait to win a playoff series, so they will be doubly determined to get this particularly job done at the earliest opportunity having put themselves in such a strong position. Their first chance comes on home ice on Thursday.
After being dominated early on in Monday's game, Matthews got the comeback rolling by scoring twice in the third period to cut Toronto's deficit to 4-3 with 7:31 remaining.
It was Morgan Rielly who levelled up, and Alexander Kerfoot hit the game winner on a power play in overtime.
Matthews said: "I thought in the locker room and everything we stayed focused. Just chip away, chip away."
Asked about game-winner Kerfoot, who has an economics degree from Harvard, Matthews said: "I can't say enough good things about 'Kerf'. He's a guy everyone loves and gravitates to in the locker room and on the ice he's so versatile.
"We all love him in this room, and it was a big goal from him tonight to take hold of the series.
"But we all know in this room that the job's not close to finished. We've got to refocus, enjoy this one, but obviously the fourth one's the hardest one to win."
Reflecting on what it took to win a second consecutive game in OT at Amalie Arena, Matthews said: "This is a loud environment, especially when they get going. I thought halfway through the second we started to find our game a little bit.
"We know who we're up against, the group and what they've accomplished, especially in the last couple of years. We know they're going to be ready to come in Game 5."
Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said his teams were "on top of the puck more" as the game went on.
"We started the game fine, but when they scored, the building gets loud, they get feeling good, they took it to us pretty good the rest of the first," Keefe said.
"The message going into the third was to not go away, stay with it. You're not necessarily thinking you're going to come back in the game, you just want to stay there and give yourself a chance rather than going away and moving on to the next one."
He told his team to win that third period.
"Credit to the group, the spirit of the group, carrying us through to come back in this fashion," Keefe added. "It was outstanding to witness and be a part of."
Kerfoot was the hero of the hour, and the 28-year-old said: "It's what you dream about, scoring goals in overtime in the playoffs.
"There was a lot of belief in our room, even after the first two periods. We started to put the heat on them a little bit, our big guys came though getting us to overtime, and we got one on the power play in the end."
NHL: Surging Vegas scores 4 in 1st to beat Canucks
Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel each had a goal and an assist in a four-goal first period and the Vegas Golden Knights extended their point streak to seven games with a 6-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
Anthony Mantha and Noah Hanifin also scored in the opening period and Brett Howden also tallied for Vegas, which has gone 6-0-1 in its last seven games to pull within three points of Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division.
Logan Thompson made 27 saves to win his sixth straight start in his 99th career game.
Quinn Hughes scored twice for the Canucks, who have lost three of four but are five points up on the Oilers for first in the Pacific.
Ullmark perfect in Bruins’ win
Linus Ullmark turned away 32 shots and assisted on Charlie Coyle’s short-handed, game-winning goal in the third period to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators.
David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist apiece to help Boston win for the third time in four games and extend its Atlantic Division lead to four points over Florida.
Juuse Saros made 30 saves for the Predators, who dropped their third in a row following a franchise-record 18-game point streak.
Surging Penguins rally past Devils
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice during the Penguins’ five-goal third period and Pittsburgh remained in the playoff race with a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils took a 3-1 lead into the third period, but Crosby scored on a power play at 6:48 and Malkin’s first goal of the game just over a minute later tied it.
Rickard Rakell’s goal with 3:44 left put the Penguins ahead and Malkin made it 5-3 32 seconds later. Crosby’s empty-net goal closed the scoring.
Pittsburgh is 4-0-2 in its last six games and had moved within three points of Washington for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
NHL: Matthews scores 2 more in Leafs' win
Auston Matthews scored two more goals to push his league-leading total to 62, and the Toronto Maple Leafs withstood a third-period rally from the Florida Panthers to hold on for a 6-4 win in a potential first-round play-off matchup on Monday.
Matthews added an assist to help Toronto to its third consecutive victory, which moved the Maple Leafs within four points of Florida for second place in the Atlantic Division. The two teams are currently on course to meet in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals.
Nicholas Robertson and Matthew Knies each contributed a goal and an assist for Toronto, which built a 5-1 lead after two periods before the Panthers scored three straight goals in the third.
Robertson and Matthews both lit the lamp in the opening period to stake the Leafs to a 2-0 advantage before Florida trimmed the deficit on Brandon Montour's goal 47 seconds into the second.
Toronto responded quickly as Tyler Bertuzzi scored off a Matthews feed just 39 seconds later, and goals by David Kampf and Knies before the end of the period increased the Maple Leafs' cushion to 5-1.
The Panthers pulled goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky at the second intermission after the veteran stopped just 11 of 16 shots.
Florida's offence came to life in the third, as Vladimir Tarasenko redirected Niko Mikkola's shot past Toronto netminder Ilya Samsonov just 2:12 into the period and Sam Reinhart cut the lead to 5-3 with 8:02 left to play on his 52nd goal of the season.
With replacement goaltender Anthony Stolarz pulled for an extra attacker, Sam Bennett brought Florida within one when his wrist shot beat Samsonov with 1:50 remaining.
The Panthers couldn't come up with the equaliser, though, and Matthews sealed the outcome with an empty-netter with 46 seconds left.
Tarasenko ended with a goal and two assists for Florida, which has lost three of four. Stolarz stopped all six shots he faced in relief.
Samsonov finished with 26 saves.
Crosby, Penguins halt Rangers' win streak
Sidney Crosby led the way with two goals and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins put an end to the New York Rangers' five-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory.
Bryan Rust also scored twice to back 28 saves from Alex Nedeljkovic as the Penguins extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2). Pittsburgh currently sits five points out of a play-off spot in the Eastern Conference.
Nedeljkovic made 10 first-period saves and Rust quickly put Pittsburgh ahead by knocking in a rebound of Crosby's shot just 18 seconds into the contest.
Crosby made it a 2-0 lead midway through the opening period and after a scoreless second, Emil Bernstrom converted a breakaway chance 9:51 into the third to increase the Penguins' margin.
The Rangers regrouped to cut their deficit to 3-2 on goals by Kaapo Kakko and Jack Roslovic, the last coming with 3:07 left to play. New York pulled goaltender Igor Shesterkin in the closing stages, but fell further behind as both Rust and Crosby scored into an empty net inside the final 2 1/2 minutes.
Shesterkin turned aside just 15 of 18 shots to have a three-start winning streak snapped.
Blues continue post-season push with overtime win over Oilers
Brandon Saad scored 2:09 into overtime as the St. Louis Blues continued their late-season push for a play-off spot with a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
Brayden Schenn accounted for both St. Louis goals in regulation to help the Blues improve to 8-2-1 over their last 11 games. The surge has brought St. Louis within three points of the Los Angeles Kings, who were dealt a 4-3 loss by the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, for the Western Conference's final wild-card berth.
The Blues trailed 1-0 after one period, but Jordan Binnington stopped all 13 Edmonton shots in the second and Schenn tied the game with a power-play goal 8:15 into the middle stanza.
Schenn struck again 1:44 into the third before the Oilers drew back even when Leon Draisaitl stuffed a feed from Connor McDavid past Binnington with 5:25 remaining in regulation.
Edmonton committed a costly giveaway in the neutral zone during overtime, though, which led to Saad scoring on a breakaway for his fifth goal in six games.
Mattias Ekholm recorded the Oilers' first goal and added an assist on Draisaitl's 39th tally of the season.
Binnington ended with 36 saves and Stuart Skinner stopped 26 shots for Edmonton.
NHL: Canucks extend Ducks' woes
Dakota Joshua scored two goals, including the game-winner with 2:13 left to play, as the Vancouver Canucks bounced back with Sunday's 3-2 victory over the downtrodden Anaheim Ducks.
Arturs Silovs made 20 saves to win his first NHL start in over a year and help Vancouver halt a two-game losing streak as well as extend its lead atop the Pacific Division. The Canucks now own a four-point advantage over the second-place Edmonton Oilers.
The Ducks rallied from a 2-0 deficit on third-period goals from Olen Zellweger and Mason McTavish before ultimately being dealt a fifth consecutive loss and 12th in 13 games.
Silovs, whose last NHL appearance came on March 6, 2023, stopped all 17 shots he faced through the first two periods as the Canucks built a 2-0 lead on a pair of power-play goals. Brock Boeser had the first 11:26 into the first period and Joshua backhanded a close-range shot past Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal midway through the second.
The Ducks then came to life early in the third, as Zellweger and McTavish scored 1:11 apart to even the game less than five minutes into the period. Zellweger's goal was the first of his NHL career.
The score remained 2-2 until Joshua knocked in a behind-the-net pass from Conor Garland with under 2 1/2 minutes left.
Dostal finished with 27 saves for Anaheim.
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