Legends Sports Universe Hockey League (NHL 26)

[GForce22]

https://legendssportsuniverse.substack.com/p/chaos-in-the-east-favorites-flop

The first round of the LSUHL playoffs just delivered an Eastern Conference wipeout that has only happened once in true NHL history. The favorites are out, and the bracket is busted. Come have a read as I take a look at the link between Year 1 of the LSUHL and the NHL's 2006 postseason!

[GForce22]

LSUHL PLAYOFF NOTEBOOK

FLORIDA FLUB KEEPS LEAFS FROM FALLING

Florida Panthers defenseman Robert Svehla stood in front of his locker, eyes downcast, half of his game gear still strapped to his 209-pound frame an hour after the conclusion of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was hardly the look of a man who netted the game-tying goal - his first of the playoffs - with 32.4 seconds remaining to force overtime and keep the Panthers’ hopes of a series-clinching victory alive.

Instead, it was the look of a man who made the mistake that - in his eyes at least - cost his team the game when Bob Pulford capitalized on his misplay deep in the Panthers’ zone to stuff the game-winner in for Toronto at 12:52 of overtime to keep the Leafs alive for another day and force Game 6 in Toronto.

“No excuse,” Svehla said with a slow, rhythmic shake of his head. “This loss falls on me, nobody else.”

Following Roberto Luongo’s save of goals leader Auston Matthews’ shot low from the left circle, the Panthers won the ensuing faceoff. Aleksander Barkov’s draw slipping to Gustav Forsling, who cycled right to Svehla. Barkov had broken to the middle to start a rush and Svehla, for lack of a better term, muffed the pass.

“I took my eye off the puck and received it terribly,” Svehla explained. “Stick was way too open so the pass hit the heel of my blade and rolled toward Robby. It was like it all happened in slow motion, like in a bad movie.”

Luongo was caught completely off guard and tried to get the puck somewhere, anywhere, other than right on his doorstep.

“Tried to bail him out, but I hesitated. That was it,” Luongo said.

It was Pulford, breaking off engagement with Forsling, jamming the loose puck past Luongo to send the Leafs pouring over the bench and the crowd in Sunrise, Florida, into stunned silence.

Florida coach Doug MacLean for his part tried to take the heat off Svehla as best he could.

“We let up not one but TWO shorthanded goals tonight,” he said of Toronto captain Dave Keon’s pair. “That game should never have gotten to overtime. Don’t you all dare drop this on one guy.”

The Panthers will try to regroup. The Leafs will take their good fortune.


“We got a gift tonight,” Keon said. “But a gift you never open is just a box. We gotta open this with two more wins.”

READ THE FULL NOTEBOOK ON SUBSTACK: https://open.substack.com/pub/legend...meOnShare=true

[GForce22]

“That’s our captain!”

The phrase reverberated through the Scotiabank Arena, with a raucous crowd reaction to follow, when the league’s leading goal scorer in both the regular season and playoffs, Auston Matthews, responded after being asked on-ice postgame about the Maple Leafs’ second consecutive overtime win.

The captain, of course, is Dave Keon, whose wrister off a feed from Matthews at 5:33 of overtime gave the Leafs a 4-3 win in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals to force Game 7 in Florida.

Keon had scored twice - each shorthanded - in the 5-4 Game 5 overtime win, his first two goals of the postseason. Like teammate Mitch Marner, Keon had been an assist merchant throughout the playoffs, tallying eight up to that point.

But he’s found his scoring touch at the right time, in the biggest of moments.

READ THE FULL STORY FREE ON SUBSTACK: Captain Clutch! Keon's OT winner helps Leafs force Game 7