In a game that saw the postseason Battle of Ontario head to Ottawa, the Leafs took on the Ottawa Senators in their first home playoff game since 2017. The Leafs held on to a late Ottawa push before Simon Benoit sealed the deal just over one minute into the extra frame.

“Nice that guys like that are rewarded with a big goal,” Berube said.

With the win, Toronto now sits just one victory away from advancing to the second round for the second time in three years. Leafs forward Max Pacioretty made his return to the Leafs lineup, playing for the first time since Feb. 8. Pacioretty took the spot of Nick Robertson on the third line.

The first period saw no goals scored, but it showed a Senators team that was outplaying the Leafs by quite a large margin. They were fast, aggressive, and ready to go. The second half of the period saw Toronto wake up a little bit, but still were a step behind the Senators. At the end of the period, Matthew Knies took a penalty which resulted in a full two-minute power play for the Sens to start the second period.

45 seconds into the second period, William Nylander took an awful penalty to put the Leafs down 5-on-3. Less than a minute into the 5-on-3, Claude Giroux capitalized and gave the Senators their first lead of the series backed by a raucous Canadian Tire Centre.

Toronto had their own powerplay that began after a high stick was called against Drake Batherson. They equalized the score after a centering pass from Matthew Knies bounced off a Senators forward and bounced past Ullmark.

The third period got off to a hot start. Just 31 seconds in, Auston Matthews scored his first goal of the series on a great one-touch feed from Mitch Marner just behind the net. Rielly fired it down the boards where Marner collected and immediately sent it to Matthews. By the time the Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark saw the puck, it was already in the back of the net. Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist in this game, and Mitch Marner collected another two assists in the contest.

With less than 9 minutes to go in the contest, Brady Tkachuk tied the game with a shot from the left face-off circle, assisted by Giroux and defenseman Tyler Kleven.

For the second time in three games, overtime is calling the teams from the Battle of Ontario. In the first overtime, Max Domi sealed game two for the Maple Leafs. In game three, it was a man who assisted on Domi’s game winning goal, defender Simon Benoit.

Auston Matthews had a face-off in the offensive zone and won it straight back to Simon Benoit, whose slap shot beat Ullmark through traffic to seal the deal for the Maple Leafs. It was only Benoit’s seventh career NHL goal, but it sure is his biggest.

Postgame, Auston Matthews said that the team needs players like Benoit, who execute on the little details offensively and defensively. As a third-pair defender, Benoit has the ability to go out there and play physical and mix his talents around to try and help the rest of the men out on the ice.

Stolarz made 18 saves for Toronto, making it the third-straight game that Stolarz has allowed only two goals in the contest.

The Maple Leafs look to make quick work of this series on Saturday, when they have the chance to sweep the Senators in the postseason. The last time that Toronto swept a team in the postseason was 24 years ago in 2001, where the Maple Leafs swept the Senators.