Leafs' live reactions to the OT winner
It's been 19 years of pent-up emotion for fans and 7 years coming for much of this current Leafs group. You could see it in the way they celebrated John Tavares' overtime winner last night. This team needed a series win in the worst way and they finally got their wish. The most noticeable was Sheldon Keefe leaping what looked like 5 feet in the air and missing his landing spot on the bench.
Kyle Dubas didn't just celebrate a first round win last night, but it is almost certain that he celebrated a contract extension at the same time. Dubas was seen in an altercation with Tampa fans during Game 3, where they were telling him to go back to Canada. Now, he ended up getting the last laugh.
The longest tenured Leaf in Morgan Rielly looked relieved and elated when the puck crossed the line as he was also part of the 2013 team that lost in 7 to the Bruins. Ilya Samsonov lept for joy after out-dueling Andrej Vasilevskiy for the third straight game in Tampa.
There were plenty of individual and group celebrations last night. Thanks to one Twitter user, you can see them all in one place!
It almost feels like a dream. For many of us, this is the first time in our adult lives that we're seeing the Leafs push through to the 2nd round. Others have been around long enough to remember plenty of playoff runs. Regardless of the scenario, we all have one thing in common. We've waited a long time for this.
