Thomas Ignites Toronto, 2-1

With the rest of his team struggling to score goals, Steve Thomas took matters into his hands and put the Toronto Maple Leafs on the cusp of the second round.

Thomas tied Game 5 with 4:30 left in regulation and won it nearly 15 minutes into overtime Saturday night as the Maple Leafs defeated Ottawa, 2-1, at Toronto to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference series.

Thomas, a veteran of 15 NHL seasons, set a league record this season with his 11th career regular-season overtime goal.

With a victory Monday at Ottawa, Toronto can advance to a second-round meeting against the New Jersey Devils. If necessary, Game 7 would be Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

The home team has won all five games in the series.

The winning goal came when Thomas redirected a two-on-one pass from Sergei Berezin behind goalie Tom Barrasso. The Leafs were 3-0-5 in overtime at home during the season.

“I really think our team showed a lot of perseverance,” Thomas said. “For 2 1/2 periods it seemed like we were squeezing the sticks, playing with too much stress.”

Ottawa, which lost its 10th consecutive road playoff game, held a 32-16 advantage in shots when Joe Juneau scored in the second period.

The Senators finished with 38 shots compared to 31 for Toronto.

“It’s frustrating to lose this one after a great effort,” Juneau said. “When we got the lead, you try to not to give them too much. Sometimes we didn’t give them enough pressure.”

Thomas tied it by firing a slap shot from the circle to the right of Barrasso into the far, top corner of the net.

“Not many guys could have made that shot,” Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph said.

The Maple Leafs killed a five-on-three disadvantage in the third period--including a double minor against Garry Valk for high-sticking--not allowing the Senators to register a shot.

“We didn’t capitalize on our power-play opportunities,” Senator Coach Jacques Martin said. “And there was a little too much [open ice in overtime] and it kind of backfired on us.”

The Senators have had trouble scoring goals at Toronto in the series, losing the opening two games, 2-0 and 5-1.