Toronto ? When the crowd fell silent, Martin Gelinas knew he had scored the biggest goal of his career, sending the Carolina Hurricanes to their first Stanley Cup finals.

Deflecting Josef Vasicek’s hard centering pass into the net 8:05 into overtime, Gelinas lifted Carolina to a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, clinching the NHL Eastern Conference finals in six games.

Toronto's Cory Cross upends Carolina's Bates Battaglia. The Hurricanes toppled the Maple Leafs, 2-1, in overtime of Game Six to win the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday in Toronto.

“I saw it go in, but I had to double-look to make sure,” Gelinas said. “But when I saw everybody jumping on the ice, and the building got a little silent, I knew.”

It was a fitting goal, coming from a grinder of a player, symbolizing the determined effort the Hurricanes have showed all postseason.

“Rightfully so, at the end of the day,” Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. “It was appropriate that one of those guys scores that goal. … It’s never the guys that you think. It’s appropriate for Marty. He’s worked so hard. He deserves a little sunshine.”

Jeff O’Neill also scored for the Hurricanes, while Arturs Irbe stopped 35 shots, as Carolina improved to 6-1 in overtime games this postseason.

The outcome was eerily familiar of Carolina’s 2-1 overtime victory in Game Two, in which the Leafs forced overtime on Alyn McCauley’s goal in the waning seconds.

This time it was Leafs captain Mats Sundin who provided his team brief hope, tying the game with 21.8 seconds remaining.

Carolina will open the finals on the road. Defending champion Colorado leads Detroit 3-2 in the Western Conference finals.

The Hurricanes beat the Maple Leafs all three times in Toronto and, coincidentally, also won their previous two series in six games, both times on the road. It was the fourth game of the series that ended 2-1.

The series set an NHL playoff record for fewest goals by two teams in a six-game series. Carolina and Toronto combined for 16 goals, eclipsing the previous record of 20, which the Hurricanes matched in the first round with New Jersey.

The Hurricanes, who moved to Raleigh from Hartford, Conn. following the 1996-97 season, will be the 28th franchise to play for the Stanley Cup since 1918. Not bad for a franchise that had gone 21 years without winning a best-of-seven series.

“It seemed like forever. And now it seems like just a short trip. Things work that way,” Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said, taking part in the locker room celebration. “It’s been a great team all year. They’ve fought adversity all year and they’ve always done very well.”