Toronto Maple Leafs Release the Official Playoff Schedule

The wait is finally, mercifully over for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

As Saturday night ultimately concluded the Maple Leafs’ 2018-19 regular season in a decidedly anti-climactic fashion, Mike Babcock & Co. can now finally put the past behind them and turn their focus firmly towards the future.

That future, as the entire hockey world has been aware of for the better part of a month now, features a rematch between the Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins, setting the stage for another nail biter of a series. Again, sort of anti-climactic.

With the opponents, divisional seeding, and home-ice advantage all but locked in for as long as fans can remember, the lone remaining uncertain aspect of Leafs vs Bruins Part Three™ centred around just when exactly the games would actually be played.

Well, wonder no more.

The Maple Leafs released their official first round schedule early Sunday morning. The specifics are listed down below.

Per the official schedule, Game One of this highly-anticipated first round series will kick off in Boston, on April 11th at 7:00 PM.

That gives the Maple Leafs four full days in between their final game and Thursday’s postseason opener to use for the purpose of rest. In fact, given how half of Toronto’s blueline underwent some form of load management on Saturday night, that number will be even higher for players like Jake Muzzin, Travis Dermott, Ron Hainsey, and Nikita Zaitsev, who will each have benefited from the equivalent of a full work week to shed the wear and tear of the prior 82 games and prepare for the playoff grind.

Offering such a high number of key Leafs roster pieces the luxury of taking a sorely-needed breather may very well dictate the difference between a deep Stanley Cup run and another mid-April exit.

The Maple Leafs are a banged up team as of late. Having been unable to ice their optimal lineup for the past 20 consecutive games, a half-healthy roster is not exactly the type of foot any contender wants to enter the postseason on.

Ageing players like Hainsey and Marleau, for example, both desperately need this rest, each serving too vital a purpose to the success of their team for either to be at anything less than 100%.

The postseason schedule now gives them the opportunity to do that.

Tensions on either side of the aisle may be high but, at the very least, both teams can take solace in knowing that they’ll enter this upcoming grudge match with their very best.

Thanks for reading!