Toronto Maple Leafs: Your Game Day Need-to-Know

The Toronto Maple Leafs play the Boston Bruins tonight.

It will be game two of a possible seven game series. The Toronto Maple Leafs won game one, in decisive fashion, and it seems to have rejuvenated a fan base that had no need to be so negative in the first place.

The Leafs finished seventh overall, hit the 100 mark, had seven twenty goal scorers and legitimate candidates for the Hart (Tavares), Vezina (Andersen) and Norris (Rielly).

And yet, somehow, this wasn’t good enough for the majority of fans with an internet connection and a social media account.

One wonders what the reaction would be if the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup – would it be elation, or would their be disappointment that these people would actually then be forced to admit that William Nylander and Jake Gardiner are borderline star players in the NHL?

Once again, I digress.  Here is your must have information for today’s game:

Toronto Maple Leafs Game 2

First we gotta talk about the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Two losses to the Blue Jackets?  Would would have thought?  The NHL is a funny place sometimes, but I kept trying to tell people that the Blue Jackets were ridiculous for an 8th seed.

Still, I wouldn’t count this series as over.  The Lightning routinely win four out of five games, so let’s not get too excited here.

The Islanders too, I keep saying they are crap, they keep winning.  I stand by it though – I don’t trust teams that massively outperform their roster.

Matt Barzal’s game one overtime winner is must see viewing though, so check it out if you haven’t.

Freddie Andersen made 37 saves on Thursday, and was only prevented from having a shutout by one power-play goal that he had no chance on. If this is the start of Freddie getting hot, look out!

Interestingly, after five last year, Andersen had only one shut-out this season.

I fully expect the Toronto Maple Leafs to go with the same lineup tonight as they did on Thursday, but the Bruins will be inserting David Backes into the lineup.   Jake Debrusk did not practice yesterday, but he’ll be playing tonight.

The Backes thing is interesting.  It’s the sort of thing that the coach was probably right about (trade experience for speed) but which he then reverses because he got a result he didn’t like, even though that result had probably nothing to do with Backes not playing.

Backes is 34, slow, and has had his goal totals decline in six straight seasons.  It probably doesn’t make any difference to the Leafs whether he plays or not, but it is significant because unlike past years, we are now seeing teams adjust their games to face the Leafs and not the opposite.

The Bruins decided to move towards a speedier lineup, but they still couldn’t touch the Leafs in this category. It was probably the right move, but  one loss and they’re doubting themselves.

Another example of this is when Boston wanted Bergeron and his boys out against Tavares, and the Leafs made no effort to change things up.

I am loving these playoffs so far, and I cannot wait until tonight.

Enjoy the game.