The Toronto Maple Leafs absolutely dismantled the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Now new Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe isn’t going to change everything over night.
While the Leafs added several new strategies (the aggressive puck swarming, the activated defenseman, the line-change circle back) the lineup still featured Frederick Gauthier and Cody Ceci, two guys I doubt we’ll continue to see a lot of.
Some changes will occur right away, and some will be more casual. Either way it will be fun, exciting and interesting to watch.
And in the meantime, by putting to bed their six game losing streak, the Leafs put the rest of the league on notice:
They’re back, and they’re still a contender.
Toronto Maple Leafs Are Back, Baby!
Hard to believe, but just a week before he was fired, Mike Babcock had the Leafs on a six game point streak.
Then came five games in eight nights, two sets of back-to-backs, and loss after loss after loss.
The giddy joy the Leafs expressed before, during and after the game tells you all you really need to know about how the players felt about Mike Babcock and why the change needed to be made.
I didn’t hear a lot of the classic coach-change cliché of “We take responsibility for getting the coach fired, we feel awful.”
They don’t feel bad at all and they shouldn’t. They didn’t get Mike Babcock fired, Mike Babcock did. He could have bought into the GM’s philosophy, but he trolled him in the media and acted like he was coaching the 1999 Dallas Stars.
The Leafs will now have fun. They’ll enjoy coming to the rink. Auston Matthews will wear extremely dumb hats. They’ll have music at practice.
Oh, and they’ll blow the doors off the NHL.
Wave. After. Wave.
That’s the new catch phrase.
Four scoring lines (It was nice to know ya Gauthier).
Six Puck Moving Defenseman.
Puck Possession. Offense. Defenseman rushing the puck.
They’ll try to score short-handed.
They’ll adjust mid-game. Their best players might actually get the most minutes.
Last night, they showed the rest of the NHL what it has in store.
Without benefit of a full practice, without Mitch Marner and without a single power-play, the Toronto Maple Leafs made a top-ten NHL team (in the standings so far) look like an AHL team.
They’ll neutralize the longest road trip of they year with the bump that comes from a coaching change, then they’ll return home already having played six back-to-backs as well.
Marner will return to the lineup and they’ll have what is probably the easiest schedule in the NHL after playing the hardest one from October through the end of November.
The Playoffs are a total lock. The President’s Trophy and Stanley Cup are both still within reach.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be a blast to watch from here on out.