The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens begin their playoff series tonight.
The first place Toronto Maple Leafs, fresh off one of their best regular seasons in franchise history, will take on the underdog Habs in a best of seven series. It is the first time in 42 years these teams have met in the playoffs.
Sheldon Keefe and Dominique Ducharme have held practice all week as they get ready for an epic original six battle that starts Thursday. Both of these teams are ready to go, and by all accounts, both coaches have access to the bodies that they want and have set the rosters for game 1.
I’m going to take a deep dive into what that will be, and what it will mean for both teams.
Leafs: Game 1 Lineup
Hyman-Matthews-Marner Rielly-Brodie Campbell-Andersen
Foligno-Tavares-Nylander Muzzin-Holl
Kerfoot-Nash-Mikheyev Sandin-Bogosian
Thornton-Spezza-Simmonds
Notable Extras: Galchenyuk (F), Brooks (F), Engvall (F), Robertson (F), Dermott (D), Hutton (D), Rittich (G).
The Toronto Maple Leafs have additional depth here, especially at forward, but I don’t think we will see anybody not on this list unless things really go south. The Habs are a very physical team. They will try and use that advantage to tilt the ice and make this match-up more competitive than most fans think it will be. I fully expect the Leafs to use 15 forwards and 8 defense by the end of the series if it goes to 7 games.
The only real controversy here for me is leaving out Galchenyuk and Dermott. Personally, I agree with each decision, but I’ll take a look at why I think Keefe made these moves for game 1. Keefe touched on many of these decisions here after practice on Wednesday.
Galchenyuk has played fairly well most of the year after given a chance as a reclamation project by Kyle Dubas. Realistically, none of the vets were going to come out of the lineup unless they were injured, so the only options for keeping Galchenyuk in was to take out either Mikheyev or Kerfoot.
Mikheyev has done almost nothing offensively all year long, but he is too important to a PK that has really looked strong to finish the season. The Leafs know the PP is a problem right now, so they need to be strong on the penalty kill in order to break even on special teams.
This same analogy applies, in part, to Kerfoot as well. Kefoot has become an important piece of the PK, plus his speed and ability to break out of the defensive zone will really help the Nash line to become the checking line that Keefe wants. Two good defensive wingers and a very good defensive center give the Leafs a look that they did not have this year. This is the line that I’m most intrigued by and will be watching closely come Thursday.
Playing Sandin over Dermott was an obvious one for me. Sandin is the better player and he’s also part of the future, where as we don’t know what will happen to Dermott next year. I don’t think Sandin needs to be protected any more. Let him play.
Playing Bogosian over Dermott is a little bit more controversial to some. Not to me. Montreal is a VERY physical team and they will use that to every advantage they can get. They will test the referees and crash the net like maniacs. It’s the only chance they really have at beating this Leafs team. The Leafs will need Bogo. There is no way Keefe should sit him if he’s healthy.
Plus, Bogosian is also a key contributor on the PK, and it’s obvious that Keefe is prioritizing that area against a Habs team that struggles to score goals. Don’t let their PP get going. Snuff them out right away.