
1. The Toronto Maple Leafs Offense was Dominate
Auston Matthews terrorized the opposition with his shot, speed, passing… Everything.
He is a generational talent, and his ability to take over a game was a huge difference maker for the Leafs. Mitch Marner is amazing with the puck, able to draw three defenders towards him only to make a cross ice pass to Michael Bunting… Which bounced off a skate right to Matthew’s stick.
Marner’s play here is key as the pass would not have gotten through if he didn’t force the Lightning to respect him. The ice completely opened up and Matthews, like all great goal scorers before him, attracted the puck to his stick for snipe.
The main thing that makes their offense dangerous is their transition game. The SECOND the opposition makes a mistake, the Leafs are off to the races. The Lightning had 12 giveaways this game and the Leafs made each one of those seem like a dangerous scoring chance.
The Toronto Maple Leafs also never made it seem like their shot was just flinging it on goal with the hope that it will go in. The Lightning, on the other hand, didn’t really seem to have many moments where their SOG was dangerous. However, that was because of the Leafs off-puck coverage in their own zone.