#7. The Leafs Are Relentless
The fact that the Leafs continued to produce high danger scoring chances even when they weren’t scoring vs Columbus and Montreal means that those teams did not shut the Leafs down. It means those teams just got insane goaltending.
The Leafs have Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander.
Then Michael Bunting has Hart Trophy-worthy 5v5 numbers.
Mikheyev gets like 5 shots per game.
Pierre Engvall is scoring at a surprisingly high clip.
Ondrej Kase, Alex Kerfoot, even Spezza and Simmonds….the Leafs have a ridiculous amount of offensive weapons, and the playoff failures have hidden them in plain site.
Sure, maybe some teams think the Leafs aren’t tough enough to succeed in the playoffs, but if they get hot offensively, they will be unstoppable.
It might not have worked yet, but eventually there will come a time when a team is facing the Leafs and they realize that Toronto just constantly attacks, with every line, relentlessly.
In their last 11 playoff games, they’ve come from down two or more goals three times to force overtime. They did that when their offence was ice cold. I’d like to see what they could do when they’re hot, or even just warm. The ability to come from behind also shows great resilience, character, leadership and determination.
Something to consider: If the Leafs had won a game where they outshot their opponent 12-1 in overtime, they would currently be winners of at least one playoff series, and they’d have a reputation as a great come-from-behind team.