Toronto Maple Leafs Should Feel Good Heading into Game 5

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in great shape heading into game five.

The Toronto Maple Leafs may have lost game four, but they have been the best team in this series so far, they have home ice advantage, and they still haven’t played to the best of their abilities.

Of course, the Tampa Bay Lightning are an extremely tough opponent, and of course the Leafs have had their playoff drama in the past, but confidence should be high right now.

The team has shown they can not only hang with the champs, but that at the very least, they are their equal.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Will Win This Series

The Leafs are going to win.

In order for Tampa to win game four, they had to hold Matthews and Marner to a combined two shots.   Good luck replicating that.

It’s impressive that Tampa was able to shut them down so thoroughly, but the Leafs will adjust.  Back home, they get last change, and I fully expect the Leafs two top dogs to have absolutely massive games tonight, giving them two chances to close it out over the next few days. ,

The Leafs best line is going to come out on fire after their embarrassing Game Four performance.

As for John Tavares, he simply has too much pride for this to be his legacy.  I expect that we are going to see a revelation  in Tavares’ game for the rest of this series. I don’t think he’s been as bad as people have said, but he’s certainly not winning his minutes so far, and that has got to change if the Leafs are to have a chance. (stats naturalstattrick.com).

William Nylander – well what can you say about this guy? He is the Leafs best and most consistent playoff performer, and like Jake Gardiner before him, he’s been pre-chosen to be the team’s whipping boy whenever things go bad. Frankly, I find it pretty embarrassing, because I feel like Leafs fans should be more sophisticated (we are, after all, Original Six Fans) but what can you do? This type of thing occurs in all sports, in all cities, and I don’t have the phycological background to really know why.

But I have believed in these four players since the Toronto Maple Leafs put them together.  The Lightning are a great team, and a tough test, but I know these guys are going to dig down and find that extra gear that finally gets them to round two.

It doesn’t matter what defenseman the Leafs dress, or what the lines are.  In Game Four, Matthews had one shot, and Marner had one shot.  I am certain that that was enough to remind those two how it felt to lose to Columbus and Montreal.  You won’t see that again.

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are about to go to town. They are about to elevate their performances to previously unthinkable levels.  They will will the Leafs to victory.  Look out Tampa, you’re about to lose two straight.