The time has come for the rematch the Toronto Maple Leafs have been waiting for.
Last season, the club finished second in the Atlantic Division. Right below them in the standings were the Tampa Bay Lightning. That set up a first-round matchup between the organizations that ultimately ended in disappointment for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On their home ice, Toronto was forced to watch Tampa celebrate their Game Seven victory.
After that series, the Leafs went golfing and the Bolts went to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Toronto and their fans. It was made more difficult thanks to the club’s history of losing in the first round.
Saturday, the Maple Leafs get their first chance to slay their personal dragon. They’re in Tampa to take on the group that crushed their dreams. This time, Toronto will have a very different look between the pipes.
The Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lighting
Goaltending
Last postseason, Jack Campbell was the man the Toronto Maple Leafs counted on for stops. This year, there’s been a revolving door of goaltenders thanks to the injuries the group sustained.
Matt Murray went down with an adductor injury and Ilya Samsonov missed time with a knee injury. It meant Erik Kallgren had to step up and fill in.
Thankfully, both Murray and Samsonov now are back in action with Murray being the expected starter to face Tampa.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Maple Leafs former goaltender who countered the Lightning in last year’s playoffs struggled. There’s been talk that the Edmonton Oilers could release Campbell who they signed in free agency.
The Lightning still have Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. The good news for the Leafs is that he has performed below his career averages.
His first 15 games this season saw the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner record eight wins and six losses with a goals-against average of 2.88 and a save percentage of .906.
Defense
The Leafs will be entering this game with a depleted defense core.
T.J. Brodie’s oblique, Morgan Reilly’s knee, and Jake Muzzin’s cervical spine are all injured. That’s not all. Recently joining Toronto’s back end Injured Reserve are Carl Dahlstrom and Jordie Benn.
While Toronto is hurting on the blueline, it has given big opportunities to players like Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren who have been scratching to make their mark in the NHL. It has also meant that Mark Giordano and Justin Holl have had to carry the lion’s share of minutes (though Sandin played the second most minutes among defensemen in Wednesday’s win against the San Jose Sharks).
Even Victor Mete’s time on ice has jumped significantly. On Monday, while facing the Detroit Red Wings, Mete played 18 minutes and 32 seconds, the third-most logged time among defensemen. Even without the help they need on the back end, the Maple Leafs have managed to string together wins.
This has been a confident group ever since beating the New Jersey Devils on the road on Nov. 23, putting the club on a five-game win streak.
The Lightning is a far healthier team. They’ll only be without Anthony Cirelli who has been out of action all season after undergoing shoulder surgery in the summer. Rudolfs Balcers is expected to be a game time decision. He sustained an upper body injury this past Friday while playing the Blues. In 17 games this season, Balcers has netted three goals and a pair of assists.
Mitch Marner
On Wednesday, Mitch Marner made history when he put the puck into an empty Sharks net. It put him into a franchise-leading tie for most consecutive games with a point. Now with 18 in-a-row, should Marner record a goal or an assist, it would make him the sole franchise leader, pushing him ahead of Leafs alumni Darryl Sittler and Eddie Olczyk.
Marner’s streak already has also put him ahead of Connor McDavid’s 17 points in-a-row, which used to be fourth longest in the last ten-years before that record was overtaken by Marner. The next marker to topple is Taylor Hall’s 19 straight games. Patrick Kane owns the two longest streaks in the past 10 years. In 2019 he had points in 20 consecutive games and in 2015, he did it in 26.
The all-time record is owned by Wayne Gretzky. He couldn’t stop producing from Oct. 5, 1983 – Jan. 27, 1984. What was a 51-game span, where he recorded an incredible 61 goals and 86 assists for a total 153 points. Marner has a long road ahead before he can even start thinking about challenging for The Great One’s record.
This is the Maple Leafs opportunity to show themselves and their fans that they are capable of winning big games. Expect the squad to be fired when they take to the ice at Amalie Arena. Puck drop is at 7 pm.