The Toronto Maple Leafs have been off to a great start to their 2025 Stanley Cup Playoff run, taking the first two games of the series against the Ottawa Senators. The Leafs won the first game commandingly 6-2, while grinding out a nail-biter for a 3-2 overtime win in Game 2.
In doing so, there have been a few surprises so far that has helped fuel the Toronto Maple Leafs’ success to date. Here, we will take a look at 3 surprising Leafs playoff performances thus far that has contributed to their winning ways.
3 surprises in the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff performance so far
Leafs' Power Play
One of the Leafs’ Achilles heel from the past have been their ill-timed power outage on the power play at the worst possible time during the playoffs. By not being able to fully take advantage of the man advantage, we have witnessed some early playoff exits by Toronto in each of the past few seasons.
However, this time around, the Leafs have come well-prepared heading into the postseason. To date, Toronto has converted four of their seven total chances for a 57.1 percent success rate. But more impressive have been the fact that they usually scored their goals within seconds after the penalty was called, giving them massive comfidence and momentum going forward in such situations. As a result, by having a clicking power play, this could be the year that the Leafs could go deep in their Stanley Cup run.
Leafs Defensemen Scoring
Throughout the 2024–25 NHL regular season, one of the key weaknesses in the Maple Leafs offensive attack was the lack of scoring from their defensemen. Their combined 21 goals from the back end ranked them 25th in the league while their 138 combined points put them 20th in the NHL. As a result, it gave the opposition the mentality that they could just focus on the Leafs forwards to shut down their offense.
However, once the playoffs have started, the Leafs defencemen have been another breed of animal altogether. Already, they have combined for three goals and four points in their first two games of the first round series. Led by Morgan Rielly with two goals, it has given the Senators much more to worry about in their all-out attack now, not to mention the slick moves by the unheralded Simon Benoit to set up the OT game winner by Max Domi in the second game. Therefore, it has made the Maple Leafs a much more scarier team going forward.
Scott Laughton
As one of the Leafs’ key trade deadline acquisitions, many were worried that Scott Laughton was turning out to be more of a bust than a difference maker. After all, Laughton struggled to find chemistry with most of the linemates that he was given, leading to just two goals and two assists for four points in the 20 games since joining his new team. More worrisome was the fact that he was often invisible during his time on the ice despite still holding some value with his defensive play.
Nevertheless, he had been lauded to be a big-time playoff performer, and so far, he has lived up to the billing to some extent. Finally finding some much-needed chemistry with linemates Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok, Laughton had been a pleasant surprising force so far in the playoffs for the Leafs. Averaging about 14 minutes a night, the 30-year-old forward has won almost 50% of the faceoffs while delivering three bone-crushing hits and a blocked shot in his two games to date. More importantly, his line has created pressure in the offensive zone while even handling the opposing team’s top line effectively. Just for good measure, Laughton even assisted on the Leafs’ opening goal in Game 1 on a nice feed to Oliver Ekman-Larsson. If Toronto were to go far in these playoffs, they will definitely need character players like Laughton to step up like this to be a difference maker going forward.