After watching the opening night of the NHL playoffs, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube and defenceman Chris Tanev preached the importance of playing disciplined hockey in the playoffs. They were reacting to the series played between the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues the night before and how one of the key factors to Winnipeg's 1-0 series lead was due to a lack of discipline from the Blues.
Two out of the nine penalties that the Blues took stand out. One from forward Jake Neighbors, who was called for a slashing penalty against Jets forward Alex Iafallo. The other from Zach Bolduc, who was called for a cross-checking penalty against Iafallo, which made Blues head coach Jim Montgomery visibly agitated at his young forward. Montgomery's frustration comes from two young players experiencing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in their careers.
After Sunday night's loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green can now share his frustration with Montgomery, as the Senators had a tough time staying out of the box, mostly coming from their young and inexperienced players. If we're discounting the fracas that ensued at the end of game 1 of the battle of Ontario, five of Ottawa's eight somewhat impactful penalties came from players under the age of 26 while also getting their first taste of the playoffs.
Ottawa put Toronto on the powerplay six times in game one, where Toronto converted on three of those six man-advantages. Much like the Blues and the Senators, there was a time when this Leaf team had discipline issues.
The Experienced Meeting the In-Experienced
Flashback to Toronto's first-round series with the Boston Bruins in 2019, when Nazem Kadri got ejected for his retaliatory cross-checking penalty on Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk. Although Kadri already had prior playoff experience to that series, it still showed how his emotions got the best of him, much like the misconduct penalty Dylan Cozens took in the third period.
During last year's playoffs, we were reminded of Brad Marchand's ability to bait his opponents into taking stupid penalties and giving his team the man advantage, which is exactly what he did to Max Domi the entire first round. There may not be another player quite like Marchand, who baits his opponents into taking stupid penalties. Still, after Ottawa forward Drake Batherson took a tripping penalty, Toronto's Scott Laughton almost pulled off a masterful draw against Ottawa's Brady Tkachuk when he made Tkachuk take a roughing penalty in the second but also ended up in the box himself; he'll take it considering he took Ottawa's captain off the ice.
Ottawa's inexperienced players taking stupid penalties was reminiscent of when this young Leaf's core went up against established teams like Washington, Tampa Bay, and Boston, who knew how to win and how to play smart playoff hockey and would use that experience against less experienced teams to go on man-advantages that would ultimately make a difference in a seven-game series. As the battle of Ontario resumes on Tuesday, it will be interesting to see if Ottawa's young core learned from their reckless behavior.