Want to Win Game 4? Joseph Woll and Nick Robertson Are Ready to Help!

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not winning this series if they go back to Boston down 3-1.

Therefore, tonight's game is a must win for the Leafs.

In order to win, Sheldon Keefe must sit his worst player and elevate the playing time of one of his best.

That's right, I just called Nick Robertson "one of the Leafs best players."

Want to Win Game 4? Joseph Woll and Nick Robertson Are Ready to Help!

The Leafs are 5 for 10 on killing penalties. Their starting goalie is under .900 for the series, and if they had of gotten even average goaltending in games 1 and 3, they'd be leading this series.

If they got really good goaltending, they'd be up 3-0.

There is no question, Ilya Samsonov has been, as predicted, the Leafs worst player.

Their best, at least statistically, has been Nick Robertson.

Now sure, he's getting some easier minutes, and the stars hide him and make it easier for him, but on a team that can't score, the obvious answer is to play one of their best offensive players more.

The Leafs - who can't score in the playoffs - might want to consider playing Robertson more. He goes out on the ice, and all the Leafs do is get scoring chances. (all stats naturalstattrick.com).

He leads the Leafs in shots-per-minute of 5v5 ice-time and has been robbed in each of the series first three games. If Nylander is back, taking Robertson out would give back a lot of the gains.

The Leafs have been the better team over three games, but they find themselves down because they can't score and their goalie stinks.

More ice time for Robertson and starting Joseph Woll will fix both problems.

Personally, I would put Auston Matthews with Nick Robertson and Mitch Marner. I think Robertson would be hidden in plain sight and that he could play the role of Zach Hyman or Michael Bunting to perfection - he is known as a scorer, but he's also a little pest who has a motor that never stops.

Elevating these two players could be the key to a long playoff run. And honestly, what have the Leafs got to lose?

Just one final note before I log off: based on yesterday's practice lines, the Leafs appear like they are going to scratch Timothy Liljegren. This is a clear unforced error because the Leafs are already bad at moving the puck from the back-end (which is why they can't score). Taking out Liljegren will just exasperate this problem.

Plus, I can't believe there is anyone interested in this series who thinks pairing TJ Brodie and Joel Edmundson together is a good idea.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs want to extend this series, they must play Joseph Woll and use Nick Robertson in a more prominent role.