The Toronto Maple Leafs in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs have certainly looked different than those in seasons prior. The way that they have played the game each night, along with the combined team effort in all aspects of the game have put the Maple Leafs in the driver’s seat with a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators.
Toronto will be looking to complete the sweep on Saturday in Ottawa’s own barn, as the last time the Leafs accomplished such a feat, it was too against the Senators way back in 2001. So how did the Maple Leafs get themselves into such a favourable position? Here, we will look at three reasons why they are on the verge of putting their division rivals away in four straight games.
3 reasons why the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the verge of a first round sweep
The Maple Leafs stars have showed up
Quite often, we have witnessed from the past that many of the Leafs’ star players failing to show up during the most important games of the year during the playoffs. Well, not this time as the core four of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander have combined for five goals and a whopping 11 assists for 16 points in just three games to lead the team.
Just for good measure, even No. 1 defenseman Morgan Rielly was in playoff mode already, registering two goals and an assist for three points to lead all Toronto blueliners. When the best players have been at their very best, there appears to be no stopping of this Leafs team.
Leafs finally have the goaltending advantage
Another common occurrence in haunted playoff series from the past had been the fact that the Leafs were often goalied by the opposition. The incumbent Anthony Stolarz has made sure things would be a lot different with this version of the Maple Leafs. Carrying an impressive eight-game winning streak from the regular season into the playoffs, Stolarz has remained hot, sporting a stellar 1.95 GAA, .926 save percentage while providing calmness and consistent reliability in the crease at all times.
At the same time, the Leafs have made former Vezina winner Linus Ullmark look ordinary, putting 12 goals behind him in just a three-game span. With that huge discrepancy between the goalies in keeping the puck out of the net, it’s hard not to realize that Toronto has the distinct upper hand when it comes to goaltending this year.
Leafs actually showing resilience
Finally, the most important aspect that has this Leafs team performing at another level we hadn’t seen before is their resilience to whatever adversity they have had to face. In Game 2 of the series when the Senators began to take over the game from the second period onwards, Maple Leafs squads from the past often had no answer to the surge and ultimately would fall when all was said and done. However, this year’s team found a way to stay in the game and keep themselves within distance to win with the next shot in the game.
More impressively had been their ability to bounce back after giving up third period leads in both Games 2 and 3. We have all been through all the heartbreak of the Leafs blowing playoff game leads and then suffering defeat during overtime sessions in many years past, in particular the infamous one from 2013 against the Boston Bruins that many would like to forever forget. But this year, the Maple Leafs have somehow found a way to grind it out with contributions from surprising heroes to get the job done. As a result, this entire Leafs team looks and feels drastically different this year, different enough such that we could finally have the one that could make it all the way to the Holy Grail.