The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the cusp of doing something they haven't done in over 20 years: sweeping a playoff series 4-0. Thanks to a Simon Benoit goal in overtime on Thursday night, the Leafs took a 3-0 series lead. They will be looking to finish off the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night and sweep the series.
The Leafs have looked really good in their first-round series against the Senators. Regardless of the outcome on Saturday night, I don't see the Senators coming back to win the series. The Leafs are too good, and they're playing some of their best hockey of the season at the most oportune time. General manager Brad Treliving should be getting credit for the job he's done over the past two seasons to build a playoff-caliber team.
Some will argue that the Leafs core four of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander are all Kyle Dubas guys, so Treliving doesn't deserve credit for how they're playing. However, it's Treliving's own head coach hire, Craig Berube, getting more out of them than former head coach Sheldon Keefe did. Berube is proving that Keefe did not know how to manage this core come playoff time.
Outside of the core four, many of Treliving's guys are making an impact in these playoffs. Look at how good goaltender Anthony Stolarz has been in the Leafs net. He is 3-0 with a 1.95 GAA and a .926 SV% in these playoffs. Defensemen Simon Benoit, Chris Tanev, Brandon Carlo, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are proving to be valuable for the Leafs, and they are all Treliving guys. All four, along with Morgan Rielly, and Jake McCabe are doing all the little things right. Up front, Max Domi, Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton are doing their part to limit the number of scoring chances the Senators get.
Treliving's Fingerprints All Over This Leafs Team
Some of these players, who are Treliving guys, haven't had the greatest regular season, but they're performing when it matters most. Treliving went out and got playoff-caliber players last year and this year, and finally there's enough of them in the Leafs lineup that the Leafs look and feel like a playoff team. The aura around them this postseason is far greater than any postseason under Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe.
So, no matter how well the Leafs top stars do in these playoffs, the team's success as a whole must be attributed to GM Treliving, head coach Berube, and his coaching staff. They have built this team to win and they're being coached by a winner. Berube helped guide the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup win in 2019. He's out here to prove that he has what it takes to coach another Stanley Cup-winning team.
Treliving and Berube would enter Legendary status in the city of Toronto if they guided this team to a Stanley Cup. However, they need to put away the Senators first. After that, the playoffs will only get harder. The Leafs will play the Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lighting in the second round.