Since the beginning of the Auston Matthews era, the Toronto Maple Leafs have annually gone into the Stanley Cup Playoffs hoping to do well. Some years, the hope has been more justified than others, but every season there has been optimism amongst players and fans alike.
This year, the Toronto Maple Leafs players appear to be displaying something new – expectation. We started to see it as the regular season wound down, and it was apparent up and down the lineup in Game 1 of their opening round series versus the Ottawa Senators.
This team absolutely expects to advance to the second round of the playoffs, and they aren’t afraid to face either the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Florida Panthers when they get there.
There are a lot of factors that go into making a successful playoff run. Experience, strong goaltending, health, coaching and an ability to play “playoff” hockey all come to mind. As good as the Leafs have been in recent years during the regular season, they’ve been lacking in several of these areas every time the playoffs rolled around.
Toronto Maple Leafs Now Have Much-Needed Playoff Experience
Experience counts for so much. Toronto has tried bringing in experienced players (Ryan O’Reilly, Mark Giordano, Luke Schenn, Joe Thornton, Nick Foligno, etc), hoping to have that experience rub off on their younger stars, but it doesn’t work. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander (and others) have had to learn a lot of painful lessons on their own.
Finally, they may have reached the point where those lessons can bear some fruit. Matthews has learned to play through injury and become much more than just a fantastic goal scorer. Marner has learned to be a leader. Nylander has learned how to play defense.
In net, Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll are providing the best goaltending this team has had in a long time. Stolarz led the NHL this season in save percentage (.926 per quanthockey.com), and after winning a Stanley Cup last year backing up Sergei Bobrovsky in Florida, he seems ready and able to be “the guy” leading his team to a championship.
Although the Toronto Maple Leafs are dealing with nagging injuries to several players (as most teams are at this time of year), pretty much everyone is healthy enough to play, the offensive talent is relatively injury-free, and the goalies are both in good form.
You can argue whether or not former bench boss Sheldon Keefe is a good playoff coach, but the fact is that his time had run its course in Toronto. Craig Berube is not necessarily a better coach, but he brought a new style and a fresh voice to the team, and the players have responded.
Defensive responsibility has replaced some of the free-wheeling looseness of the past, and a grittier, disciplined mentality has taken hold. Toronto teams in the recent past have tried to play “tough”, but too often the result was reactive, stupid penalties. Nazem Kadri, Michael Bunting, Wayne Simmonds, Ryan Reaves – all names that bring up memories of trying to be tough, but no memories of winning playoff rounds.
As demonstrated against Ottawa in Game 1, these Leafs aren’t afraid of being bullied, but they’re also disciplined enough to take some abuse without immediately retaliating. Good teams take the powerplay, score a goal, and perhaps even the physical score at a more appropriate moment.
Although things can change quickly, right now all of these factors are playing out to the Toronto Maple Leafs advantage. The players know it, and their confidence demonstrates that they don't just hope, they expect to win.