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Mike Babcock’s post-game comments following the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 win over the Panthers on Tuesday night.


Curtis McElhinney only faced three shots in the first period. He said he knew it was going to get busy. How important was he the rest of the way until the victory tonight?

Babcock: I thought we played a real good first, obviously. Our power play wasn’t very good to start the second. I thought that gave them some momentum. We weren’t as good with the puck. Mac had to make some big saves, both while we were on the power play and at even strength. I thought Mac had a real good night for us.

At any level of hockey you’ve ever been associated with, do you ever remember the referees coming together and overturning a penalty?

Babcock: It’s happened a few times since I’ve been in the league where they’ve gotten it right. Everybody in the whole place knows what’s right, so I don’t know what the big deal is. Why wouldn’t you just be happy that they got it right? It takes two seconds. There is a big screen up there. You don’t even have to go over and watch this little monitor. You just get to watch the big thing up there and you get it right and everyone goes home happy. Players want it right. We want it right. The fans want it right. Get it right. Let’s move on. And it’s quick.

Impressions of Kasperi’s game tonight?

Babcock: Great speed. Good determination. Big block on the penalty kill. Obviously, you’re throwing him into important games and you’re putting him out there on the penalty kill at the end of the game. I don’t know if that’s ideal or not, but that’s what we did.

And Auston beating Wendel’s record tonight. Wendel called him a goal scorer’s goal scorer.

Babcock: Right. Hyman made a great play; got it in deep again and got it to him. That was good. That line started good. I thought we started really well. I thought we played good and then we got carried away. So, that’s part of it.

Speaking of Hyman, how have you seen him grow into a role of being one of the most important penalty killers on this team?

Babcock: He’s one of our most important players, him and Brownie, just because they work every single day. You don’t have to ask them. You don’t have to beg them. You don’t have to tell them. You don’t say nothing. They just come in and they work like dogs every single day. I think it’s important to have a drive train in your team. You need guys like that. He’s one of those guys. They do it in the gym and they do it on the ice. The other thing is, when you’re a good player, you want somebody to get you the puck. You want someone to occupy a D so you have space. That’s what those guys do. They get people the puck and they work hard.

Were you getting concerned when you had a lot of chances when you were missing shots or shooting high or wide? 

Babcock: What I’d say is I expected the game to be tight at the end going into the game, and I expect that every night. Over time, we’ll learn that you just keep going and you keep playing the same way and you get rewarded for it. We still fluctuate in games. So, they’re interesting all the time and it’s exciting for the fans.

Wendel Clark was telling us between periods that one of the more impressive things he’s seen with Matthews is him taking responsibilities with a grin on his face. Have you seen him get better with that as the season’s gone on?

Babcock: I didn’t know he didn’t want to do that. We met at the start of the year. I made it really clear, “you can play on the wing or you can play center.” If you want to play center, you’ve got to play 200 feet then. He wants to the best player in the world up front so that’s going to be the challenge for him. He’s going to have to be an elite guy over 200 feet, and those guys make their team win. That’s a big challenge for him. Tonight he lost a faceoff there and his guy ended up scoring. Those are things you just learn over time and get better at. The more mistakes you make, the more you learn. We’re putting him out there in a lot of key situations and he’s doing a nice job for us.

Can you put into context what the two points mean with the race so tight and so few games left?

Babcock: I don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about that. I really believe that, with our group, if we just focus on the game that we’re playing and play right, we have a chance to win. That’s what we talk about. That’s kind of our mantra every day. Just play right and play fast and we have an opportunity to be successful. So we don’t get all caught up in the race. We all know the standings. It’s in the paper every day, or on the computer or on the phone.


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