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On a franchise record-setting night at the Air Canada Centre, the Toronto Maple Leafs ran up an early 3-0 lead and did enough to hold on against a desperate Florida Panthers team.

Your game in ten:

1. This was another gangbusters start to the game from the Leafs, who overwhelmed the Panthers with waves of offense, led by the magic of Mitch Marner. Auston Matthews’ goal on the odd-man rush after Keith Yandle got caught up ice was a great example of how careful the opposition has to be against the Leafs when it comes to managing the puck. The Leafs transition up the ice so quickly – as quick as any team in the league. You’ve got to make them go the full length of the ice to generate offense or you’re asking to pick the puck out of the back of your net early and often.

This team has three 30-goal scorers on three different lines with speed and depth to burn. All of their forward lines are in sync at the moment, with all of their big guns offensively – more or less – rolling along with supreme confidence. This team is a pleasure to watch and now has the franchise records to show for it (27 home wins, 46 overall wins).

2.  On that same note, the Leafs feed that transition game by being one of the best teams in the league at denying zone entries against – their D is very aggressive at creating turnovers in the neutral zone. Travis Dermott has gelled into the system and the team like a glove here; his gaps and reads are very good and he can turn the puck the other way in a hurry with these quick transition plays:

 

3.  There are instances where the opposition is attacking a lane through the neutral zone and a Leafs defenseman will shoot over and take an aggressive neutral-zone gap up on the other defenseman’s side of the ice. When they’re on their game, the Leafs will have their forwards tracking back hard covering for any misses by the “attacking” D. It’s hard to anticipate for the opposition forwards, and leads to a lot of neutral zone stops, which feed the lethal transition game.

4.  With the best Pat Quinn-era Leafs teams, the opponent knew they were in for a brutal night when they walked into the ACC. While the current iteration of the Leafs aren’t going to run the opposition over in the way a Gary Roberts or Tie Domi could with an early tone-setting forecheck, skating you into the ground and overwhelming you with relentless pace — line after line, right from the drop of the puck — is this group’s identity at home, and it is every bit as tough to play against (as shown in the home wins record they just set). You could see some of the Panthers players shaking their heads coming back to the bench in that first period as if they didn’t know what just hit them or what to do.

5.  On the flipside, they don’t have the poise with the lead and the “game-closing” composure of a veteran team that can defend confidently yet, and their lead protection strategy largely centers around Frederik Andersen making a bunch of good saves, while looking for a few chances on the counter. On a per-60 basis at 5v5, the Leafs are fifth worst in scoring chances against, sixth worst in shots against, and sixth worst in shot attempts against when in possession of the lead.

After the game, Babcock sounded like he didn’t mind his team experiencing a near 3-0 collapse against a team in the Panthers that is essentially playing in the playoffs right now, for all intents and purposes. They’re going to have to figure this out to some extent if they’re going anywhere in the postseason, but Andersen is obviously the straw that stirs the drink here for the Leafs.

6.  Babcock really wasn’t impressed by William Nylander’s play preceding the 3-2 Panthers goal. The puck needed to be chipped down the wall for Hyman to retrieve; instead, Nylander attempted a blind backhand saucer pass into traffic before showing a poor attention to detail defensively when tracking back.

After saying the puck was turned over “badly” early on in his presser, later, in a question about Mitch Marner, Babcock referenced Marner’s work ethic away from the puck during his hot streak and contrasted it against young players sometimes being too cute, turning pucks over, and giving up too much in their own end (the inference was obvious).

After that goal, Marner, Johnsson and Kapanen rotated into Nylander’s spot at different times and Nylander finished the night with just 12 minutes and change in time on ice.

Babcock has always played the carrot-and-stick game with Nylander, but this seemed like he was really tightening the screws and taking a chance to send a message with the playoffs on the horizon.

7.  We noted it after one of the wins against Dallas, but there was another example on the third period penalty kill of Kasperi Kapanen forgoing a possible chance to drive the net or rip a shot on goal and instead circling the net, resetting with a pass back to the defensive zone, and burning more time off the clock. It’s a mature play. If he doesn’t feel he can get to the net successfully for a real scoring chance, he’s more likely to get taken out of the play (should he get buried on the drive to the net) or get caught behind the puck (if he misses the net or the goaltender steers/plays the rebound/save into a productive area) – in that case, the  power play is now breaking up ice against three penalty killers.

The Leafs’ penalty kill was again a huge factor for them against a dangerous top power play unit in Florida (the Panthers’ PP is just outside the top five on the road). Frederik Andersen’s ten-bell diving stop on the doorstep on the second-period kill was as good as any save he’s made this season, too.

8.  Looking at Mitch Marner’s play without the puck and how it fuels his offense – Babcock rewarded him with late shifts to close out the game — I can’t be convinced otherwise that getting him off of the JVR – Bozak line was exactly what the doctor ordered as far as instilling the right defensive corrections in his game. For an elite skilled winger who could do whatever he wanted in junior, he was a pretty decent – and committed — defensive player coming out of London. It seemed to me he just was in a bad situation on that line for a while earlier on this season and lost sight of what he needed to do away from the puck in order to possess it more, play his game, and work his magic.

9.  On the 4-3 Panthers goal, Ron Hainsey took yet another shot block in the body – right to the non-padded calf area this time – and then hit the ice doubled over as the puck went in. Hainsey is a warrior, but I can’t be the only one thinking, “They need to get this guy some rest before the playoffs.” The brutally-harsh PK minutes, the late game situations, and the tough 5v5 assignments — combined with the fact that the 37-year-old has played a load of hockey in the last 10 months — makes me think they’ve got to find a break for him at some point, or at least scale down his minutes in the final few regular season games. He played nearly 24 minutes tonight, with over four of those coming on the PK.

10. Impressive milestones for JVR (35 goals) and Matthews (breaking 30 in an abbreviated season), but steady-as-she-goes Patrick Marleau just hit 25 for the 13th time in his career and the third season in a row (at age 35-38).

In terms of 25+ goal scorers age 38 and older since 2005-06 — only eight others have done it, including Daniel Alfredsson, Shane Doan, Marian Hossa, Jaromir Jagr, Joe Nieuwendyk, Brendan Shanahan, and Martin St. Louis.

Only one has done it more than once: Teemu Selanne — four times. I’d have a hard time betting against Marleau separating himself from the other seven at this point by repeating the feat next year.


Shot Attempts: 5v5


Game In Six