MLHS’ Anthony Petrielli joined The FAN Morning Show on Sportsnet 590 to discuss the Maple Leafs’ 2-0 series deficit to the Panthers, whether Mitch Marner’s play has been up to snuff in the second round, Sheldon Keefe’s coaching job in the playoffs so far, and the Maple Leafs’ path back into the series vs. Florida.
On Mitch Marner’s performance in the playoffs so far:
I don’t think there has been a single game so far this playoffs where I have left it and said, “Marner was the best player on the ice.”
I understand he had six points in his first playoff games. In one of them, the whole team got blown out of the water. In the other one, they blew Tampa out of the water, and Tampa kind of conceded the 1-1 split going home given no Hedman or Cernak. All of that to say is that I don’t put too much stock into the [points].
I think he is completely escaping criticism at the moment. I probably went back and watched the 3-2 goal [in Game 2] 100 times; I don’t understand how you wrap your head around making a drop pass before your blue line in the NHL playoffs let alone in round two. It is just not a thing you basically should ever do.
I know Matthews tried to make a play, but Matthews was probably the most shocked person of anyone to get that puck. Why did you drop me a puck a foot away from the blue line? It is a really bad play.
On the first goal Florida scored in Game 1, Tkachuk kind of comes out from the goal line, and Marner half-heartedly waves his stick at him one-handed. Tkachuk just steps around it, walks in, and shoots. Cousins put home the rebound.
A lot of focus is on Nylander for the second goal [in Game 2], and there is some validity for sure, but if Nylander had made that play in Game 1 that Marner did, it would’ve been a roundtable discussion until Game 2.
They pay Marner a lot more. Marner is making $11 million. I understand the point totals have been here, and I can see the underlying numbers. The line has created some offense. I just don’t think there has been a single game where I have said, “This is the best player on the ice,” and we are now eight games into the playoffs.
On William Nylander’s mixed performance in Game 2 and his importance to turning the series around:
What he did in the third period in terms of creating offense — he was the best player on the team in the third period. He created a ton in the third. To me, it felt like he knew he had really struggled to that point, and it was one of those games where he was trying to get it back.
In terms of bringing it to Game 3, I kind of hope he says, “Enough of this. I know I can create against these guys.” They really can’t handle him. I hope it kind of demonstrates to him that the reality is Matthews and Marner are going to get Forsling and Ekblad. That means Nylander is going to play against Marc Staal a lot. He might get some Radko Gudas. Brandon Montour will be on the ice some, but they are on opposite sides of the ice.
That makes him a significant X-factor in the series. He needs to eat those guys alive. He should be eating those guys alive. Marc Staal cannot skate with Nylander, obviously. I kind of hope it was a bit of a wake-up call, and he is able to carry it over into Game 3.
If he gets those chances, one is eventually going to go in. Hopefully, it breaks the dam.
On Sheldon Keefe’s coaching performance in the series and playoffs at large:
They haven’t really played the way they have all season. I get that playoffs are different and things do change, but not to this extent. We talked about Marner, and to me, he hasn’t done much in this series, but he has played him around 25 minutes a night.
What has happened so far this series feels a lot like what has happened in every other series minus the series win over Tampa. Two guys have had a ton of ice time. The team hasn’t scored. Everyone is sitting back and saying, “They’ve had a ton of chances. It is what it is.” He is playing into that hand with how he has kind of run things.
The reality is that they didn’t even outplay Tampa. Steven Stamkos said it best when he said, “I thought we played better this year than last year, and we didn’t get the bounces.” All of that kind of comes into question with the coaching staff and how he can make adjustments.
He has a ton of options at his disposal with the forward depth they have. The only real thing that he has put together against Florida is playing his top guys a ton. That is about it. That is a little bit problematic.
I do think there is still a little bit of immaturity in the team’s game. Some of that is on the core players. They are getting rope-a-doped right now. We all know what Florida is doing to them. The team itself has to take some responsibility. I just don’t agree with how he has run the forward group or him going into Game 1 thinking, “I am going to put a Tavares-led line against Bennett and Tkachuk.” Logically, with Matthews and O’Reilly there, I don’t think it makes any sense.
He takes a good share of the blame. If the series keeps going the way it does, I don’t think he is out of the public eye and the doghouse just yet.
On whether there should be personnel changes on the blue line for Game 3:
I thought he should’ve done it in Game 2. Giordano clearly struggled in Game 1. He clearly struggled against Tampa. Now, you are looking at an 0-2 hole to say, “You are coming out of the lineup,” which is an even tougher spot for everybody involved.
I still think it is very much on the table. I don’t know if Erik Gustafsson is getting enough play around possibly entering the lineup. I understand what the guy is like in his own end, but isn’t this series kind of tailormade for Erik Gustafsson? It’s Erik Gustafsson hockey.
If Morgan Rielly is not on the ice in the third period, you felt nothing about the defense and their ability to [make a push]. You’re watching McCabe try to chop it up. They moved Brodie with Rielly. They had nothing beyond Rielly on the point. That is the limitation of the group they’re running. It is not their game. Maybe we can squint and say Liljegren can contribute, but I thought he got bullied a little bit in his own zone last night.
Is Erik Gustafsson the worst thing right now? He would throw pucks on net. He is dynamic on the offensive blue line.
Holl would be a different discussion in relation to Liljegren. I just look at Gustafsson and say, “I think he could create something.” They are not scoring right now, and while he isn’t a goal-scorer per se, he is a creator, especially in the type of game where the Leafs are creating chances off the rush and generating long stretches of pinning Florida in their own zone. Other than Rielly — and Schenn, apparently — they are getting nothing from the point.
On the play of the Jake McCabe – TJ Brodie pairing in the playoffs so far:
I think it is a solid if unspectacular pairing. I know it was common for people to say, “This is the Muzzin replacement,” when they acquired McCabe. Jake Muzzin was an exceptional hockey player. He played on Team Canada. He won Cups. He was a legitimate top-pairing defenseman and needle-moving player.
One of my saddest things of playoff defeats in playoffs past was wasting prime Muzzin. If you look back at those games, he was very good. Often, when everyone else was a no show, Muzzin along with Rielly were two of the guys who you could sit there and say, “They delivered and played really well.”
That is a hard player to replace. Muzzin is 6’4. He brought some offense. He had some grind and defensive chops to his game. There was a lot to love about Muzzin, and it is unfortunate how he is career is ending here.
McCabe doesn’t replace that, and Brodie has kind of been like this in the playoffs since joining the Leafs. He is quiet, he is steady, and he doesn’t necessarily make any sort of needle-moving, difference-making plays offensively with the puck. Defensively, he is solid.
McCabe has put himself in a tough spot at times just making plays. A lot of the focus was on Nylander on the second goal in the game, but they won the opening faceoff, and McCabe iced it for no reason. Ryan O’Reilly won the faceoff again to him in the defensive zone, and he again did not make a pass out of the zone. He fanned on the puck and just batted at it. He wasn’t under much pressure.
Our expectations of what the pairing can really do shouldn’t be that high other than, “Don’t get scored on,” but obviously, that has been happening lately.
On the team’s 0-2 series hole vs. Florida, whether the Panthers have sucked the Leafs into their style of game, and the Toronto’s way back into the series:
It just kind of feels as though, as a team, they’ve done a lot of things in this series that really don’t align with what has made them successful this season. This has not been their winning formula this year of playing free-flowing, run-and-gun, traded-chances offense.
And then there is the way they have been deploying their team. They are turning into a five-forward team so far in the second round, and I think everyone knows who their five-forward are. Noel Acciari has been their seventh-most-played forward in ice time and is playing around 12 minutes a night. That is not how the Leafs played hockey all season. They generally ran three lines.
In terms of lulling them in, I think Florida gets credit for Game 1, but they don’t get credit for Game 2. You are on home ice, and the Leafs have to figure that out. Where I do think Florida gets credit is that they are a better team than a lot of people cared to give them credit for before the series.
They have three lines — three legitimately solid lines — and they are deep down the middle. He is public enemy number one right now, but Sam Bennett is a really good player and is their second-line center. Anton Lundell is a really good third-line center.
I understand what the Leafs’ center group looks like, but O’Reilly is battling something, and they’ve moved Tavares to the wing a ton in part as an indictment of his play as a center. Florida is young and fresh down the middle. The Leafs are not. Now we are in round two, and it seems to be catching up to Toronto. Florida seems to have legs and energy there.
At Game 2, you could see it. They buzz around. They hit a lot. They have some skill. They have one good defense pairing, and Brandon Montour is good. They are not as bad of a team as everyone thought they were, but the Leafs need to kind of figure it out and make Bobrovsky’s life a lot more difficult than they have so far.
On the keys to solving Sergei Bobrovsky:
If we look back at all of the saves that he is making and are compiling into highlight reels, the common theme is that it is Bobrovsky one-on-one against a Leaf. He is seeing the puck cleanly. There is no traffic in front of him.
What was their first goal in Game 2? Their fourth line forechecked, Schenn froze a forward at the top, and he threw very little to the net — not much on the shot, which is what he wanted to do. Traffic in front by Kampf, the Leafs won the rebound, and Kerfoot shoots it home. There was nothing pretty about it.
Even the second goal was a scrum in front of the net on the power play before it was fished out and Marner did make a nice pass. Matthews was still right there when the goal was happening — right in front of the net.
There have been chances off the rush — and you are not going to tell them not to take odd-man rushes when you can — but when they are in the zone, they have really gotten away from that mentality of, “Let’s get traffic in front, let’s get pucks on net, and let’s let things develop that way.”
They need to get that back. I don’t know why they ever stopped. That is playoff hockey. As much focus as there was on Andrei Vasilevskiy for it, it is literally just playoff hockey.
On Ilya Samsonov’s performance in the series so far:
They have had the worse goalie of the two of the series so far. I wouldn’t even necessarily say Samsonov has been bad, but he let in one really bad goal in Game 2. The Barkov goal can’t happen — it is a really bad goal — although I did see on the replay that it kind of dipped a little bit. He still should’ve saved it.
He did keep them in the game, though. Verhaeghe had a breakaway. He really hadn’t seen any action in that period at that point. I appreciate trying to look for some level of positivity.
Against Tampa, I wouldn’t necessarily say he was lights out, but he was better than Vasilevskiy, and they won. It was probably the first time we can say since 2017 that the Leafs had the best goalie in the series, and it is not a coincidence they won given that situation.
Part of it is that Bob has to come down to Earth. If Samsonov can avoid giving up the one really bad one, I think they would be in an okay place in net, but both of those things are big ifs at this rate.
