Can the Maple Leafs pick up a sixth postseason victory for the first time in the Core Four era and open up a 2-0 lead on the Cup champs? (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet/CBC/TNT).
Keys to Game 2
via Anthony Petrielli (@APetrielli)
– The matchups went as expected in Game 1, with the Maple Leafs matching their lines straight up: L1 vs. L1, L2 vs. L2, L3 vs. L3, and L4 vs. L4. Florida has switched up their L4, which was awful in Game 1, by inserting Matthew Samoskevich. The L3 vs. L3 matchup didn’t go smoothly for the Leafs, including two goals against (although one goal was weak on Joseph Woll). However, the Leafs are up 1-0 in the series after scoring five five-on-five goals in Game 1, so they’ll likely keep it as is and see how it plays out in Game 2.
– Florida concedes a ton of breakaways, and the Leafs were ready to exploit the aggressiveness of the Panthers’ defense with quick-strike counterpunches, including a clear 2v1 and breakaway goals. The Leafs‘ defense was active up ice. Will Florida back off? Can the Leafs keep exploiting this?
– The Leafs need to be prepared for another level from the Florida forecheck, which will be better tonight.
– The Leafs survived a rough night on the power play (0 for 5), and while they created some looks, they weren’t nearly good enough. They need to move it quicker and win some battles in front. The only way to back off Florida’s PK pressure is to make them pay. On the other side of special teams, there was a lot to like about the Leafs’ PK, which needs to keep clearing the net/rebounds and allowing clear sightlines for Woll.
– In terms of the Sam Bennett storyline, the Leafs’ best revenge is ultimately on the scoreboard, and they seem to know it. They roll in the mud with a pig. At best, someone can challenge him right away to a fight, and we’ll all move on. The Leafs need to play hard and between the whistles. It worked in Game 1.
– All we’ll say about the Leafs’ goaltending: Rally for Stolie.
Game Day Quotes
Max Pacioretty on the Sam Bennett-Anthony Stolarz incident and the team’s response to it:
It happened. We are focused on our group in here and sticking together. We knew that there would be a lot of emotions in this series. There certainly was for Game 1. We have to play with emotion, but we also have to be smart about it.
This group has stuck together, stood up for one another, and played for one another all year. This is going to be another example of that.
Pacioretty on the physicality of the series:
A lot has been made of how physical Florida plays, but we feel like we have a group in here that can play a similar style. It doesn’t always have to be the biggest hit, but we have to make life hard on their guys.
There are times in that game when we felt we did a good job of it. Probably, our game gets away from how we want to play when we get away from that. We have to make sure we keep playing physically and make life difficult, especially on their defensemen.
Pacioretty on Nylander’s ability to elevate in big moments:
I don’t know about his golf game, but I would hate to bet against him in golf. He seems like he would never miss a short putt. He has ice in his veins.
Sometimes, in the playoffs, after a good game like he had in Game 6, it is easy to sit back and say, “I am good here for a little bit,” but he comes down and scores 30 seconds in on the first shot of the game.
It shows how clutch he is and how well he is able to perform under pressure.
Carig Berube on the areas for improvement for the Leafs’ power play in Game 2:
With how aggressive their PK is, they do a really good job of it, but there were a lot of areas where we had opportunities off of quick strikes. We just didn’t execute them. We have to execute better on those plays, in my opinion, whether we didn’t get the shot off quick enough, just missed the play a little bit, or it just got tipped.
When you have an aggressive PK like that, quick puck movement and shots to the net — getting them through — are important. For me, it is off the broken plays. When they are pressing with three, we have to make those quick-strike plays. We had opportunities, and we didn’t execute on them.
Berube on the decision to call on Matt Murray in the backup role during Anthony Stolarz’s absence:
Experience, more than anything. He has been there and done it. In the room and being around, he has been through it, he’s done it, and he has won.
Berube on the areas for improvement for Scott Laughton’s line in Game 2:
More of a grind game from them. I didn’t see enough of that in Game 1. It was one-and-done in the offensive zone. When they are an effective line, for me, they are a hounding line. They are on teams. They don’t let them exit the zone easily. They grind them down, wear them down a little bit, and get line changes. They get fresh people out there. I need to see more of that out of them tonight.
Paul Maurice on the boost provided by Aaron Ekblad’s return from suspension:
First of all, the quality of his play this year was really high. We thought it was really good. It had followed the path over the last three years with his growth in the role. His game was really good.
You are out, but you are not injured. That hardly ever happens. And he is alone; he is isolated, and he can’t really talk to anybody.
If there is a positive — and we’ll take it — he is in really good shape right now. That man is as fit as he has ever been in his life. Now, we get him back, and we would like to keep him for more than a couple of games.
We will take it that we have survived without him. We missed him. He is a big part of what we do.
You are looking toward the end of the year to build the group as a feel. We got Seth (Jones) in, and Aaron is still on our team. We had a block of four games with three shutouts and a 2-1 win against Tampa at home. Everyone is pretty excited about the way we look, right? And then we can’t find it. He gets the ankle bracelet put on him, and we don’t get him back.
We are just kind of getting to learn what we look like with everybody in.
Maurice on the areas for improvement for his team in Game 2:
We felt we were behind it a little bit in how we moved our bodies and the puck. We were behind in our game. That would be similar to Game 3 in the Tampa series. That was what we felt we needed to be better.
Maurice on Matthew Samosekvich entering the Panthers’ lineup:
We put him in a challenging situation (in round one). I think Tampa has the most dynamic rush game in the league in terms of stretching, bringing pucks back, and speed on the offside. The reads are very advanced for forwards. It takes some experience. And then throw on top of that, it was his first playoff game. I don’t have the ability to articulate to a player the difference between a regular-season game and a playoff game.
I think he learned a lot. We were mindful. Anton Lundell was a healthy scratch three years ago in his first playoffs as well. It is just an awful lot.
He gets to watch and then come back in. He needs to be the same player he was for us in the regular season. He is really quick and very dynamic. He has a really good release. He’ll be excited.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#67 Max Pacioretty — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#18 Steven Lorentz — #24 Scott Laughton — #19 Calle Jarnkrok
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #29 Pontus Holmberg
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#30 Matt Murray
Injured: Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Nick Robertson, David Kampf, Ryan Reaves, Philippe Myers, Dakota Mermis, Artur Akhtyamov, Jani Hakanpaa
Florida Panthers Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Carter Verhaeghe — #16 Aleksander Barkov — #13 Sam Reinhart
#17 Evan Rodrigues — #9 Sam Bennett — #19 Matthew Tkachuk
#27 Eetu Luostarinen — #15 Anton Lundell — #63 Brad Marchand
#70 Jesper Boqvist — #8 Nico Sturm — #25 Matthew Samosekvich
Defensemen
#42 Gustav Forsling — #5 Aaron Ekblad
#77 Niko Mikkola — #3 Seth Jones
#88 Nate Schmidt — #7 Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Starter: #72 Sergei Bobrovsky
#41 Vitek Vanecek
