Can the Maple Leafs take advantage of a Panthers team missing several key parts of its forward group as they look to build off Saturday’s win and start December off on the right note? (7:30 p.m. EST, TSN4)
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the type of challenge he expects from the Panthers:
It is going to be like how we always play Florida. We know how they play and what type of game it is going to be. Their game is not going to change.
We just have to build off the last game. We did a lot of good things with the puck. We are going to have to do that again tonight.
Even looking back to the playoffs last year, we had some real good success against them in that series, and then not so good success. There are certain things we can do tonight that will give us success. That is what we are going to focus on.
Berube on lessons from last spring’s playoff series vs. Florida:
When you look at Game 6 and the patience we played with, you need that against this team. You have to beat the pressure, right? It is going to be a lot of pressure everywhere.
You have to be patient at times, manage the puck, and manage the game. We did that really well in Game 6. In Game 7, we got impatient in the second period, and it cost us. It really did. That is what it boils down to, in my opinion.
We have to check hard and be on the right side of things tonight. The plays are not going to be there all the time. It is about managing the game, managing the puck, and staying patient.
Berube on scratching Dakota Mermis over Philippe Myers for tonight’s game:
[Myers] was playing quite a bit there, and we took him out and put Mermis in. I thought he had a strong game in the last game. He is one of the right-hand shots we have available. I just like the puck movement a little bit better. I think Mermis has done a great job for us, but it is more about the hands than anything.
Paul Maurice on the Leafs vs. Panthers rivalry:
You just know each other very well. When you play each other as often as we’ve played Toronto and some other teams, you get a really good idea — or think you have a really good idea — of what the game is like going into it. There is enough history and enough chirping that has gone on that there is always a little extra energy in the game.
Maurice on the difficulty of surviving injuries to top players:
You can’t replace Barkov. You could make a pretty good argument going into the season that he might be the best player in the world. Point-a-game guy, Selke Trophy winner, two-time Stanley Cup champion. I could probably make that argument.
We are a deep enough team that I think you can survive that. You are not going to look the same. You are not finishing first. But I think you can survive.
The bigger challenge is when you lose the players underneath. We are somewhere between six and seven forwards missing from tonight’s lineup. Those guys are the ones who populate your top three lines when those other guys go down, and then you lose that band of players.
One of the most impactful injuries this year was to Dmitry Kulikov. We lost him halfway through game two. That is the underpinning that helps you survive losing those one or two great guys. He kills penalties, blocks shots, plays heavy, and takes minutes off Jones, Ekblad, and Forsling.
It is the underpinning guys — the character, glue guys. We’ve lost one playoff series in three years, and Eetu Luostarinen didn’t play in that series. Those are such critical people to what we do because we play tight games. Our margin on our wins and losses over the last three years, especially in the playoffs, is very close.
You miss those guys. The exciting thing would be the Anton Lundell effect in that. We played Toronto in the playoffs two years ago, and we got up in a game. They tried to find that line. Matthews came out against Lundell, and why wouldn’t you? He is 22 years old. Luosty is 23. We had [Reinhart] on the right side, and that is pretty good, but you would find that line; it is the difference between one and three.
Now, he is playing in the one hole, and he is 24 years old. He is going to get an entire year playing against the other team’s best and experiencing what number-one centers go through — and it is a lot. Your shift length is important. If the whistle blows and you get a power play, you have to go, whether or not you just got off. The same is true on the penalty kill. And you have to play against the other team’s best, and they’re going to stack their 1-2 behind you.
It is kind of at that risky place for us. It can either be really good or really bad, what we are dealing with. The really good part is that we are going to have a bunch of guys get different experiences in different roles. If you can survive it and then fill your players out with guys on your roster — just not on your team — you would have much better players in a year. That is what we are shooting for.
Maurice on the difference between two elite players who are elite in their own ways, Auston Matthews and Sasha Barkov:
It is just a different style of player. [Matthews] is in that group of guys. The argument against Barkov being the best is a style argument; it is not going to be a value argument, in terms of who is more important to the team. Auston Matthews is every bit as important to the Maple Leafs as Sasha Barkov is to us. It is just different styles. Barky doesn’t shoot the puck like that, and he’ll tell you that. But there are not many guys who do.
Troy Stecher on his new pairing with Jake McCabe:
I met Jake this summer, actually, when skating in the offseason. That little bit of familiarity definitely helps, but he has been around the league for a long time. He is a really good two-way defenseman who moves the puck really well.
For me, I have been on the right side the whole time. He has been on the left and the right. As a lefty, he was back on the left. I thought we were vocal together and tried to put our best foot forward.
The onus is on us to do it again.
Stecher on the areas to build off from the win in Pittsburgh:
Any time you score seven, it gives you a lot of individual confidence as players. When guys put the puck in the net, they come to the rink the next day a little more upbeat, and it is just a better atmosphere to be around.
Definitely, in the goal-scoring department, it was huge, but I don’t think we get that if we are not checking the way we were. Our forecheck was really good; on [Robertson’s] goal, for example, he stripped a d-man, or even Domi centering to Roy off a forecheck.
I felt like our system play was really good, which provided us with opportunities to put the puck in the net.
Stecher on the emotion of a matchup against the Panthers, as a now Leaf and former Oiler:
In the back of the mind, it is there a little bit, but if you look at the standings and where we are — not just where we are, but where other teams are, too — it is so tight that we are just focused on trying to get two points. When you have that focus, you are going to be a little more physical here or there, or maybe the refs will put the whistles away, knowing it is a rival and they want to let the guys play.
Our main focus is on trying to get two points and not worrying about what happened in the past.
Scott Laughton on the importance of this game:
These divisional games are so important. The time of year doesn’t matter. We are kind of in the same spot, I guess.
It is going to be a quick game. They play fast. We know their game. They know our game. We are going to have to be on our toes right from the puck drop, play a really hard game, and make it hard on them.
It is going to be fun.
Maple Leafs (11-11-3) vs. Panthers (12-11-1): Head-to-Head Stats
via NaturalStatTrick.com & AdvancedHockeyStats.com
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies – #34 Auston Matthews – #11 Max Domi
#53 Easton Cowan – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#81 Dakota Joshua – #55 Nicolas Roy – #74 Bobby McMann
#18 Steven Lorentz – #24 Scott Laughton – #89 Nick Robertson
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#22 Jake McCabe – #28 Troy Stecher
#2 Simon Benoit – #51 Philippe Myers
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#35 Dennis Hildeby
Extras: Dakota Mermis, Matias Maccelli, Calle Jarnkrok
Injured: Brandon Carlo (IR), Anthony Stolarz (IR), Chris Tanev (LTIR)
Florida Panthers Projected Lines
Forwards
#63 Brad Marchand – #15 Anton Lundell – #13 Sam Reinhart
#23 Carter Verhaeghe – #9 Sam Bennett – #70 Jesper Boqvist
#10 AJ Greer – #17 Evan Rodrigues – #11 Mackie Samoskevich
#18 Noah Gregor – #53 Jack Studnicka – #71 Luke Kunin
Defensemen
#42 Gustav Forsling – #5 Aaron Ekblad
#77 Niko Mikkola – #3 Seth Jones
#26 Uvis Balinskis – #2 Jeff Petry
Goaltenders
Starter: #72 Sergei Bobrovsky
#40 Daniil Tarasov
Injured: Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Eetu Luostarinen, Dmitry Kulikov, Jonah Gadjovich, Thomas Nosek
