WITH BIG WIN, BABCOCK SAYS LEAFS FEELING MUCH BETTER
Mike Babcock had no interest in attempting to become part of a small group in NHL playoff history.
The Toronto Maple Leafs coach and his team were spared from trying to erase a 3-0 series lead and win a best of seven, a feat only four NHL teams have accomplished.
While his players enjoyed a well-deserved day off Tuesday, Babcock participated in a conference call with reporters and underlined how crucial it was that the Leafs won Game 3 at home against the Boston Bruins approximately 14 hours earlier.
“If we didn’t have success, I thought we were probably going to be done,” Babcock said. “I think this now gets us back to playing (with a renewed sense of purpose).
“We have a game at home (Game 4 on Thursday night), and that’s all that really matters.”
What the victory also did was erase the mental stress that would have come had the Leafs rolled out of bed on Tuesday morning with the knowledge they had to win four games in a row to advance to the second round.
The win in Game 3 doesn’t make winning Game 4 any less important, but the Leafs are in a much better frame of mind than they would have been had they lost. A day away from the ice was unlikely to include a bunch of Leafs sitting in their downtown condos, biting their nails in anticipation of the challenge that would have been close to insurmountable had they been 0-3 through three games.
“People find it hard to believe, but it’s easy to lose your confidence very quickly at playoff time,” Babcock said.
“I think we’re in a great spot to get it back, and I really felt (Monday night) helped Freddie (Frederik Andersen), it helped Auston (Matthews). A lot of guys are feeling better about themselves.
“The first two games did not go really well for us and so the mental duress (is worse), you’re not getting freshened up, you’re spending too much time thinking about it. (Tuesday), after having success, it will be much more restful for our group.”
Of the hockey adages that ring true in the post-season, the one that says your best players have to be your best players to have the best chance of winning is at the top of the list, and the Leafs got that in Game 3.
If there’s a Toronto triumph at the final buzzer Thursday, enabling the Leafs to tie the series heading into Game 5 in Boston on Saturday, you can bet it will have the fingerprints of Andersen, who made 40 saves in Game 3, or Matthews, who cast aside any weight on his shoulders with a goal-scorer’s goal for the winner, his first point of the series.
From a team perspective, the Leafs will have to again utilize their speed to be disruptive in the offensive zone.
Not everything should attempt to be replicated, however: That the Leafs had to rely on Andersen to make 18 saves in the third period, when the Bruins had 28 shot attempts to the Leafs’ 13, was akin to playing with fire. Andersen, though, was the one who was hot, so it didn’t matter.
Still, clamping down defensively from the opening faceoff has to be among the Leafs’ foremost aims, keeping in mind the Bruins will be sore after failing to take a stranglehold in the series.
“Depending on how you are playing, I think some series, (if ) it gets out of hand, it gets out of hand — there is nothing you can do,” Babcock said.
“(Now), you win one (Thursday), you’re in a best of three. We’re set up real good that way. As far as the series being 3-0 or 2-1, I think that makes a huge difference.
“You still want to be in a better situation and be in the driver’s seat. So it’s important for us to even it up.”
People find it hard to believe, but it’s easy to lose your confidence very quickly at playoff time.