LEAFS’ CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
After 3-2 loss in regular season finale, Toronto will meet Washington in first round of Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the playoffs. Let’s dwell on that for a second. They played 82 games and it’s April and they get to keep playing. The last time that happened the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks were the three worst teams in hockey. This year they are the three best, and have five Stanley Cups in that span. Things change.
Now, the other part. On Sunday night the Leafs played the Columbus Blue Jackets with clear, but not existential, stakes. A point and you get Ottawa, and a chance to end their smoke-and-mirror season; lose in regulation and it’s Washington, the best team in hockey. There was a brief “We want Ottawa!” chant in the first period. Halfway through the game it was 2-0 Leafs because James van Riemsdyk came to play. Everything was fine.
And then with a backup goaltender and one defenceman lost and another hurt, the bottom fell out. Columbus won 3-2. Washington it is.
So sure, the euphoria may fade. On Saturday night it peaked in a game you couldn’t have written if you tried. The Leafs lost their goalie and Phil Kessel scored and Sidney Crosby scored in a game he didn’t have to play, but he played because he’s Sidney fricking Crosby.
And the goal that tied it was the first career goal by a kid who came back in the Kessel trade, and the winner came on a puck that hit a lifetime Leafs fan’s stick and pinwheeled end over end and finished exactly where it needed to be.
The backup goalie stoned Sidney fricking Crosby on a pass from Phil Kessel with 48 seconds left. And the final nail in the coffin was the 40th goal for Auston Matthews, the player who changed the franchise more than any other. It was his first empty-net goal of the year. Other than losing starting goalie Frederik Andersen, Saturday night was just about perfect. Remember that?
You should remember that, because the old Leafs would have blown it, but things change. This Leafs team, healthy, could absolutely have beaten Ottawa and then faced Montreal, and that wouldn’t have been a guaranteed loss, either. They fell one point short of that chance, and that’s an opportunity missed.
Now they are heavy underdogs against Washington, and would be if they were healthy. Goaltender Frederik Anderson got hipchecked in the head Saturday, and defenceman Nikita Zaitsev got checked and came up wobbly on Sunday, and defenceman Roman Polak, who once returned to a game after a puck ripped a hole in his cheek, could only play one grimacing shift in the third period. Head coach Mike Babcock seems unworried, but until those guys play, they’re a question mark.
But the Leafs were 30th last year, and they’re in. And yes, Washington won the Presidents’ Trophy, but has never advanced past the second round in the Alexander Ovechkin era. As defenceman Jake Gardiner put it, “You gotta beat the best at some point, so might as well do it in the first round.” All the pressure is on the Capitals. This is free money.
“Well, I think it’s a way different thing for our team,” said Babcock, asked before the game about nerves. “What happens is you have nerves when you win the Presidents’ Trophy, and you’re playing a real good team in the first round. That’s when it’s a completely different program. We’re so far away from that program. We got two years left before that happens.”
Babcock is basically saying Toronto will be the best team in the league in two years, and that’s a message: this Leafs team can afford to be ambitious. The Capitals spent more time playing with the lead than any team in hockey; the Leafs were second. The Leafs have three scoring lines, which is more than Washington can rely on. The Capitals know what playoff hockey is, and most Leafs don’t. Nobody expects this to come out Toronto’s way.
But the lesson, beyond what playoff hockey is: “No space. Zero. Battle for every inch of the ice, from the opening faceoff to the end,” as Babcock put it — should be ambition.
This Leafs team will try to win a Stanley Cup over the next few years. Contention could arrive fast. And whatever happens, this is where it starts.
“I remember losing a series in the Cup finals to L.A. (with the Rangers) where we weren’t down at all in the first two games, we lost in overtime both games, we were leading the whole way,” said centre Brian Boyle. “Things like that happen. You just have to stick to your structure, to your game plan, don’t break off and do your own thing. A lot of competitive guys in here, but we have to make sure we’re playing as a unit, because that’s what’s going to get us through things.
“I’ve seen some crazy comebacks. I’ve seen goals scored with six seconds left to extend the series. It’s a lot of fun. Crazy things happen, and that can turn a series. So we stick together, we do these things together, we work together, for however long the game goes. I mean, we’re here for a reason. We should feel good about ourselves.”
The Leafs are in the playoffs. The Leafs are pretty good. May as well try to win.