No fear in young Leafs with Ovechkin’s crew around the corner: ‘They’re not unbeatable’
As a boy band they’ve been totally Nsync.
The youth that stirred and frothed the Maple Leafs shimmy-shake in this quicktempo revivalist season of hockey.
Studding the record book and ratcheting up the points — 304 goals and assists amassed by the freshman corps when the curtain fell Sunday evening on the regular 2016-17 campaign, with an anticlimactic 3-2 loss to Columbus.
There may never be another tyro dynamo quite like them again.
Most nights, like Sunday night at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto has dressed a septet of rookies and, from the beginning — that incredible four-goal beginning for Auston Matthews — they’ve not looked too callow or too awed for their surroundings. NHL-savvy now with a full year of service under their belts.
Where would the Leafs be without the kids? Likely not in the playoffs for the first time since 2013. And definitely not so entertaining, with long-term franchise thrill written all over this roster cadre, the nucleus that will keep on giving as the lads ripen together.
Face-hair challenged, thus collectively hard-pressed to grow a playoff beard. Even if the Toronto post-season runs longer than many are predicting, having failed to dodge the bullet of a first-round encounter with Alex Ovechkin and company. That deke appeared to have been nicely orchestrated off the bang-bang effort of James van Riemsdyk — No. 28 and No. 29 — before the Blue Jackets took a short-handed goal lead that held.
So, off to the American capital instead of the Canadian one, but remember that the Battle of Ontario is sooo provincial. And only regionally interesting.
“I don’t think it changes much,” said Matthews, post-game, of a tilt with Washington rather the Senators, against whom he sprung his four-goal attack in Game 1. “They’re the best team in the league. Obviously they’re really talented. It doesn’t matter to us. We have to be ready to compete, ready to work hard. Approach it with an open mind.”
But asked if there’s reason to fear Washington — admittedly a stupid question — Matthews would only lift a bemused eyebrow.
“Scare us? Nah, I don’t think they should. They’re a good team, but they’re not unbeatable.”
As, indeed, the Leafs did beat the Caps this year. Once.
Matthews, of course, notched his rookie-record 40th in Saturday’s clincher against Pittsburgh, becoming only the sixth teenage NHLer to reach that benchmark. He’s the jewel in the rookie crown and surely there should be no further debate about the 19-year-old’s Calder Trophy bona fides. He’s managed to keep finding the back of the net even in these recent weeks of intensified hockey as the Leafs went 14-5-1 — the span when Babcock started keeping standings score.
“In the playoffs, the physicality is much higher,’’ continued Matthews, who’s been body-thrashed pretty good down through the stretch. “Not a lot of space out there. It’s something you have to embrace.
“I think it’s going to be fun — the first time we (the rooks) have experience an NHL playoff.’’
And, because he’s well mediagroomed, adding: “Obviously for the city of Toronto it’s been a while too, so everybody’s pretty excited.”
Teenager Mitch Marner — too small and slight for this big man’s league, remember? — got an abet- ting piece of Toronto’s limited offensive action Sunday night, albeit not on the scoresheet, skating straight down Broadway with van Riemsdyk from just about the red line, acting the two-on-one decoy for the quickrelease shot van Riemsdyk deposited blocker side behind Joonas Korpisalo, putting Toronto up 2-0.
Marner rode piston as well on van Riemsdyk’s first goal, at least to the extent that the 19-year-old managed to stay onside — vertically, leaping in the air over the blue line — on a shoot-in that launched the scoring sequence and which was challenged by Columbus coach John Tortorella.
Three shots on goal Sunday for Marner, after being urged all week to shoot more, pass less. “Yeah, (van Riemsdyk) and (Tyler Bozak) were finding me in open spots. If you get opportunities, shoot. You’ve got to bear down more.’’
Like Matthews, an NHL playoff virgin. And the Leafs’ assist leader — his 42 a rookie record — can’t hardly wait.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. This city, it’s going to be alive. Obviously every game is going to be a hard one, it’s going to be a battle.’’ Well, who knows what it will be. What we do know is what it’s been. In year one the froshes didn’t do overwhelmed or skittish, clearly siphoning confidence from one another while each brought a distinctive quality to the sum total, from the gaudy goal-scoring of Matthews to the Mensa hockey IQ of Marner to the “drive-train” (in coach Mike Babcock’s words) impact of Connor Brown — nailed his 20th goal on Saturday, the game winner, making Toronto the first team to have three rookies score at least 20 since the 1992-93 Jets (according to the Elias Sports Bureau) — to the playmaking and wrist-shot dazzle of William Nylander, hauling down another franchise record with his 26 points on the power play.
Round it out, the juvie squad: Zach Hyman, leading on short-handed points and ice-time average; the injury-sidelined Nikita Soshnikov, and Kasperi Kapanen — a Finnish doppelganger for Nylander — with his first career NHL goal on the weekend.
And the shot-blocking valour (136) of Nikita Zaitsev.
Zaitsev, who vanished from the game Sunday night after taking a rattling thump from Nick Foligno along the boards, maybe tweety birds circling his head as he stood back up.
Concussion crossed many a mind of those watching. The Leaf PR staff tweeted out an “upper-body injury” in-game dispatch.
Zaitsev’s status is unclear. But the rest of the un-ailing rookie cadre will be flying in playoff formation later this week, if kinda clueless about it all.
Babcock: “They’re going to find out what playoff hockey is in a hurry.”
The boys in the band play on.