Best need be at their best again
Matthews, Andersen were among Game 3’s standout performers
The Maple Leafs shut down Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak once. Can they do it again? “It’s going to be a test, especially after they had a quiet game,” Leafs centre Auston Matthews said after Wednesday’s practice. “Those top players, they tend to come back and have big nights. We’ve got to make sure we’re not giving them time and space much like we did Monday night. And go from there.”
There are no shortage of reasons the Maple Leafs are alive and well in the series, now trailing the Boston Bruins two games to one heading into Thursday’s Game 4. Their best players had big moments: Matthews’ slump-busting, gamewinning goal, Morgan Rielly’s spectacular stretch pass to Mitch Marner, Frederik Andersen’s late-game paddle save on David Pasternak.
“You need those plays,” Rielly said. “There’s guys on teams (where) their job is to put the puck in the net. You can go through dry spells, or go through periods where you’re not getting the bounces, but in a big game to get one of your best players to score a big goal, that’s crucial.
“Your goalie makes a huge stop, it’s all of equal importance, but the timing of those things can be big. When you look back at Game 3, we had both of those things happen to us at a great time.”
But shutting down Boston’s top trio — a line that had combined for 20 points over the first two games — might have been the Leafs’ biggest achievement.
“If you’re those guys, you’re saying to yourselves: ‘We’re going to have a better night,’ ” Babcock said of Boston’s first line. “They’ve shown over a period of time that they have lots of good nights. Our job is to make sure they don’t.
“They all concern me. They’re all real good players. They’re all effective. They’re real good against us. Obviously, the less touches we give them, the less time and space, the better off we’ll be. The less time we spend in the (penalty) box, all those things make us more effective.”
Toronto’s Game 3 success started with Tomas Plekanec rising to the occasion, having his best night as a Maple Leaf while replacing Nazem Kadri as the main checker between Patrick Marleau and Mitch Marner. The veteran had come to the Leafs as a depth centre at the trade deadline, playing fur- ther down the lineup than what he was used to in Montreal.
“I think all of us, in our life, we want to be important,” Babcock said. “When you come to a team … and you’re traded to do something different than you’ve done, I think it’s probably harder for you to find your way.
“For whatever reason, he didn’t get that same opportunity and then, when he got the opportunity the other night, I thought Marner, Marleau and him were really good and effective for us in the game. That’s positive for him.”
It also helped that Frederik Andersen had his best game of the playoffs, facing 42 shots.
“(He) really got his game going,” Babcock said. “If you look at Game 2 … it wasn’t that way. That’s probably the biggest difference.”
The Plekanec line produced two goals in Game 3, both from Marleau. The second happened thanks to Plekanec retrieving the puck and feeding it up ice, giving the Leafs breathing room at 4-2. The first came thanks to a marvellous stretch pass from Rielly to Marner, a response goal a shift after the Bruins had tied the game 1-1.
“(Marner) got behind the defenceman so if he missed it, it wouldn’t have gone for icing,” Rielly said.
“You’ve got to read that a little bit. You know who you’re passing to, oftentimes, you’ve just got to put it in his area and he’ll get it.” And then there was Matthews’ winner, again a response goal in the second that stood up as the winner.
The Leafs’ most important players had big moments. To send the series back to Boston tied 2-2, the Leafs will have to do that again, and they’ll have to shut down Bergeron, Marchand and Plekanec.
“More of the same,” Rielly said.
“Be hard on them, be competitive, don’t give them too much time and space. In my opinion they’re one of the best lines in hockey for a number of reasons, so it’s important we stay on them.”