Leafs need a Game 7 mindset
Keefe’s crew hoping to match Canadiens’ desperation
It’s Game 7 for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal. No need to rub your eyes, give your head a shake and read that again. Never mind that the Leafs hold a 3-2 lead against the Canadiens in the best-of-seven.
The first-round series of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs isn’t tied 3-3 and the Leafs won’t be eliminated if they lose, but they’re taking the mindset that a win is the only acceptable result once the puck drops just after 7:30 p.m.
“We need to play Game 6 like it’s our Game 7,” Leafs defenceman Zach Bogosian said on Friday before the team departed for Montreal.
“You’re not doing the right thing if you don’t have pressure. These are the moments you live for. We’re excited to go in there and get the win.”
Veteran Leafs forward Jason Spezza agreed with the suggestion that it’s not only about matching the desperation of the Canadiens, who find themselves in a must-win for the second game in a row. No matter that it’s Montreal with its collective backs against the wall, the Leafs can set the tone.
“Definitely,” Spezza said. “We’re a team that wants to close the series out and we don’t want a team like that to hang around.
“The playoffs are all about learning as you go and Montreal came out more desperate than us (in Game 5 in the Canadiens’ 4-3 overtime win) and now we get to move forward and have a response.”
If that response results in a win, the Leafs will turn their attention to playing the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. If Montreal prevails again, the actual Game 7 will go in Toronto on Monday night.
The Canadiens could have an advantage with 2,500 fans in the stands, but do we think that will be a factor? Not really.
No matter the atmosphere, Spezza didn’t think the Canadiens will have a wave to ride after winning Game 5.
“You start understanding as you play more playoff hockey that there’s really no momentum from game to game,” Spezza said. “You have a fresh chance every day to create new momentum. (Coach) Sheldon (Keefe) does a great job of kind of having us hone in on what we need to tweak. That’s really helpful.”
Whether there are lineup changes for the Leafs remain to be seen. Forward Nick Foligno, who has missed the past three games with a lower-body injury, skated again on Friday morning and Keefe said a decision on Foligno’s status would be made on Saturday.
It’s possible that Keefe benches defenceman Rasmus Sandin and inserts Travis Dermott on the blue line, but the coach was not yet ready to make that declaration.
Above all else, what the Leafs will keep in mind is that they have been, for the most part, the better team in the series.
Toronto has had the edge at even strength, and boasts the only perfect penalty kill in the playoffs, denying Montreal on 14 power plays.
Jack Campbell’s desire will be to rebound after giving up four goals in Game 5. As good as Carey Price has been in the Canadiens net, Campbell has a better save percentage through five games, registering a .944 mark to Price’s .919.
The Leafs’ preference is that Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner would have produced at the clip they maintained through the regular season, but there have been contributions from elsewhere in the lineup, most notably William Nylander and Alex Kerfoot. Of the 14 Leafs who have played in all five games, only forward Ilya Mikheyev has not recorded at least one point.
“We’ve played very good hockey throughout this series,” Keefe said.
“We have to focus on playing our game and playing at our best and that’s really it. When we’ve done that, we’ve been in control.
“We’re competing to extend our season. This group loves being with each other and we want to move on. That’s the motivation.
“We feel good about our team, we feel good about our chances, we feel good about how we’ve played, we just have to go out and execute.”