High stick call a turning point
Kämpf’s unearned penalty latest example of fate tripping up Leafs
The mantra in hockey — and probably all sports — is for the athletes to control what they can control.
And for the first time in six Stanley Cup playoff appearances for this core of players, the Maple Leafs did that. They didn’t mail in an effort. They never looked out of place. It never seemed that the moment was ever too big for them.
And maybe that’s progress that they build on for next year. And maybe that’s the source of hope for a fan base puzzled over why such good regular seasons haven’t translated into long post-seasons.
They looked like they belonged, and they looked — at times — like they might even rise above the moment. And maybe that’s the reason the core will remain together, with the same management team and same coaches.
Players and coaches talked about that “fine line” between winning and losing. That “game of inches.” Clichés, yes. But clichés are clichés because they’re true.
If there was a turning point in the series, it was — and stop me if you heard this before — the result of a high stick.
A generation or two of Leafs fans remember that Wayne Gretzky got away with high-sticking Doug Gilmour in Game 6 of the 1993 Campbell Conference final, ultimately a turning point in Los Angeles rallying and taking the series in seven games.
Now a new generation may look back on a phantom call on David Kämpf in another Game 6 that led to another opposition rally. Kämpf’s stick never did go high, stopping under Cal Foote’s shoulder pad. The refs called it anyway. One more high-sticking call later (Alex Kerfoot on Victor Hedman), Nikita Kucherov scored on a fiveon-three to force overtime, leading to a Game 7 that ends in another Leaf disappointment.
From the high stick that was missed, to the high stick that never was, maybe the Leafs have some sort of life-altering curse associated with that particular penalty.
To the Seven Musings.
1. The quote that stuck with me all year was Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler screaming “there’s nothing better than beating the Leafs.” When Mark Giordano arrived, he went a bit further, saying he and every other GTHL player in the NHL root against the Leafs all the time because they don’t want the Leafs to win without them. Which brings us to the newest Leaf killer Nick Paul, from Mississauga.
2. I asked Morgan Rielly in 2014 – after the Maple Leafs collapsed out of what looked like a secure playoff spot by going 2-12 down the stretch – what he thought of the hockey gods. His answer: “They’re obviously not Leaf fans.” As apropos then as now.
3. What I think happens to Leaf UFAs: Ilya Mikheyev and Mark Giordano leave as free agents. Jason Spezza retires. The Leafs find a way to re-sign Ilya Lyubushkin.
4. The big question: Jack Campbell. I don’t think he’s elite. He’s in a tier down. But goaltenders are in short supply, so he’ll be in high demand. Quality goaltenders are in even shorter supply within the Leafs system.
5. The Leaf player who improved the most in my eyes this year: Pierre Engvall.
6. A player I’d like to see more of, but is also a UFA: Colin Blackwell.
7. This was the fifth Game 7/5 for Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander (and by far their best). Their sums: Nylander: 1G, 2A, minus-6; Rielly: 1G, 0A, minus-6;
Matthews: 0G, 2A, minus-4; Marner: 0G, 2A, minus-5.