we've experienced a bit of technical difficulties here at [redacted] for the last little bit, but with things worked out, we're looking to get back into the swing of things. It's been a busy last little while for the blue and white. Having suffered no significant losses - or gains - at the trade deadline, everybody's favourite hockey team hobbled a bit in the final month of the season.
that said, for the first time in 9 years, the final month of the regular season isn't the final month of play for the Leafs, as they've finally made it into the post-season! Their first appearance during which I'll legally be permitted to buy alcohol. Huzzah!
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Leafsman is just as excited as I.
Jump with me, and we'll talk a little about how the Leafs got here, what exactly "playoffs" are, and what we might be able to expect in their first foray there in what feels like forever.
The Season That Was:
The start to the 2012-2013 season was a turbulent one for our Maple Leafs.
For a while, it looked as though there might not even be one.
The lockout loomed large during the end of 2012, and for a while the season was in doubt.
The Winter Classic was first cancelled, then rescheduled.
(source)
will arnett was heard saying this was a 'huge mistake'
tobias agrees
tobias agrees
Players slowly headed to the greener pastures of the KHL and other Euro Pro Leagues, or sat at home taking shots at the League on twitter. It was all impeccably and amazingly irritating.
Eventually, common sense took hold, billionaires decided to stop pitting millionaires against each other, and everybody decided it was better to make some money rather than none.
Days after the announcement of a new CBA and before the beginning of truncated training camps, MLSE seemingly decided out of nowhere that they were tired of Brian Burke's "style" and ousted him for his right hand man, Dave Nonis - a lateral move if I've every seen one.
Early season rumours of Luongo coming to town and various players being shipped out in exchange ebbed and flowed throughout the offseason and lockout, but reached fever pitch by training camp. In spite of this, the Maple Leafs ran the somewhat 'unproven' of Scrivens and Reimer (the latter going down for a period of games in the middle of the season) all the way into their first post-season berth in nearly a decade.
Goaltending obviously wasn't the sole factor playing a role in the Leafs' return to post-season competition. Contributions appeared throughout the lineup, but major aspects were a breakout season by Nazem Kadri, further development by Dion Phaneuf into a legitimate shutdown defenceman, and another under-appreciated Top 10 scoring appearance by Phil Kessel put the Leafs over the top.
phil's always happy to get the respect he deserves.
Like most teams, Toronto dealt with injury troubles throughout the season - Joffrey Lupul was lost for a spell early on with a broken arm. James Reimer went down for a stretch in the middle of the season with a knee injury. Various other bumps and bruises kept players in and out of the lineup, but all in all, the Leafs fared better than teams like Pittsburgh and Ottawa with their injury troubles.
The rollercoaster Leafs' season came to an end Saturday night, as they hosted the Canadiens in their final matchup up the season. Playoff implications were heavy in this one, as a Montreal loss coupled with a Boston win (or other complicated variances of such) would have solidified a Habs/Leafs playoff series for the first time since 1979. Were the Habs to win and the Bruins to lose, a first round matchup of Toronto/Boston would grace our television sets.
You know what that brings us up to.
Game of the week!
Canadiens v Maple Leafs: April 27th.
As I said, this game had heavy playoff implications for both teams involved. A Leafs win would solidify a first round matchup against the Canadiens. A Canadiens win and a Bruins loss would see the Habs leapfrog the Bruins and win the division, seeing them matchup against Ottawa, leaving the Leafs to faceoff against the Bruins.
Here we go with our Marquee Hackey Night matchup!
(source)
what, you never heard of 'hackey'?
Your starting goalies for this one are James 'Playoff-Experience?' Reimer vs. Peter 'Everyone-Else-Loves-Ned-Flanders' Budaj.
can we have a moratorium on simpsons masks?
The game would start off tentatively (though, loud! the ACC is rounding into playoff form) with both teams feeling each other out, and seemingly holding some back for a potential playoff matchup. The Leafs took the play to Montreal early on, with the Habs not registering their first shot until 11 minutes into the game.
Phil Kessel would open the scoring on the night, potting his 20th on the powerplay on a setup from Phaneuf and Franson.
nice little bit of pp movement there.
Things definitely took a turn for the worse after this point, however, as the Canadiens found their legs and began skating. Just under 3 minutes later, Lars Eller would tie the game up for the Habs, lifting a backhander over James Reimer.
From here, the teams would head into the dressing room tied at 1, the Canadiens outshooting the Leafs 9-6 in the first frame.
CBC wheeled Don Cherry out for Coach's Corner in the first intermission. I didn't catch it, because at this point in time I'd rather converse with my cat than listen to the loudmouth's view on hockey, but apparently he made some pretty disparaging comments about women reporters and their place in the locker room?
gotta love ron's cringe of disagreement
"oh shit, now i gotta back this guy up again."
Smooth, Don. Smooth.
please don, never change.
Obviously we here at [redacted] don't care what's between your legs so long as you can report on the sport in an intelligent and well thought-out manner.
The second period would prove to be distinctly worse than the first, in pretty much every imaginable way.
Andrei Markov would put the Canadiens ahead 2-1 with his 10th of the year.
I'd be showing highlights of these goals, but they're becoming more difficult to find, for some reason.
The Habs would be up by 2 five minutes later as Brendan Gallagher would convert on a setup by Eller and Markov for his 15th of the truncated season.
The Maple Leafs would be provided 3 powerplay opportunities throughout the middle frame on penalties to Diaz, Ryder and Bourque. In 20 minutes of play during the second period (6 of which were on the aforementioned powerplay) the Leafs managed one shot.
They'd head to the dressing room outscored 3-1 and outshot 20-7
The third started out as a bit of a mess, and only got worse from there. Montreal went up 4-1 two minutes in on Tomas Plekanec's 14th of the year, a bit of a softie that spelled the end of the night for Mr. Reimer. From there, things got sillier with Frazer McLaren incurring 14 minutes of penalties and a game misconduct for going a little nutso during a skirmish. Things would continue in a rather chippy, sloppy fashion. Clarke MacArthur would decide to pull a McLaren himself, and wound up with 14 PIM of his own, later in the third.
Mercifully, the finally buzzer would eventually sound, giving Montreal a 4-1 victory on the final night of regular season.
Toronto was outshot 28-17 on the night.
Peter Budaj stopped 16 of 17 for a .941 SV%.
James Reimer stopped 19 of the 23 he faced for an .826 SV%.
Ben Scrivens turned away the 2 shots he saw in relief.
Dion Phaneuf lead Leafs skaters with 24:56 of icetime.
P.K. Subban edged him out for overall icetime on the night with 24:57.
Thus wraps up the regular season for our Toronto Maple Leafs.
A record of 26-17-5 gives them 57 points - good enough for 5th place in the East during this truncated season. Of note, the Leafs were 6th in the league in goals scored (thanks to another top notch season from Phil Kessel, and the breakout of Kadri) but 17th in goals allowed. While goaltending was drastically improved, as was penalty killing (2nd in the league!) the goal differential for Toronto left something to be desired, and could have seen the move up a spot or two in the standings - y'know, so they don't have to play Boston.
That said, the noted improvement in team defense and in goal is a major factor in this team making the playoffs. Now if only they could get a proper coach who didn't start goons on the final game of the season, ice Colton Orr more than Mikhail Grabovski, and generally understands hockey in a more holistic manner, some of these issues could maybe be addressed. Y'know, in that icing better players and playing a more competitive style (see: not letting teams cycle the hell out of you) might reduce shots allowed, which would probably reduce goals scored, no?
But hey - the Leafs lead the league in fighting majors and made the playoffs for the first time in 9 years. Randy Carlyle for the Jack Adams coach of the year trophy!!
Odds And Sodds:
- It was exciting, and pretty hair-raising, how many playoff battles came down to the final weekend. Detroit managed to dash Columbus' hopes of their first post-Nash postseason. Winnipeg came close, but didn't have the gas in the tank to overtake the Isles. The Boston/Ottawa game on the final night of the season had massive playoff implications - as did the Leafs/Habs game mentioned above. Minnesota limped into the playoffs, despite their huge payroll and offseason acquisitions. Gee - it's almost as though each game carries higher importance during a shortened season, adding extra playoff implications for most matchups... That's nothing fans would be interested in, right?
- Somehow the Tampa Bay Lightning managed to have the top TWO scorers in the league (who do they think they are, Pittsburgh?) and still not make the playoffs. Congratulations to Martin St.Louis, who becomes the oldest Art Ross winner with 60 points in 48 games (that would be roughly 102 in an 82 game sked)... Condolences to Steve Yzerman who may find himself waiting to see when Ken Holland retires if this whole 'Tampa Bay' thing doesn't turn around soon.
- I hate the Flyers. I really do. I can't really pin down why... Might have something to do with Bobby Clark. Or maybe Jeremy Roenick eliminating the Leafs in OT during their last trip to the postseason. Could just be the obnoxious shade of orange on their jerseys. Either way, it's pretty damn funny that they didn't make the playoffs this year. Thanks for JVR, guys. Hope you enjoy a lifetime of the Super Schenn Bros... sorry about Bryzgalov.
- Considering that Jaromir Jagr now plays for the Bruins, I seriously hope Teemu and the Ducks go deep so at least of the NHL's elder statesmen does well in this postseason.
- Don Cherry is a dickbag. Plain and simple. Do we really need to keep throwing tax dollars at him?
His twitter account is the largest platform the man should be given. And even then, he should stick to stories about raccoons, and not social commentary.
hell, even this guy agrees!
- Playoffs! There are sure to be some good matchups!
In the West:
St.Louis vs Los Angeles is going to be a really good series, as will Anaheim and Detroit. In both cases, the teams have history, and star power almost across the board. Chicago should walk over Minnesota without even a second though. Vancouver/San Jose is an interesting matchup, and frankly, I'd like to see the Canucks inherit the Sharks' "choker" mantle.
In The East:
Pittsburgh should have little to no issue with the Isles, regardless of whether Sid's back at 100%. These are the same guys that won the Iginla sweepstakes! Montreal versus Ottawa has the smell of one that's going to be hard fought and go a few games. Ottawa limped into the playoffs, but with Karlsson back, and Spezza around the corner, who knows what might happen? The Capitals and The Rangers are facing each other again this spring, 'cause that's what they seemingly do. Will Torterella break out the water bottle? Will Ovi run rampant on the rags? I like to hope so. This of course brings us up to the showdown involving our beloved blue and white.
The Week Ahead:
So, uhh... I'm looking at the Leafs schedule for the upcoming week, and they play the Bruins Wednesday, in Boston... Then the Bruins again? In Boston again on Saturday?! Whoa, wait a minute!! Then again on Monday, but in Toronto? What the hell kind of schedule is this?!
Oooh, right. Playoffs! So that's how this works, eh?
So after NINE years of mediocrity and failure, the Leafs have managed to do what 16 of 30 teams do each year - qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoff Tournament.
For the last 2-3 weeks, it's been a back and forth of "Leafs versus Habs! All Canadian Matchup!!" and "Toronto versus Boston - rematch of the Kessel trade!!"
So thanks to a surprising Ottawa win, coupled with a not-so-surprising Leafs' loss this weekend, Hockey Night in Canada is deprived of the HUGE BAGS of money they were due with a Leafs/Habs series, and instead settle for two smaller piles of bags of money - Sens vs Habs and Leafs vs Bruins.
Ideally, HNIC would get their money, and Toronto would have a first round match up against the Canadiens, who they've played particularly well against this year (barring Saturday's fiasco and a lackluster affair in February). Obviously though, we don't live in an ideal world, and the Leafs return to the playoffs against a team they've had some pretty serious issues with in the past.
Toronto's beaten Boston at home just once in their past 8 games in Beantown, a trend that they'll need to reverse if they have any plans of making it beyond the first round. Another trend they'll need to see reversed? Phil Kessel has just 9 points and is a -22 in his 22 career games against the Bruins - the only team Kessel has a lower point per game percentage against is Anaheim, who he's played only 4 times.
This of course leads to another interesting point about the upcoming series. It's literally a cornucopia of over-used mainstream media narratives that we'll surely see trotted out again over the next week to ten days. Beyond the typical KESSEL TRADE!! clamor, we'll hear tons about the RASK TRADE!! But likely quite little about the Kaberle trade... Then of course there'll be a litany of allusions to Burke, and his construction of this franchise in addition to the easy targets of the Leafs being "young" and having "no playoff experiences".
(little known fact: literally zero percent of playoff games not played in the NHL contribute a players level of 'experience' - just ask Sportsnet or whoever the hell else started the Kipprusoff rumours.)
All that said, the Maple Leafs' tribulations of late with the Bruins are well documented. It's a given that they're deeper on the blue-line. It's a given they've played more post-season matchups, and thus have the coveted 'experience' factor. Everyone knows they've essentially ran roughshod over the Leafs for the past two seasons, save a night or two - but this is the playoffs, and these aren't the Boston Bruins that rode Tim "greatest-single-season-for-a-goalie-in-the-modern-era (/conspiracy-nut)" Thomas. They aren't the Boston Bruins that shellacked the Maple Leafs 8-0 at home. It's entirely possible that we may well see a series that could be called "competitive" or even "compelling".
This year the Leafs have lost thrice to Boston, but all in one goal affairs.
Take into account in addition to this fact that Joffrey Lupul was out of the lineup for three of those matchups as well.
Should the Leafs get solid goaltending from Reimer, they'll be able to match the B's in net, with Tuuka Rask set to take the brunt of their starts in the playoffs. The teams are fairly evenly matched up front, but Toronto scored 19 more goals during the regular season - unfortunately for the Leafs, they also allowed 22 more goals than the Bruins. Boston has no players in the Top 30 in league scoring, so shutting them down will take shutting down four solid lines. This'll mean even more minutes for Dion and Co., come playoffs, and here's hoping Phaneuf is up to handling the workload. He's matured significantly this year, and there's reason to believe he continues to do so in this spring's tournament.
Ultimately as much as the media will paint this as "Kessel vs Seguin" (the latter of a whole 16 goals this season) It's going to come down to the Leafs supporting cast to make the difference. Should Chara et al end up zeroing in on the former Bruin, the onus will be on the Leafs' secondary scorers, Kadri, Lupul, JVR and the likes (maybe even Grabovski) to pick up the slack. It's not unbelievable that this could happen, particularly if Coach Bobandy manages to shelter the Kadri-Lupul line as successfully as he did earlier in the season.
Regardless, let's hope the Maple Leafs can make a series of it, and maybe even move on to the second round. Maybe Phil will get that bear off his back, and all will be well in Maple Leaf Land again.
i really hope we hear "thank-you-kessel" chants at the ACC
At the end of it all, I'm just really relishing the opportunity to watch my favourite team in the playoffs, and hopefully you are too.
So what do you say, are you?
Go Leafs Go!
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