For the first time in over 19 years, the Toronto Maple Leafs will advance past the first round! I will be reviewing this series from the point of view of a Leafs fan.
First off, congratulations to the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fans on a great season. From being down in the series 3-1 to being a goal away from forcing game 7 they put in a great effort.
When writing my preview for this series, I said that the biggest factors would be the Leafs biggest players. In this series all big players or the “Core 5” truly stepped up, combining for 42 points in 6 games. For once, this team finally put their words into action and played to their true potential. I think this series shows a lot for the Leafs. It shows that this core is not satisfied with regular season success. All players stepped up in this series and played a crucial role in the Leafs success in particular Auston Matthews. You can see that Matthews wasn’t letting this team lose in the first round again. He had a bit of a slow start at the begging of the series but quickly found himself on the scoresheet. These top players went from criticism from the media to now being praised.
“Clutch”
The Leafs had many clutch moments in this series. From game-tying goals, to overtime-winning goals this team had a sense of “clutch” in them that we haven’t seen in many years. Ryan O’Reilly, Morgan Rielly, and John Tavares all had clutch goals and moments in this series. But not only just goals. For years the Leafs never had that “Clutch” in the playoffs now this year they didn’t let those nerves get the better of them and they closed the series out in 6 games.
Mitch Marner looked more composed than ever in this series. Not making simple mistakes and keeping his head up when things seemed to have gone wrong. Marner looked unstoppable this series putting up 11 points! This shows maturity among the team and that the veteran presence brought in at the trade deadline was very important.
Grit-
This series taught the Leafs how to be a playoff team and how to play with grit. For many years the Leafs were “too soft” and from what I’ve seen in this series, that is no longer true. The bottom 6 were really making the Lightning have a difficult time playing because of their depth and grit. When having a lineup with the center depth being Matthews, Tavares, and O’Reilly you’re going to make your opponents pay. if it wasn’t scoring they were finishing their checks, playing down low, and really roughing up the Lightning. I’m not saying the Leafs dominated throughout the series but they definitely did the right things for success.
Not everything went right-
Similar to “Clutch” the Leafs had to face difficult moments in the series. Losing game 1, 7-3, getting booed off the ice by their home crowd, and having a fanbase freak out to being down in games and coming back and winning when they really looked like a team that didn’t deserve the win. Once again going back to my point of what having veteran leadership does for a team.
Most of my points mentioned relate back to veteran leadership. Kyle Dubas went out at the trade deadline and got veteran leadership that also contributed to the lineup.
The Leafs will have a few day break before starting their round 2 series against the Florida Panthers.
