What difference does the game make. A 7-2 win can easily erase the negativity of a 7-3 loss. Ilya Samsonov showed that he was the man at the same time that Vasilevsky showed that he was actually a man. Where the last game was an easy exercise in finding the negatives, this game made finding the positives easy and I’ll start with that.
+: Tavares and Riley Show
Well, it wasn’t entirely just Tavares and Riley. Marner had 3 points and Matthews and Nylander each had 2. Ryan O’Reilly and TJ Brody also got the scoring sheet so it seems like every night is a star power calculated on the Leafs’ sheets. It should go without saying that the Leafs needed this and it’s a great step in ruining some of the narrative around Matthews and Marner out of their previous playoff games.
This was also a giant step forward for Sheldon Cave as he found comfort in dictating the pace at home rather than doing himself and hurting the Leafs by trying to oversprint the line. One of the joys of Kerfoot’s situation with Tavares and Nylander is that it seems to equal four lines you can trust at least a little bit in the defensive area and with O’Reilly in the third line, that gave you the Leafs three lines I want to see in the offensive area and even the area you don’t expect much From her when I got a goal last night, so things are going well.
It should be easy for the Leafs to stick to the pace-setting approach because the first shift almost requires it on the road. And when Keefe isn’t exaggerating thinking he’s a better coach, so that’s something out of his mind. The concern is that John Cooper is more of a strategist in the game and can be a difference maker in that regard. How he adjusts his deck card and how he spreads his players home can give the Leaf something new to look at and make life a little more challenging. I think in the same way that we saw Leafs become less complex in Game 2, we’ll see Lightning become more complex in Game 3.
You mentioned last game that the Leafs need to play more of their stars and in the first two periods Toronto was doing just that. Overall, the TOI for Matthews and Marner will come across as low, and there weren’t huge increases for Nylander, O’Reilly, or Tavares either, but that’s what you get when you can start to take your foot off the gas in third. TJ Brodie was the only paper to noticeably over the 20-minute mark and Riley and McCabe nearly passed it. Keefe managed the game well, and the last six definitely stepped up to make sure Tampa wasn’t allowed back into the game.
-: Let it revolve around Perry and Maron
Part of the Leafs’ advantage dictating lines more means Jon Cooper has to be more strategic about how he deploys his sidekicks earlier in the game. If Perry and/or Maroon were on the ice, Keefe would simply say “Thank you” and put the wheeled players facing them. It’s really no secret that having them have to skim skating cancels out their effectiveness.
However, later in the game, as things cleared up, the expected nonsense of sparking a fight after the whistle inciting a fight did come from Perry and Maroon, and somehow, that allowed them to be relevant even if they weren’t immediately impactful. Their behaviors will have some carryover effect to the next game if the Leafs allow it and although the Leafs are in a better position for this than ever before, this is not the kind of game Toronto should want to get involved in.
The fights are fun (Justin Holl probably doesn’t fight) but it’s not really where the Leafs’ attention should be late in a game where they blow up an opponent or start the next game. Focusing on skating and skating the skill of the Lightning six players is the best way forward for Toronto and hopefully we’ll see that next game.
I’m not even sure I would consider this a real minus even though the Schenn/Jeannot fight was a classic, but you’re trying to find something negative in the 7-2 win.