The Maple Leafs showed their hand on Sunday with only two days left until the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Saturday was a skills day for Toronto, as players were allowed to participate in sessions on the ice, if they chose. Among the players on the ice was Mark Giordano, In Sports Illustrated’s David Alter. The 39-year-old had a minor injury.
Sunday, though, is when the real action began for Toronto as we saw some line combinations and defensive pairings.
The Leafs defense in their first full practice before the playoffs
McCabe – Brody
Riley – Shane
Giordano – Hall
Gustafsson – Lillgren
@employeeMark Masters April 16, 2023
Starting with defense, we see a number of different pairs. Mark Giordano along with Justin Hall is something we saw in the playoffs last year against Tampa. They would be a strong third pair for the Maple Leafs.
Jake McCabe skates with TJ Brodie in what would likely be a Toronto shutout pairing. Both players are very good defensively and will make it difficult for the best Lightning players to generate scoring opportunities.
Finally, we have Morgan Riley paired with Blockchain. This is a pairing that had a few games together and they were very strong. I’m assuming Rielly will still play about 20 minutes each night even though the first Toronto duo will get the toughest assignments.
The odd man out – similar to the last playoff – is Timothy Lillegren. The 23-year-old didn’t have the best of his final stretches, but I don’t think he was bad enough to make him sit out the first game. I think it’s just a matter of Hall playing some good hockey at the moment.
As for Erik Gustafsson, I’d say he’s Toronto’s eighth defender at this point.
He leaves the lines in the first full pre-match practice
Bunch – Matthews – Marner
Tavares – O’Reilly – Nylander
Carefoot – Akari – Yernrock
Aston Race – Kampf – Lafferty
knees @employeeMark Masters April 16, 2023
Getting to the front lines now, I would like to start by saying that the top six of the Maple Leafs are what you would expect in the series. Although Michael Bunting’s game has swayed a bit, he’s still very good alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Keefe opted to go with Ryan O’Reilly as the second midfield while there were also John Tavares and William Nylander on his wings. Loading the top six doesn’t hurt, especially against an opponent like Lightning.
It’s also safe to say that things will change during different situations during the games.
The third line consists of Alex Kerfoot, Noel Acciari and Calle Jarnkrok. I really like this line because it has three players who are good defensively but can also be effective in the offensive area as well. I was looking forward to this streak to score some big goals in this series.
I will say the same with this fourth line. Zach has caught Aston-Reese recently, and when you put him together with David Kampf (who scored big last year) and Sam Laverty, I think there’s a lot of potential for really good play.
Lafferty is back in the lineup after welcoming his first child on Friday, per David Alter from Sports Illustrated.
Matthew Kniss is an outsider looking in, and to me, it makes sense that he only played three NHL games. It’s possible that the 20-year-old will eventually find himself in a game, but perhaps it’s best to see how this front set works before throwing an NHL rookie into the lineup.
# Leaves Play force in practice.
PP1: Riley, Matthews, O’Reilly, Marner, Tavares
PP2: Giordano, Nylander, Kerfoot, Jarnkreuk, Bundesliga. @employee @employee
– David Alter (@dalter) April 16, 2023
The mighty Maple Leafs also looks a lot like its last stretch of games. Nylander in the second power play would make both units a threat against Tampa Bay. I think both can do damage when the opportunity presents itself.
Connor Timmins and Wayne Symonds skated another platform with Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Wall. There should be no doubt as to who the Toronto writer for this series is – it’s Samsonov.
The first game between the Maple Leafs and the Lightning will take place on Tuesday with the disc drop at 7:30 p.m. It’s going to be one hell of a series as Toronto pushes for something they haven’t done in 19 years.