TORONTO – The message from Maple Leafs – and to themselves – is consistent throughout the season.
Head down, one foot in front of the other, don’t look too far ahead.
Learn from a painful past, but don’t dwell too long on the ugly reality of the rearview mirror.
Under the intense, endless spotlight on the biggest hockey market, and combined with what could be a crushing weight of luggage for the playoffs, this was the only way forward for a list marked by recent failures.
As players set individual career highs and franchise records fell in 2021-22, Toronto never seemed to deviate much from its overall resting heart rate, even during a scattered start to the schedule.
“We’re just trying to get out there and give ourselves the best opportunity every day,” said Captain John Tavares. “Whatever it is, we just want to deal with it.”
“There are always topics to talk about,” added star sniper Austin Matthews. “There’s only so much we can control.”
The Leafs will strive to continue on the same path with the blinds still in place as they spin to complete their toughest task to date – two-time Stanley Cup defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the off-season.
“It’s a huge challenge,” said Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe, who hosted Game 1 of the best of seven series on Monday. “But when I look at our band, I think the harder the better.
“That’s exactly what we need.”
The Leafs finished the chart with 115 points – 10 more than the previous peak of the franchise – while their 54 wins overshadowed the old 49.
Matthews became the first Toronto player to score 50 goals since 1993-94, then amassed five more to set a new Leafs record for one season before eventually reaching a staggering 60 in 73 games.
Meanwhile, Mitch Marner scored 97 points, William Nilander scored the best of his career 34 times, and goalkeeper Jack Campbell won his first all-star appearance.
But those numbers and accolades, including Leafs’ brilliant specials, won’t mean much if Toronto fails to make it to the first round again – despite his opponent scoring 110 points and finishing eighth in the NHL.
This is just the reality for a club that has not won a playoff series since 2004 or lifts the Cup from the era of the original six in the NHL.
“We know we are in a special market, a special fan base that will add a lot of fuel to us and push us forward,” Tavares said. “That’s the special part of being here.”
However, the most recent playoff crash came last spring, when the Leafs took the golden opportunity to change the story, allowing outsider Montreal Canadiens to pull away from a 3-1 deficit in the first round and pull out a stunning seven-game disorder. .
Toronto defender Morgan Riley said the players talked a lot during the summer and at the training camp about what happened, but did not think about the nightmare.
“It’s a bit of a balancing act … you want to deal with it and you want to learn from it, but you also want to move on,” he said. “I don’t think this is something that anyone in our room will look at with affection unless we fix the ship and achieve the ultimate goal.
“We hope we can look back and say, ‘You know, that was a big turning point for us.'” But until that happens, you almost want to block it and deal with it later. “
Prior to the defeat of the Canadiens, Toronto did not appear against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the qualifying round of the bubble after the 2020 season. match 6 and failed to do so.
“Everyone has experience and learns from the past, good or bad,” said Tavares, who suffered a serious injury in last spring’s first playoffs and missed the rest of the series. “You have to grow out of it, whether it’s as a hockey player or even as a person.
Meanwhile, Lightning know little about the pressure their opponent faces in the first round.
Tampa and its list, led by Stephen Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Braden Point, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vassilevsky, won the 2018-19 Presidential Trophy before being replaced by four in a row by Columbus.
Instead of blowing things up, the organization regrouped, creating the ground for another title.
“There will be a lot of noise in this circle,” said Stamkos, the Lightning captain. “But our group is a mature group. We know how to deal with many different situations when it comes time for the playoffs.
– We will have to rely on our experience.
Something Toronto hopes to finally win.
“They understand how to play and how to win the playoffs,” said Rielli, who leads Toronto’s improved blue line. “And we’re trying to figure that out.”
Veteran striker Jason Spca, one of the three Leafs along with Mark Giordano and Wayne Simmonds, who played more than 1,000 games without winning the Cup, praised Keefe’s approach.
“With the failure we had last year, it would have been easy to look after the regular season,” said Speca. “Sheldon did a great job keeping us busy, really playing game, week after week, finding key things in the games, especially down.
“We weren’t looking forward to it at all.”
Keefe said all the team has done this season – every last detail – is prepare for the playoffs.
The page is ready to turn. It remains to be seen whether the Toronto scenario is reversed.
“We have absolute respect for Tampa Bay Lightning in what they have achieved and who they are,” Keefe said. “After all, we have great faith in our own group.
“We’re ready for battle.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on May 1, 2022.
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