Leafs found killer instinct against Senators. Will it translate against Panthers?
OTTAWA – Everything we knew about this era of the Toronto Maple Leafs told us we’d witnessed a back breaker. The Leafs had just finished doggedly killing a penalty halfway through the third period of Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. Toronto’s reward: an impossible-angle David Perron backhander over Anthony Stolarz from behind the goal line, knotting the game 2-2. It could’ve been a classic “Here we go again” moment for one of the NHL’s most cursed franchises. The Leafs had squandered a 2-0 lead Thursday night. Were they about to squander a 3-0 series lead and head back home for a nightmare Game 7 scenario, too?
Instead, Leaf Nation’s collective surge of PTSD from the past two decades of playoff disappointments lasted all of one minute and 39 seconds. Poof, a Max Pacioretty wrist shot through traffic beat goaltender Linus Ullmark, the Leafs retook the lead, and they never gave it back. They fought with the earnestness of a team that finally understood the sacrifice needed to close out a series. They hurled their bodies in front of shots. William Nylander’s first goal of the night in the second period was a classic goal-scorer’s snipe, but his empty netter to finish off the Battle of Ontario was more emblematic of Toronto’s growth. He outhustled and fought off Sens No. 1 defenseman Jake Sanderson in an end-to end foot race to put Toronto up 4-2.
Game 6 was all about showing killer instinct and contradicting narratives. The Core Four of Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares had no-showed Game 5 at home. But Matthews opened the scoring during the first period of Game 6 with a corner-pocket shot through a Matthew Knies screen on the power play, ending a team scoring drought that had started in the third period of Game 4. Nylander had three points Thursday. Marner had an assist and brought tenacity to Toronto’s penalty kill, which looked as good as it had all series. And coach Craig Berube felt his captain Matthews in particular did all the right things in the victory.
“Work ethic and competitiveness the whole game, high end,” Berube said. “He was winning draws, it starts there. And just heavy, physical work, competing, touched all areas of the game.”
The Leafs were engaged, really, from the start, showing none of the timidity that afflicted them in Game 5. They didn’t trail all night, they won the shot-blocking battle 16-11, and they were perfect on special teams, two for two on the penalty kill and one for one on the power play. They finally got a lift from lower in the lineup, as Pacioretty had dropped from the second to the third line when he scored the series clincher. It was just the second bottom-six forward goal of the series after Max Domi’s Game 2 overtime winner. And it was a full-circle moment for Pacioretty, a 17-year veteran who wasn’t sure if he’d ever play again when he endured back to back Achilles tears in 2022 and 2023.
“Yeah, I’ve had a lot of conversations with people in my family and others, and I thought I was done playing a number of times,” Pacioretty said. “And everyone always supported me to keep going. But my story is just one of many and it’s one that’s public, so it’s one that’s talked about, but a lot of resilient guys in this organization have been through a lot as well. So guys like that motivate me to keep going.”
The Leafs’ willingness to squeeze every last drop of effort out of themselves helped them improve to 2-13 in closeout playoff games in the Matthews/Marner era. Most importantly, they didn’t let the potential deflator get to them when Perron scored.
“Just go out and play, next shift, go out and play,” Matthews said. “The response was great. We took charge, kept the momentum back.”
So the Leafs improved to 5-0 all time in Battle of Ontario series and won their second playoff series since 2004. But they’ve been here before. Two years ago, they took down the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 on the road and advanced to play the Florida Panthers with home ice advantage to boot. Ending a 19-year playoff series win drought at the time felt like the Leafs’ Stanley Cup. They quickly fell behind 3-0 in the series to Florida and bowed out in five games, quick enough that it undid some of the goodwill Toronto had built up from beating Tampa. Weeks later, Kyle Dubas was out as GM.
While the Leafs answered some of the criticisms surrounding them in Round 1, did they generate new questions in the process, too? It took them three attempts to finish off a Wildcard underdog Senators squad playing its first playoff hockey in eight years, with most of its core players having never competed in the postseason before. While Toronto did get game-winning goals from unsung heroes in Simon Benoit, Domi and Pacioretty, its depth scoring left a lot to be desired. The Leafs lost the 5-on-5 scoring-chance battle to the Senators in all six games and now draw a Panthers team that has much better finishing ability, not to mention the wily experience from playing in two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and winning last year’s.
So while the Leafs can briefly savor the Battle of Ontario victory, they’ll have to splash cold water on their faces in short order and prepare for a massive upgrade in opponent difficulty. As they already learned two years ago, a flat effort in Round 2 can negate the progress shown in Round 1.
“We’re happy obviously to be in the second round, but now our focus is more Florida, so that’s where minds are at,” Nylander said. “Have a good night tonight, enjoy the win and then focus on Florida.”
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