The Toronto Maple Leafs – ‘from stranglehold to strangled?’
Pretty graphic image but let’s see if it holds.
“Anytime you lose one or two (games), the pressure is on,” offered up Ottawa forward Dylan Cozens after the Senators turned the tables on this series with a 4-0 win Tuesday night in Toronto. The victory brings the first-round set back to Ottawa Thursday night with Toronto clutching anxiously to a 3-2 lead.
Those 3-2 numbers of course don’t tell the underlying story. The Leafs were within a goalpost of sweeping Ottawa out of the playoffs just four nights ago, but just as he did in the 4 Nations Face-Off, a few months back, Auston Matthews couldn’t seal the deal.
That knock on tubular steel might be the turning point here.
Matthews pondered the lack of scoring from his line and the sudden emergence of Ottawa stopper Linus Ullmark.
“I thought at times and stretches throughout the game we could have done a better job of getting more guys to the net and making it a little bit tougher on him, but he made some key saves when he had to,” Matthews said to the Toronto Sun. “We’ll be better the next game and get some more bodies in front of him. This time of year, it’s greasy goals. It’s not the prettiest of things. So that’s the way you have to approach it.”
Easier said than done, right?
From the Senators perspective, it’s almost like ‘we-gotcha-where-we-wantcha.’ Ottawa reads newspapers; Ottawa watches SPORTSCENTRE and Sportsnet Central; Ottawa listens to talk radio. Ottawa speaks with their buddies around the league.
In other words, they know and understand the fragility inherent with their rivals.
Newsflash: Toronto has a Tough Time Closing Out Series. (See the previous decade for fodder).
A lot of the inner circle folks I talked with after the Buds took that 3-0 series lead shrugged their shoulders and conjured smiles a bit wry when I suggested this was over.
‘I don’t know about that,’ was what I heard.
Certainly, that statement is bouncing around the minds of the Leafs at this point.
Does this thing go the full seven-game route?
I don’t know about that too, but it is sure looking like that.
Game on.
THOUGHT, SEEN AND HEARD: Ullmark is recognized as a streaky goalie. It appears he’s just launched into the right side of streaky . . . It might be time for the Leafs to sit Bobby McMann, but what’s the alternative choice? . . . Five games, zero goals and one assist. Not what Toronto needs . . . Montreal faces elimination tonight in Washington where they’ll likely bid adieu to the season. Surprised? I am. The Habs looked prime for an upset over the top-seeded Eastern Conference team . . . Granted, we haven’t seen a whole lot of the Caps this year. The more exposure though, and the more we’re calling for Spencer Carbery as coach of the year . . . After witnessing the opening four games of that set, we can safely report that Washington plays with an exceedingly elevated mix of pace, pressure and physicality . . . Nobody’s talking much about Carolina, despite the Canes pushing out the Devils in the opening round, and I get it. The team is kind of Stanley-Cup-lite; the team that’s almost there but you need a lot more convincing . . . Still, hiding in the shadows (by design or accidentally) isn’t a bad place to be come springtime . . . Two guys who could play on my team: Brandon Hagel and Aaron Ekblad . . . Now whether they’d like to enjoy the experience as teammates/pals is another story . . . Sergei Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevskiy have both let in some wobblers in their set. That from Tales of the Unexpected . . . Add Connor Hellebuyck to that mix via Winnipeg and there you have your three Vezina Trophy finalists . . . Can’t argue with Travis Green on this one regarding an improving Tyler Kleven: “I think his game is really growing. And it’s taken off probably since Christmas, just steadily” . . . Mike Sullivan gone from Pittsburgh. With the most over-stated, obvious jumble of words, I give you this: There won’t be any shortage of suitors . . . Are the Penguins finally accepting that a major reconstruction is required? If that’s so, Kyle Dubas, are you counting on Sidney Crosby playing until he’s 40, or 45? . . . If Sid doesn’t win three Cups in Pitt (2009, ’16 and ’17) you get the notion that he’d already be elsewhere chasing the dream before it’s too late . . . Former Senator Filip Gustavsson is having a year – Sweden’s starter at 4 Nations and now a Vegas deterrent in the post-season (2.58 goals-against average and .919 save percentage) . . . Gustavsson was with the Ottawa organization for four years after coming over in a 2018 deal with Pittsburgh. In 2022, Gustavsson was dealt to Minnesota for Cam Talbot.
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
Photo: Courtesy cbc.ca
