Maple Leafs need to focus on what worked, not getting revenge

Nothing is ever easy when it comes to the Leafs. For the first time since 2002, the Maple Leafs hold a lead in a second round series. They’ve already matched their best playoff showing in the past twenty years. They scored five goals against the Panthers, when they only had seven goals against the Panthers over four games this season. Still, when talking about the game there is really only one thing that comes up and it’s Sam Bennett’s elbow to Anthony Stolarz’ head that took him out of Game One and put his potential return in question. If you’ve been paying attention to the Leafs for the past 50 years, losing a goalie to pick up a win is about what you’d expect.

Anger is a pretty reasonable feeling to have at this point, both for the Maple Leafs and their fans, but if you can push that feeling aside and ignore the desire for revenge, it’s pretty clear that the best course forward for Toronto is to play the game that had them up 4-1 at the time of Stolarz’s departure.

The first point that needs to be made is that revenge and the Leafs never really works out and is likely to be met with stiff penalties. Nazem Kadri got mad. Nazem Kadri got suspended. The Leafs went home. The Leafs might not have a player with a target on their back like Kadri does but after a high profile head injury occurring in this series, the NHL is going to follow up their ignorance of Bennett’s actions with stiffer penalties regardless of whether it is the Panthers or Leafs committing it. The NHL doesn’t want this series to get out of control and if the Leafs acknowledge that instead of going head hunting, at least in theory the advantage is theirs. Should there have been more penalties against the Panthers in Game One? Probably. That said, the Leafs having five powerplays to the Panthers three is something that puts Toronto in a much better situation going forward.

Avoiding revenge also means avoiding bad lineup decisions. The last thing the Leafs need is to weaken their lineup against a deep team by making space for five minutes of Ryan Reaves. Cases can be made for lineup changes on the Leafs but this isn’t it. The Laughton line struggling and underwhelming performances from Pontus Holmberg and Max Domi might open the door for players like Nick Robertson and David Kampf, but Reaves would be a tough sell when the Panthers are already demonstrating dominance over the Leafs’ bottom six forwards.

If there is another argument for staying the course and not trying to play the Panthers game is that Joseph Woll is a perfectly good substitute for Stolarz. He might not have looked it when giving up three goals but that was three goals after coming in cold and the Leafs already sitting back a bit offensively. Woll’s .850 might not have been good, but it was still better than Sergei Bobrovsky’s .828 save percentage, and heading into Game One, Woll had a .927 save percentage against the Panthers in the playoffs and has a .940 career regular season save percentage in three games against the Panthers. Woll can get the job done too and panicking seems premature, even when talking about the Leafs.

A lot of what worked well for the Maple Leafs in Game One against the Panthers was the same thing that worked against the Senators in Game One of the first round. The Leafs were played hard but weren’t shy when it came to paying the price in difficult areas of the ice. As the Leafs backed off, the Panthers came back into the game.

It’s not that the Leafs can’t finish some hard checks on the Panthers. Knies, Carlo, Tanev, and Benoit are all capable of leaving a mark. It’s just probably best to keep it clear. This isn’t about taking the high road, it’s just that the Panthers dominate on the low road and the Leafs aren’t going to figure out how to match that in a practice or two. Stick to what is working or better yet, build on it no matter how hard it is to let Bennett’s action go unanswered.