Leafs vow to up the urgency in Tampa
Published
The Lightning skated at Amalie Arena on Wednesday. The Leafs held a team meeting.
The Leafs need a big bounce-back performance on Wednesday night in Tampa if they want to retain top spot in the Atlantic Division.
"Usually we do respond really well," said winger Bobby McMann. "[I'm] looking forward to how it’s going to be tonight. We usually recognize when things aren’t going well and I think that’s a sign of a good team. You’re not going to have your best every single night, but you’re going be able to bring it shortly after."
The Leafs were far from their best during Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. The defending Stanley Cup champions dominated possession right from the drop of the puck.
"They wanted it more than us," coach Craig Berube declared at the start of his post-game media availability. "It starts in a faceoff circle. They're 70 per cent. It just comes down to competitiveness and digging in more. They seemed like a more desperate team than us."
The Panthers, who got captain and top-line centre Aleksander Barkov back from injury, snapped a five-game skid (0-4-1) and avenged last week's loss in Toronto.
Despite missing Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad among others, Florida outshot Toronto 37-18 and also outhit the Leafs 43-29.
"Our physicality, I think we were a little bit soft in some areas and, you know, not through the full 60," said winger Matthew Knies. "So, yeah, we're going to have to learn to do that when it comes to playoff time."
Back in November the Leafs got pumped by the Panthers 5-1 in Sunrise, Fla. before responding with a big win in Tampa. Toronto is hoping a similar story plays out as they aim to salvage this two-game swing through the Sunshine State.
Toronto leads Tampa Bay by just two points (98-96) heading into Wednesday's final head-to-head showdown of the regular season. The two teams have the same number of regulation wins (39), which is the first tiebreaker if they are knotted in points.
"It’s a big game for us," said defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. "We got to come out and respond, play better to get a win here tonight."
How did Berube address what happened with his team?
"Move on," the coach stated. "It’s a big game tonight. First place. Very good team, Tampa. We know what they’re all about. We got to be a lot more competitive and we got to win more puck battles than we won last night and have more urgency in our game than we had last night. That’s really what it boils down to."
Both the Leafs and Lightning have five games left, but Tampa Bay will be home for four games while Toronto only has two home dates remaining.
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The Leafs have won all three games against the Lightning this season while outscoring them 15-8.
"When you drive your car do you look in the rear-view mirror the whole time or do you look out the windshield?" Lightning coach Jon Cooper asked rhetorically. "I’m more of a windshield guy."
So, the Lightning aren't dwelling on what happened earlier this season, but the Leafs are certainly looking to replicate the game plan.
"We did a good job of counter attacking them," Berube said. "We checked well and we were able to create something the other way off it. I think we did a good job of that in the three games this year."
Both McMann and Ekman-Larsson pointed to pace as a big factor in the wins over the Lightning.
"We’ve played really fast," McMann said. "We’ve played behind them, tried to play quick ups a lot, a lot of pucks [moved] without letting them get set in their neutral zone forecheck or getting set on their forecheck. We’re just trying to move pucks up and get it past them and then be hard on their D."
The Leafs looked slow on Tuesday as the Panthers forecheck consistently hemmed in the Leafs and forced flip outs.
"Playing fast," Ekman-Larsson said of the key against Tampa. "That’s our style. That’s how we want to play. But last night I felt like we were kind of dragging the puck back a little bit too much instead of attacking them, so that’s our mindset."
The Leafs generated only 1.2 expected goals, per NaturalStatTrick.com, which was a season low. Florida's suffocating approach seemed to wear down the Leafs mentally.
"We weren't creating much offence, so I think that kind of bummed us a little bit," said Knies, who plays on the top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. "I think we've just got to know that the simple hockey is what's going to create the offence for us and create that juice."
Matthews was limited to just one shot against the Panthers. He has two goals and three assists against the Lightning this season.
Marner did not register a shot on Tuesday and saw his seven game point streak snapped. But he has one goal and six assists against the Lightning.
William Nylander was also held without a shot in Florida. He has four goals and one assist against the Lightning.
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Andrei Vasilevskiy has allowed eight goals in two starts against the Leafs this season. The only time he was pulled this season came in Toronto back in October.
Does those results give Toronto's stars more confidence?
"Yeah, for sure," Berube said. "I mean, they’re confident anyhow. It’s about traffic and rebounds and things like that against him. You gotta outcompete the goalie and we gotta get pucks to the net with traffic and then win those battles. I can think of two or three goals we scored against them this year with those types of situations."
The Lightning opted to start backup Jonas Johansson in the last game with the Leafs.
But Vasilevskiy will make his league-leading 61st start on Wednesday. Despite the heavy workload, the Russian ranks second overall in save percentage (.923).
"He just cuts the angle down so well," said McMann. "Coming in and shooting on him, you don’t see any net. That’s the biggest thing that you see, just how big he is (6-foot-4, 228 pounds), and how good he is at finding those angles. So, it’s changing the angles, getting rebounds, and getting in and around his net that is going to bring us success."
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The Leafs stars have feasted in the season series against Tampa Bay, but Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov has been relatively quiet. He picked up a primary power-play assist in the first game in October and a secondary assist in the most recent game in January. Kucherov missed the matchup in November due to injury.
"You gotta be hard on him and physical, as much as you can," said Berube. "At the same time, he’s such a good playmaker and he has eyes in the back of his head almost. He knows where his linemates are and he’ll just make a play under pressure to them. He’s very good at it. He’s an elite, elite player. We all know that. But, at the same time, we gotta go at him. We gotta take time and space away from him. We gotta have good sticks against him. That’s important. Good stick details and taking away his options, and getting sticks on pucks, and things like that."
Kucherov is second in NHL scoring with 115 points in 73 games. Since the start of March, no one has produced as many points as Kucherov (29 in 18 games).
"He can make plays at any point," said McMann. "He can make a pass cross-ice through a couple sticks, and you never know when he’s going do it either, so it’s just playing him tight, being in his space, being in his hands and not letting him make those plays. Even when it’s on the wall he can make plays to the middle so it’s just being smart and being on him."
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John Tavares lost a draw cleanly to Anton Lundell, which resulted in Florida's first goal by Gustav Forsling on Tuesday. The Leafs centre, who is wining 58.1 per cent of his draws this season to lead the team, barely reacted when the puck was dropped.
"That one's on me," said Tavares. "You understand tendencies of guys you go against and what they do, and I was anticipating something on his end. I completely mistimed and misread it. It's on me. Obviously, you can't lose them clean like that and give them opportunity in the middle of the ice."
Tavares went 4-for-12 at the dot against the Panthers.
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Lines at Lightning skate:
F
Guentzel - Point - Kucherov
Hagel - Cirelli - Goncalves
Bjorkstrand - Gourde - Paul
Girgensons - Glendening - Atkinson
Chaffee
D
Hedman - Moser
McDonagh - Cernak
Lilleberg - Perbix
Raddysh