It was 1966/67 the last time the Maple Leafs won the vaunted Stanley Cup. Toronto used to be a great Hockey team in the sixties with Coach and G.M Punch Imlach and the likes of Frank Mahovlich, George Armstrong, Dicky Duff, Johnny Bower, and Terry Sawchuk. The Leafs looked like they were going to do some damage in the late seventies when they had Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull, Jerry Butler, Tiger Williams, and Mike Pamateer, but came up short in 1977/78 losing in the Semi-Finals to the Montreal Canadians. The fact is that Harold Ballard traded away Lanny McDonald to the Colorado Rockies for Wilf Paiement in late 1979 and it resulted into a downward spiral to Toronto for the eighties. It is my contention that had Ballard just signed Paeiment in Free-Agency the year before and kept Lanny than the Leafs would have had a shot at being in the class of the New York Islanders in the early eighties. The Maple Leafs had shown in the 77/78 playoffs that they could beat the Islanders as evidenced by the Leafs beating the Islanders four games to three on a game seven overtime winning goal by Lanny McDonald. Ballard was known to give up on guys (Randy Carlyle and Jack Valiquette come to mind) and we saw the parting of ways of greats like Sittler and Palmateer who decided Ballard was too heretic to win the heralded Stanley Cup. The team gave up on Ballard and he was not a bright spot in the minds of Leafs fans. Had Ballard spent a dollar (like Conn Smythe did when building the prestigious Maple Leaf Gardens), the Leafs would surely have had won a few more Cups by now, but as is part of the curse.
Although the Leafs had their first fifty goal scorer in Rick Vaive through the eighties, they were rarely in the playoffs. It was a hard time for the organization until Cliff Fletcher arrived on the scene. When Fletcher orchestrated the Gilmour trade in 1991 it looked like Toronto was going to finally do it. The Leafs looked poised in 1992/93 to reach the Stanley Cup Finals as they were the better team against the Los Angeles Kings in game six (needing just one more win). After Kerry Fraser blew the call when Gretzky slashed Gilmour, we lost the game, and game seven to boot. The kicker being that Fraser gave the Kings the power-play that haunted us in the overtime game of game six, just after negating the slash that Gretzky gave. Although the Leafs made Semi-Finals in 1993/94 against the Vancouver Canucks they just couldn't get over the hump. When Sundin took the helm in the mid-late nineties we saw a competitive team but the curse was still there and although we got great goaltending in the playoffs with names like Felix Potvin, Curtis Joseph, and Eddie Belfour in the nineties we just haven't shaken the curse of Kerry Fraser and the non-call on Gretzky.
The Leafs have been competitive in the last thirty years but we haven't even reached the Stanley Cup Finals since 1967. The fact is that since we picked Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Bobby McMann, Joseph Woll, and Matthew Knies in the drafts from yesteryear, the Leafs have been one of the best teams in the NHL in developing their talent. The AHL Toronto Marlies was harmonious in adopting big-club philosophy as an organization on a professional level. In 2018/19 the Toronto Marlies won the Calder Cup with ex-Leaf coach Sheldon Keefe at the helm and the Marlies have been a top AHL team over the past 10 years. The Leafs also signed Free-Agent John Tavares in 2018 and he has provided us with perhaps the best second line Centerman in the game neigh Leon Draisaitl. The Toronto Maple Leafs have shown this year with Coach Craig Berube that they are resilient and efficient as a team. The Leafs play excellent defense and their top two lines are always dangerous. The third line consists of Scott Laughton, Bobby McMann, and Max Domi and on the fourth line Pontus Holmberg, Steven Lorentz, and Calle Jarnkrok Both lines are excellent defensively and the reason as to why Brendan Shanahan picked up Scott Laughton at the trade deadline. The first line of Matthews, Marner, and Knies is one of the best lines in the game and by saying that, our second line of Tavares, Nylander, and Pacioretty makes our offence formidable.
We witnessed the first playoff series for Toronto versus the Ottawa Senators in round one. While the Maple Leafs cruised to three straight wins to start the series with provincial rivals Ottawa, the Senators responded with two wins to deflate the Leafs. The Leafs came back in game six to close out the series finding resiliency yet again (as has been the case all year), as after losing another two goal lead they miraculously regained it in the third period to finish off Ottawa for good. The Leafs are now up against a Florida team with a great net-minder in Sergei Bobrovsky. In net for the Toronto Maple Leafs to start this year's playoffs was Anthony Stolarz. Stolarz was the NHL leader in save % this year ranking .01 point higher than Connor Hellebucyk with a mark of 0.926. This was Stolarz first time starting through a post season and he looked poised to deliver after the Ottawa series. The Leafs had to have Joseph Woll step in when Stolarz went down in game one against Florida on a cheap-shot by Sam Bennett. While Woll allowed some goals in games one and two against the Panthers, he came out with two wins. When the series moved to Florida for games three and four, it is hard to fault Woll for the two losses (as he lost in overtime in game three, and a game four in which he only allowed two goals on 37 shots). The truth of game four is that Florida clearly outplayed and outshot Toronto and only had two goals to speak of as a result of a brilliant performance by Woll.
Florida is a team well coached by Paul Maurice. The Leafs looked stronger on paper and with the magic Craig Berube has been showing in overtime games this year anything's possible. With Stolarz and Bobrovsky cancelling each-other out in terms of advantages (as they're both considered to be top five goalies in the NHL today), now that Woll is in the Panthers may have the advantage in net-minding. Toronto's second line is dominant to Florida's second line. John Tavares and William Nylander on the second line is going to destroy their second line unless they're pitted against the Panthers first line. At that point the Matthews and Marner line would be freed up to dominate the series. Since the Panthers ran Stolarz in game one of the series, time will tell if Woll can play stopper for the Leafs. Woll looked good in game four and going into this Wednesday night's game five in Toronto anything's possible.
Time will tell in these playoffs whether acquiring Scott Laughton from Philadelphia at the trade deadline was a smart move by Brendan Shanahan. The reality is that Laughton is a quality center-man, a Jerry Butler type player, who has engineered a 21-9 run since he came to Toronto. My prediction for the series going in was the Toronto Maple Leafs in Five Games. I believed Stolarz would have shined the rest of the way but since game one when Florida's Sam Bennett took out Anthony Stolarz with a cheap elbow, we now see Joseph Woll in net for the Leafs. To this writer Woll looks poised to whip off a shutout of Florida in game five. It was exciting to see so much of the offensive cog show up in the Senators series. William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and Matthew Knies all showed up in that round and shined offensively. Matthews, Marner with Knies haven't looked good in the Florida series to date but that could change Wednesday night.
Of course a Coach has to get accredited to be associated with such a fine team, and wasn't it funny that Berube had Max Domi on the ice in overtime in game two against Ottawa resulting in a game winning goal. Ironically It was another tertiary scoring threat that came through in a game three overtime against the Senators when Simon Benoit whipped one home for victory. With Craig Berube at the helm the Leafs seemingly had an answer for any given threat deep in a hockey game as we have brought our A-game all year when overtime hits. I look for Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann to pick up their socks a little bit for the rest of the Panthers series as secondary scoring. The production that remains to be seen is whether Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Tavares can get hot for the rest of the playoffs. We also see another scoring option with Max Pacioretty as he has been one of the better forwards at this point of the Panthers series and that is a nice cushion to have. It looks like Toronto has a strong advantage in their top three lines.
Forecast for Game Five - Toronto Maple Leafs Lines
Line 1
LW - Matthew Knies C - Auston Matthews RW - Mitch Marner
Line 2
LW - Max Pacioretty C - John Tavares RW - William Nylander
Line 3
LW - Bobby McMann C - Scott Laughton RW - Max Domi RW
Line 4
LW - Pontus Holmberg C - Calle Jarnkrok RW - Steven Lorentz
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