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If the Washington Capitals do not make the playoffs this year, they will only have to look at the Toronto Maple Leafs and see why. The Leafs for the second time in eight days easily handled the Caps in a 5-1 victory at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday and completed the sweep of the three-game season series, getting all their goals from outside the core group.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored a pair of goals, Mark Giordano, Connor Dewar, and Bobby McMann added singles for Toronto, and Joseph Woll made 23 saves for the victory that moved the Leafs four points ahead of Tampa Bay for third place in the Atlantic and served as a good response after a poor effort against New Jersey on Tuesday.
“We had a few breakdowns in the first period where I thought Woll made some good saves for us. After that, I thought we were really good and didn’t give up much.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “We got a lead. We took care of the lead. We score goals at the start of periods. We had two great penalty kills. Their power play has been rolling, and we didn’t give them a chance to do much tonight.”
Toronto did not have Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, Timothy Liljegren, and Joel Edmundson in the lineup, and while some are dealing with minor injuries, it looks as if the Leafs are wisely using their newfound depth to implement some load management more than two weeks ahead of the playoffs.
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One of the things that GM Brad Treliving has to be focusing on in advance of the summer and going into the next few years with cap space being tight is getting players signed to good value deals. This started earlier this month with the two-year extension of forward Bobby McMann (who scored his 14th goal against Washington) and continued on Friday with the signing of defenseman Simon Benoit to a three-year contract extension, with an average annual value of $1.35 million.
The Leafs signed to Benoit to a one-year veteran minimum deal as a depth option in late August after playing 78 games with Anaheim last season, After clearing waivers following the preseason, the 25-year-old was recalled in October and has been with Toronto ever since.
The 6’4”, 205 lb. defender fits the prototype of what Treliving likes in a defenseman, someone who plays with physicality and protects the front of the net. With four unrestricted free agents and Timothy Liljegren in line for a new deal, it was good proactive work by the Leafs to get a viable bottom-pairing option locked up at a reasonable salary.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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