This series is maybe the hardest to call, because when you look at these teams you see two entirely different styles and approaches to the game...
They say the way to get to the bottom of a match up is to see how they played each other previously and what their weaknesses are....
As far as match ups go, these teams played each other twice this year, but AGES ago. Both games were played back in October and we very much saw two different games...The Leafs won the first one way back on October 4th, 4-1. I watched this game and it was obvious that the Leafs were clicking a lot more, while the Jackets looked every bit a team that was playing its first game without the offensive powerhouses of Panarin and Duchene. And yet, the Jackets matched the Leafs in shots....but the quality shots were all Leafs.
Three weeks later the two played to a 3-3 regulation tie with the Jackets grabbing the win in OT...The Jackets and Torts had obviously worked out how this team was going to have to create goals as they got back to their hard working style...
But those games will have been 10 months ago when these teams face each other....
When the season ended BOTH teams had 81 points but they got to those totals in very different ways..
The Leafs scored 58 more goals than Columbus, but Columbus allowed 40 less. And despite no Bob the Jackets held the 5th highest team save percentage in the NHL...which was quite surprising to me....
The Playoffs are ALWAYS about goaltending and power plays...
When it comes to Save Percentage....its all Columbus.
#9 Elvis Merzlikins 33 games .923 #39 Freddy Andersen. 52 games .909
Goals Against Average:
#7 Elvis 2.35 #40 Andersen 2.85
And what might be craziest about the goaltending situation is MANY Leafs fans will tell you that Freddy had a great year, making lots of huge saves while keeping them in, and even winning them, several games.
Special Teams
While Columbus appears to holds a definite edge in net, the Leafs power play ranked 11th while Columbus' power play was a terrible 28th. That does clearly demonstrate the raw skill advantage at forward that Toronto holds.
However, when it comes to Penalty Killing its Columbus at 12th and Toronto at 21st.
So what doe this all mean?
The Jackets 5 on 5 could give the Leafs defense fits because you can be assured they will outwork, out-check, and out-hustle Toronto. The Leafs showed in a pretty famous game against Carolina with a Zamboni driver in net, that if their opponent is committed to a full-ice hard working checking game the Leafs can look really young and lost.
The skill is there for the Leafs, but only if they can match the work ethic of the Jackets. Andersen is at his best when the shots come from regular spots as well...The Jackets will throw everything on net and try to get the Leafs highly suspect defense running around.
The Leafs skill on offense will be up against a highly skilled and quick defense on the Jackets...Expect fellow Americans Auston Matthews and Seth Jones to truly entertain us all.
Prediction? Nope. LOL
What do you think will happen?
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) August 2, 2017