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Babcock looking for his club to play the right way; Leafs vs. Lightning

October 10, 2019, 1:33 PM ET [1252 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs were atop the Atlantic Division for the first two months last season because of an effective offense and power play, but could not keep up the blistering pace of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the President’s Trophy with 128 points (28 ahead of Toronto). In the end, both clubs suffered a similar fate in bowing out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and this season are looking to redeem themselves by not making the same mistakes.

The Leafs have earned points in three of their four games, but have lost two straight and are looking to get back in the win column against the Lightning at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

"I think it's a great opportunity for here and you get to find out about your players, all 12 forwards, all six (defensemen). You find out about everything, there's nowhere to hide. There (are) real good teams playing (each other)." Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said on Thursday morning. “They have good depth in Tampa. I don't think anybody's surprised by that. They've had a good team for a long period of time.”

Toronto held an optional skate on Thursday, which likely means that the line combinations and defensive pairings that were together at practice on Wednesday will play against the Lightning. The fourth line unit of Nic Petan, Jason Spezza and Frederik Gauthier is expected to play in their second straight game for the first time, as is the bottom pairing of Rasmus Sandin and Justin Holl.

The Lightning are 1-1-1 and have not played since Sunday, when a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina drew the ire of Tampa captain Steven Stamkos because of his club’s lax defensive play.
"We just continue to be the freewheeling team that thinks we can just come into games and win because we're skilled," Stamkos said. "We keep falling back into the same old habits that we've been doing, that cost us the season we had last year. Unless we change things, it's going to be a really, really, really long year."

The comments were quite similar to those uttered by Babcock on Thursday, when asked about the Leafs playing a style more conducive to playoff success.

"When your team's ready, that's not as big a challenge as you think. In the end.....it's because your leadership group decides it's time to do it right over a period of time." Babcock said. "You're not just going to turn a switch at playoff time. It's just not going to happen. If you're used to not playing right, you're not going to play right and you're going to be disappointed. It's great to have high octane (offense) and I think it's a lot of fun. I think I remember saying this a lot last year. It's fun to watch, (but) you're gone in a hurry. Maybe (playing the right way will) be less fun to watch, (but you will) win more often and stay around longer."

The Leafs lost three of four games to the Lightning last season and have not beaten Tampa Bay on home ice since February 2018. Brayden Point is expected to make his season debut after recovering from off-season hip surgery, and may play between Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos.

Andrei Vasilevskiy will be in goal for Tampa and Frederik Andersen will make his fourth start for Toronto.

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