The Toronto Maple Leafs started preparations for their first round series against the Boston Bruins at the club’s practice facility in Etobicoke, ON on Monday. After signing John Tavares last summer, being the betting line favorite to win the Stanley Cup prior to the season and recording their second straight 100-point campaign, the Leafs enter the postseason in the unusual position of being an underdog against the team that bested them in seven games one year ago.
“(Boston) is a real good team. They got a lot of points in the regular season. We have another opportunity, we had one (last April) and they were better than us in the end.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “We’d like to be better than them. We have a lot of room to grow as a club, we understand that and we have a few good days to prepare.”
The Leafs are looking towards their depth up the middle to be the difference against Boston, with John Tavares, Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri matching up against Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Charlie Coyle.
#Leafs will be practicing at 11am at MCC as preparations begin for their first round series vs Boston, which starts on Thursday pic.twitter.com/Ei2ILNRK3i
Toronto’s one-two punch combined for 84 goals this season compared to 52 for Bergeron and Krejci, but the multiple Selke Trophy winner always shines in the playoffs. A key factor may be who gets more out of their third line center. Kadri slumped to 16 goals after consecutive 30-goal seasons and has been effective in getting underneath the skin of the Bruins, while Coyle (acquired from Minnesota in February) scored only twice in 21 games.
“(Kadri) has to be good, it’s an important piece for us. We have our depth, you have to outplay the guy across from you and be nasty while you do it.” Babcock said. “You have to be real solid defensively, those are the things we need from (Nazem). We’ve talked about a lot and he understands what is needed.”
The Leafs were weakened at center in their first round loss with Kadri suspended for three games and Matthews frustrated by Bruins checkers. The hope is that the presence of Tavares will cause a matchup issue that Toronto can exploit.
Toronto played around with different line combinations and defensive pairings on Monday. Babcock kept his top line of Zach Hyman, Tavares and Mitch Marner intact, had Matthews between Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen, shifted William Nylander down to the third line with Patrick Marleau and Kadri, and rotated wingers Connor Brown, Tyler Ennis and Trevor Moore on the fourth line with Frederik Gauthier.
Defensively, the pairing of Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey remained intact, but the second and bottom pairing combos were scrambled, with Jake Gardiner and Jake Muzzin skating with both Travis Dermott and Nikita Zaitsev.
“Last year is last year. There is no sense spending any time on that. They have a different team, we have a different team and our guys are growing.” Babcock said. “Those little hardships are the best things for you, they’ll allow you to grow and make you grow.”
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