The Toronto Maple Leafs have finally done it. After taking a 3-0 lead against the Ottawa Senators, they had a bit of a hard time closing it out, but they did it last night with a 4-2 win in both the game and the series.
After a wild Game 6 that had so much intensity, the Maple Leafs will now prepare for their second-round matchup against the Florida Panthers. Before that though, let’s dive into the takeaways from Game 6 between these two clubs.
Maple Leafs Didn’t Crack Under Pressure
In the previous two games, the Maple Leafs looked different. They appeared hesitant, which reflected on the ice. They were overpassing, trying to find the perfect shot, and were turning over the puck far too often. However, last night they came out with urgency and purpose. Right from the jump, they were generating chances and getting shots on net. By the end of the first period, they limited the Senators to under five shots. Near the end of the frame, Auston Matthews fired a long-range shot on the power play and beat Linus Ullmark to give his team a 1-0 lead. William Nylander scored quickly in the second period to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead before Ottawa scored to bring them within one.
The third period is where things got interesting. The Maple Leafs were holding down the lead until seven minutes were left in the period when David Perron backhanded a shot from the goal line off Anthony Stolarz’s back to tie it at 2-2. Now, in past years, this would have been the deciding factor in the game and they would have lost. But this season, it was different. They battled back, and within two minutes of Ottawa scoring, the veteran Max Pacioretty fired a shot past Ullmark after a great dig from Max Domi and Pontus Holmberg. That gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead, and from there it was all about locking down the game the right way. They got into shooting lanes, had great gap control, and flipped the puck out when they could. Eventually, Nylander made a great individual play to beat Jake Sanderson and scored on the empty net to secure the series win for Toronto.
Related: Senators Can’t Pull Off Upset, Fall 4-2 to Maple Leafs in Game 6
The Maple Leafs could have broken after Perron’s game-tying goal and this series could have been headed to a Game 7. But they didn’t; they barely even bent. After giving up the second goal, they went right back to it. They forechecked hard, and it resulted in the game-winning goal. This is a direct reflection of their head coach, Craig Berube. He has a business-like approach and it has translated to the team. They were ready from the start, they didn’t look bothered by the pressure, and they didn’t get inside their own heads. Yes, the series went longer than many would have expected when they went up 3-0, but they managed to find a way and close out the series.
Berube Doubled Down on Lineup
After Game 5, there was mass panic throughout the Maple Leafs’ fan base. Almost everyone was nervous, thinking about how we’ve all seen this movie before. Even the Sportsnet panel after the game was talking about how Berube needed to make changes to the lineup. In my Game 5 takeaways piece, I mentioned some lineup changes they could have made, but there was one person who didn’t feel the same — the coach of the Maple Leafs. Berube decided to double down on his lineup, making only a very minor change, and it proved to be the difference-maker.
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Before the game, Berube promoted Pacioretty to the John Tavares and Nylander line in place of Holmberg, who moved down to the Domi and Bobby McMann line. He didn’t put in Nick Robertson or David Kampf, and during the game, he made a small adjustment swapping McMann for Pacioretty, which set up the game-winner. As I mentioned before, Domi and Holmberg dug behind the net to get the puck out front to the slot where Pacioretty snapped it home. If Berube had listened to the outside noise, or decided to make the changes himself, Leafs Nation could be stressed about a Game 7. Instead, he stuck to what he felt was best, and it proved to be the right move.
Matthews Led the Way
There haven’t been many times in the Matthews era that you could say he was the best player for the Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t been able to come up big in big playoff moments — but last night, he did. He scored the first goal of the game on the power play, which was their first in 31 chances in potential closeout games. That seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game. He was very good in the faceoff circle, going 16-6 for 72.7%. He also had three hits and three shots. He played a full 200-foot game and stood out as one of the best players in the game. His head coach spoke about his performance last night:
“Work ethic and competitiveness for the whole game. It was high-end. I don’t know what his faceoff percentage is right now, but it is high. I didn’t see him lose too many draws. It starts there. He was just heavy, physical, and worked. He was competing. He touched all areas of the game for us tonight in a good way — PK, and he scored a big goal on the power play. As I said, he led the way.”
If Matthews can build off this game and carry it forward to the second round against the Panthers, he may finally break out and be the star that we all know him as. That could be the biggest difference-maker for the Maple Leafs to make a run to the Stanley Cup Final.
What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?
The Maple Leafs will now prepare for their second-round matchup against the Panthers. The last time these two teams met was in 2023, when Florida eliminated Toronto in just five games. They will hope to change that fortune and try to advance to the third round. At this time, there is no official word on when the second-round series will start. Regardless, Berube and the Maple Leafs will do their best to prepare and be ready whenever it does.
