Leafs Canadiens Playoff Preview

 

I am not going to focus too much on last nights regular season finale a game that saw the Jets double up the Leafs 4-2. I am going to spend the time giving my thoughts on how this Maple Leafs team matches up against Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens.

 

The teams met a total of 10 times during the regular season which saw the Leafs win the season series with a 7-3 record and for the most part controlled most of the offensive categories managing to score 32 goals against the Canadiens and giving up 25 goals in the process and in what is likely going to be the main focus for both teams is the state of their goaltending as we all know Freddie Andersen started the season as the number one goalie but because of missing six weeks due to a leg injury Jack Campbell was needed to step in and he did a fantastic job winning his first 11 starts setting a new franchise record with that total and would then go on finish the season with a record of 17-3-2 posting a save percentage of 921 and a Goals Against Average of 2.15. Although Freddie Andersen has returned to the Leafs lineup, I think it will be a huge surprise if Andersen starts game one, in my opinion Campbell has shown in his 22 appearances that he is capable to play in high pressure situations. Yes, I know playoffs are completely different compared to the regular season, but Campbell and the Leafs are both heading into the postseason confident in his play heading into the postseason. One huge benefit for Toronto now that the regular season has ended the salary cap is no longer a factor and Toronto who has been close to the cap all year can now place healthy players back into the lineup without any cap management. Toronto will see Zach Hyman return to the postseason lineup which will be a nice addition and there is also a chance that fans could see traded player Riley Nash make his Leafs debut. The Leafs are familiar with what Nash will bring to their team because they faced each other when Nash was a member of the Boston Bruins for some playoff meetings, and he was a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets when they beat Toronto in the playoff bubble where he did a great job getting under the skin of the Leafs. So, if he can play hopefully, he can provide some more sandpaper to the lineup against the Canadiens.

Montreal will likely be getting some key pieces back into their lineup as well as Brendan Gallagher will likely be ready for game 1 after dealing with a broken thumb blueliner Shea Weber is slated to also be returning but the biggest question for the Montreal Canadiens must be the status of their star goalie Carey Price who has been dealing with a concussion and has not seen game action since April 19^th. He has been skating and apparently practicing but practice is an entirely different pace compared to playing a game. Obviously, Carey is fully capable of stealing a playoff series and we saw a perfect example of that last year in the playoff bubble when Price dragged his team through the qualifying round beating a strong Pittsburgh Penguins team. I will admit that when it was mentioned during last nights Leaf broadcast that Price would be starting I was surprised because his conditioning is a clear question and with Jake Allen performing well enough in goal and is no doubt the fresher of the two goalies to hear that Jake Allen is expected to be the number two goalie and if I was crazy enough to cheer for the Habs I would hope Price and his play resemble his play from the playoffs last year.

 

With seeing how the two rivals have played throughout this 56-game season the Leafs winning their division and Montreal changing coaches early in the year and then under their replacement the Habs would finish as a .500 club. Both teams though have talent on their roster, but Montreal has a huge issue with scoring and as we saw this season Toronto can find production from all four lines but one massive positive from this Leafs team is that this season we saw so many nights where they would lock things down defensively and be able to close out a tight game where they would win 2-1 or 3-2 instead of folding under the pressure and coughing up leads like they would in years past.

With the playoffs for the Leafs starting next week, I am going to make the obvious prediction and I pick Toronto to win this series in 6 games winning their first playoff series since 2004. I like all of you are looking forward to game 1 next Thursday.

 

In closing I also want to mention that with the IIHF Men’s World Hockey Championships starting on the 21^st I will be providing quick updates on the Canada games at this year’s tournament.

 

Thanks as always for reading