“You don’t want to give life to teams.” “Sheldon Keefe.”
TAMPA – These Toronto Maple Leafs had two chances to eliminate the Boston Bruins in 2019, one to destroy the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2020 and three to stop the Montreal Canadiens’ run to the Stanley Cup final in 2021 on their knees.
In any case, they failed to take care of the business.
Lose Thursday night from Tampa Bay Lightning and it would be almost impossible not to let the old fears get mixed up with the thinking that goes home about the potentially decisive decision on Saturday.
“We had opportunities last year and we didn’t. We know that. Then you get to Game 7 and anything can happen, “said Jason Spca.
“There has to be an urgency, similar to the urgency we had in the last game to get back from below. [2-0]. This urgency must follow us to Tampa.
Does this version of Leafs have the killer instinct needed to destroy them at six?
“Until you do, I don’t think anyone has it,” Speca said. “You’re trying to learn from the mistakes of the past.”
Keef regulates the power of the game
In the disastrous starting period of Game 5, Lightning beat Maple Leafs 8-0 in power play.
Keefe corrected in the second, exchanging points Morgan Riley with Mark Giordano at the top, and Giordano assisted on a goal by John Tavares, which caused a return victory.
“Getting a clean look was a challenge,” Keefe said. “With Gio’s shot, he’s a little more inclined and more programmed to just point the puck at the net. Morgan was more of a top distributor throughout the season.
In a series flooded with 225 penalty minutes in 300 minutes of play (“You’re just waiting for that hand to go up,” says John Cooper), special teams were critical.
And the bolts hold the edge.
Toronto’s №1 game in the regular season fell from 27.3% to 16.7%, ranking sixth among the playoff teams.
Lightning clicks at 21.4% (fourth).
“It was a strange playoff for me,” said Pat Marun. “I’ve never seen so many penalties in the playoffs. It looks like it’s pre-season again with all the calls.”
How Cooper formulated the answer
In this series of Counterpunch, Tampa will try to expand its stupid streak of 16-0 after losing after the season.
Coach Cooper keeps beating the drum: Maple Leafs didn’t beat his team as much as Lightning gave Toronto too many “freebies”.
He is not completely wrong: Tampa executed three penalties with too many men on the ice and several offenses with a puck over glass.
“We are not forcing them to win. Somehow we give it to them, “said Cooper, who now pays no attention to the media noise surrounding the series.
“Don’t rely on the emotions from the game, the series or anything like that. It’s a full and complete focus on getting the job done during the game and not trying to let outside noise from everywhere affect what we’re going to do.
“I learned to catch my breath instead of holding my breath.”
Even when the champions reached their last breath, Cooper skillfully tried to shift the burden on his opponent.
“Is there pressure on them?” No doubt. They are people. They will feel it. No doubt. We have been in some of these situations. “We’ve won this type of game before,” Cooper said.
“It’s not like they haven’t thought about it. But on the other hand, who knows? Maybe they use it as motivation. But until you start winning these games, there will always be doubt in your mind. “
Campbell> Vasilevsky
Weighing the strengths and weaknesses of these two elite fighters, who are heading to the series, the experts unanimously gave preference to the goalkeepers of Andrei Vassilevski – the man with the rings for the Cup and the trophies of Vezina and Con Smythe.
Well, Vassilevski is also the man with 0.880 percent of the save, the worst percentage among all goalkeepers in the playoffs with at least three participations.
Toronto’s Jack Campbell (just slightly better than 0.895) has a legitimate chance to beat his more successful counterpart.
After being drawn into the crash of Game 4 and giving up two early ones in Game 5, Campbell relaxed and made a series of quality stops, giving the skaters in front of him to come together and find their way.
“He learns that there are games in the games,” Spca said. “And those two goals, he can’t do anything. He really calmed down and was phenomenal for us and gave us a chance. The reason we won this game is Jack Campbell.”
You’ll remember Campbell fighting for the softness he gave Brendan Gallagher of Montreal in a game on May 7 last May, calling him “the worst goal of my career.”
He was much better to himself in this series, although he was defeated by more goals.
“There have been a lot of difficulties in the playoffs, especially over the years,” said Campbell, “but we are focused on the moment.
“Victory [in Game 5] it really set our group on fire and gave us great confidence. ”
Maple Leafs predicts the composition of Game 6
Violation
Bunting – Matthews – Marner
Mikheev – Tavares – Kerfut
Nylander – Kämpf – Engvall
Special – Blackwell – Case
defense
Rieli – Lyubushkin
Muzzin – Brody
Giordano – Hall
Goalkeepers
Campbell begins
Kelgren
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