1 week Ago By Luke Fox
SUNRISE, Fla. — Matthew Knies said it. The most dreaded word in hockey: soft .
Which is hardly an adjective you want associated with your team five games before playoffs, particularly following a lopsided loss to a bitter rival on a night in which you could have locked up home-ice advantage in the first round. “We tried to push back, but I think we didn’t do a good enough job. I think our physicality.
.. we were a little bit soft in some areas and not (pushing) through the full 60.
So, we’re gonna have to learn to do that when it comes to playoff time,” Knies said Tuesday night, following a 3-1 defeat to the Florida Panthers. The score flattered Toronto. And of the four Leafs who spoke postgame, it was the youngest who gave the most mature and honest assessment of their underwhelming performance.
“We just need to talk more. You know, have a little bit more juice,” Knies, 22, continued. “We were a little slow to pucks.
Obviously, we weren’t creating much offence, so I think that bummed us a little bit. And we gotta know that the simple hockey is what’s going to create the offence for us and create that juice.” No juice, but the Maple Leafs sure got squeezed in this one.
Despite earning two power plays to the Panthers’ one, the visitors got doubled or tripled up in every major offensive metric. The Cats generated more shots (37-18), scoring chances (32-11), and high-danger chances (12-4). All four Leafs lines spent more time in the defensive zone than the offensive one, and still, the team that owned the puck outhit the Leafs 43-29.
“They wanted it more than us. It starts in a faceoff circle. They’re 70 per cent tonight.
To me, it just comes down to competitiveness and digging in more. They seemed like a more desperate team than us,” Craig Berube said. The coach had watched a pressured Morgan Rielly cough up the deciding goal from behind his net to an opportunistic Eetu Luostarinen.
He had hollered on the bench when Nick Robertson committed a neutral-zone turnover that gifted Brad Marchand a shorthanded breakaway. And he bore witness to the same Florida formula that neutered the Maple Leafs’ firepower in 2023 controlled playoff series victory. The tax-free state plays a taxing brand of hockey.
“You’re going to have to get in there and win battles against this team, that’s for sure. We spent too much time defending, not enough time in the offensive zone tonight. Second period wasn’t bad, but we didn't generate a lot because they won all the battles in the offensive zone,” Berube said.
“They’re on you. They’re tight. You’ve got to move it quick.
You’ve got to deliver pucks quick. We didn't do a good enough job of that.” “They’re hard,” added under-siege goaltender Joseph Woll.
“They’re a hard team to play against. They’re always on top of you. And they’re a very good forechecking team, so they're good at keeping the puck in and working in the zone, and sometimes it feels like they're always on top of you.
” Perhaps the difference between hard and soft can be chalked up to the simple fact that the Maple Leafs had won four straight and the Panthers had lost four straight. Both sides were due for a fortune reversal. Or maybe the difference is captain Aleksander Barkov , who was out injured last week for Toronto’s lone victory in its four games against Florida this season.
“An impactful player. He plays a great 200-foot game, and he’s a big part of what they’re doing,” Rielly said. “A great player.
Good on draws. Very strong defensively. He’s always above you, and he’s always making the right play, so, yeah, it makes it challenging to play against him, trying to create offence,” Knies said.
“We’re gonna have to learn to do that against these guys.” The Core Four didn’t have four shots to rub together. The NHL’s best are ready to battle for the right to hoist the Stanley Cup.
Watch every game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ beginning on April 17. And so, after the Cats pumped in some empty-net insurance, finished some tone-setting checks at the final buzzer, and the locals happily doused the rink in plastic rats, each one of the Leafs’ eight-figure forwards finished with a dash next to his name. Something Brandon Carlo had said about Barkov Tuesday morning was called to mind.
“For us, I like that he’s back in the lineup,” Carlo had insisted, heading into one of Toronto’s last good playoff previews. “It’s a great challenge for us to continue to kind of gauge ourselves.” And while the gauge reading looks gloomy in Sunrise, the good news is that the Maple Leafs have a shot to right their wrongs less than 24 hours from now in Tampa.
“We need to respond,” Berube asserted. “We gotta be better than we were tonight, that’s for sure.” Forget the back-to-back excuse.
Look at the Lightning as an opportunity to rebound, to harden up. “I think so, for sure,” Knies said. “We’re all hungry and eager to prove that this game was just a fluke.
And I think we can do a lot better. We want to prove that tomorrow.” Fox’s Fast Five • What kind of guy did Toronto acquire in Brandon Carlo? “You got a scumbag,” fellow ex-Bruin Marchand quipped devilishly.
“No, I love Brando. He’s one of my best buddies on the team (in Boston), and they got an incredible teammate. Great locker room guy.
Great competitor.” When the former teammates first donned enemy clothing at Scotiabank Arena last week, Carlo was expecting Marchand to chirp him, wondering what dirt he’d dredge up. Instead, it was Carlo who initiated the war of words.
“He chirped me,” Marchand said. When Marchand drew a high-sticking penalty on Chris Tanev, Carlo called out his pal for embellishment. “He came after me,” smiled Marchand, who has a rep.
“It cut deep.” “Nothing crazy,” Carlo said. “Now that I chirped him, I’m open for fire.
” • Silver lining: Woll played great in his first start in nine days, stopping 34 of 36 shots (.944 save percentage). “He played excellent,” Berube said.
“Gave us a chance to get points.” Marner, too, mixed in a couple saves in front of the empty net. “He’s pretty good back there.
When we have the 6-on-5 throughout the year, he’s made some nice saves. So, maybe a goalie in a different life.” • Resident menace Sam Bennett (upper body) has been shut down for the regular season, wrapping his contract campaign with a career-best 50 points.
Bennett practised in full Tuesday, but because the Panthers have clinched a playoff berth and aren’t concerned about their seeding , Florida is prioritizing the wrecking ball’s health. Bennett will be in the lineup for Game 1. • The champs’ attendance in 2024-25 is up by an average of 400 fans per night compared to 2023-24.
But there were a noticeable number of empty seats Tuesday. Snowbirds usually descend upon Sunrise in droves. A muted atmosphere for a rivalry match with playoff implications.
• Before taking questions, Maurice began Tuesday’s press availability with a few words on Greg Millen: “Our condolences to the Millen family for the passing of Greg. Over 30 years, we crossed paths a bunch of times, and Greg was a guy that we got to know. For whatever reason, he ended up doing a lot of our games and got to know the coaches.
I think they ended up at the Elbo Room one night about 10 or 12 years ago. “Just a really sad day for us, because we were excited about him with his battle with cancer. Saw him last month.
He looked fantastic. So, shocking today. We’re gonna miss him.
Here was a great personality, a great friend to our team and our coaching staff. We felt we had a great relationship, so we’re really sad for the family.”.
