As Toronto Finally Gets The Monkey Off Its Back, A Stanley Cup Run Is Finally Foreseeable

It’s been 19 years since the Toronto Maple Leafs have been able to advance past the first round.

19 grueling years for an Original Six team with 13 championship seasons, that some consider the epicenter of hockey in general.

Over this stretch, Toronto has missed the playoffs 10 times and lost in the first round 7 times, and before their Game Six win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, they had lost 11 consecutive clinching games.

But, despite going into overtime on the road after leading the series 3 games to 1, John Tavares was able to let the Toronto faithful breathe an overdue sigh of relief when his wrister beat Andrei Vasilevskiy in the net.

So, what was different about this team? What did this 111-point squad do that the 18 teams failed to do before?

In terms of their top-of-the-line talent, practically nothing. In fact, going from last season to this one, the top six players in points are exactly the same.

But the offense was never the team’s issue, as how could it be when you have Auston Matthews entering the postseason after a 60-goal year, Mitch Marner finishing just shy of 100 points, and William Nylander, John Tavar

es, Morgan Rielly and Michael Bunting all totaling north of 60-points.

When the calendar switched however, it was another year that saw the offense be held in check when it mattered most, as against this same Lightning team, Toronto only scored 4 goals in the final 2 games after jumping to a 3-2 series lead, which fails to do the trick when you are giving up an average of 3.8 goals per game excluding Tampa being shut out in Game One.

So, it seemed as though Toronto made an effort to finally solidify their defensive unit, but they did not have to sacrifice much.

The biggest change came in net, as the Maple Leafs signed 25-year-old Ilya Samsonov to a one-year, $1.8 million contract.

After four-years with Washington, Samsonov had a career-year, with a .919 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average in 42 games.

But, Toronto knew that bringing in a cost-effective goaltending option would not change this team’s identity, especially while already paying Matthews, Tavares, and Marner north of $10 million in adjusted cap hits.

So, again with primarily the same team as they had the year before, they took a much more selfless approach defensively, completely altering their leaderboards in blocked shots.

In 2022, T.J. Brodie and Justin Holl were the only 2 players to reach north of 100. This season, Mark Giordano led the way with 147, and the team added 242 more blocks in total.

So, despite the NHL seeming to trend more towards the smaller skill players dominating in open ice, the postseason seems to still be led by the older morals of physicality and team defense, which Toronto seemingly made an effort to adapt to this year.

And what better way to test it than against the team with the most playoff depth of anyone in hockey, who was able to comeback and defeat Toronto just a year ago?

While this may not have been the Lighting at full strength, Toronto could not have been thrilled after seeing their first-round foe. But the playing styles were noticeably different in this series than last, as despite higher goals per game in this series, the team hits, blocks, and penalty minutes were more in the first Six Games than in 2021-2022.

But, can this approach be enough for a deeper run than just the moral victory of finally advancing past the first round? The Maple Leafs may be the only franchise that did not look past their opponent to plan for the Eastern Semifinals, but now it seems a lot more possible than anyone could imagine.