Despite all the odds, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going into game 6 full of optimism. What else can they do, eh? Yes, well, things are not looking good for the Leafs, especially after Florida beat them 6-1 on their home turf, putting on their full offensive show. The Leafs struggled with their goalies, finally swapping out Joseph Woll for Matt Murray, who has spent most of his time in the AHL but for this series. Now, with Game 6 just around the corner and with it taking place in the Amerant Bank Arena, Florida’s home turf, the Leafs can’t do much but simply… be, and that sounds like exactly what they were doing, as per Captain Auston Matthews’ account.
In an interview before the critical game, Matthews was asked to confirm one of Coach Craig Berube’s statements from earlier on where, according to the interviewer, he “said he wanted you guys to kind of unplug last night, not even think about the game but stay together. Like, what was last night like for you guys?” Matthews kept it short at first, responding with, “Uh, last night was good, yeah.” But when asked to specify, Matthews went on to add, “I mean a lot of us, you know, just kind of hang out together do whatever. Um, it’s just nice to spend time, obviously. A lot of free time when you’re on the road, uh, you know, away from family lives, stuff like that, so, uh, just nice for everybody to kind of be together hang out and just enjoy each other’s company.”
It makes sense, ahead of what looks like it’ll be a tough game, to spend time enjoying each other’s company, and at this point in the series, what more can the Leafs do to better their game? They started off looking extremely promising, but then maybe Woll crumbled under the pressure, or Matthews himself wasn’t able to beat the curse of that second round pressure, (he has yet to score against Florida in the postseason!) And since then, things haven’t been looking too great for the Leafs.
What can Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs expect from game 6 at the Amerant Bank Arena?
Well, Florida is going to go into this game guns a-blazin’. The plastic rats are going to be pouring down for sure. The team that started off not looking great, with Aaron Ekblad still serving his suspension back then, Matthew Tkachuk out on injury and newly acquired Brad Marchand slow to find his footing, is now back at their offensive best and they knew it. In the past few games, Florida has been working like a well-oiled machine. Coach Paul Maurice connects this to the team culture, saying, ““The culture is good on the players that are in and out of our lineup. They feel a part of it. Coach has nothing to do with that. Coaching has nothing to do with it.” How the culture will translate during game 6 against Auston Matthews and his boys is yet to be determined, but surely having a stadium full of Panthers fans will help intensify it.
And sure, part of Florida’s success can be put down to the group dynamics and everything that’s going on there, but it would be remiss to not mention goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who’s been serving Florida like a literal wall. While the Maple Leafs’ Anthony Stolarz has been out on injury since that accidental hit from Sam Bennet in game 1 of this series, Bobrovsky has between game 4 and game 5, allowed only a single goal on 54 shots! This near perfection from a goaltender is worthy of more than just two Vezina trophies, surely!
All this is to say, if Auston Matthews and the boys ended up just taking it easy the night before the big game, it’s probably for the best. What else can they do but breathe when this is what they’re going up against? Time will tell, and anything is possible; Florida turned the series around after all!
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