The Toronto Maple Leafs’ season is hanging in the balance and both observers and fans have already begun the witch hunt to identify players who are struggling to live up to expectations.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe’s Troopers, who were defeated 3-2 in overtime by the Florida Panthers at Sunrise on Sunday, are 3-0 down in the Eastern Conference semifinals and will officially meet on vacation with another setback on Wednesday . Also, some bad tongues will say that they are unofficial since the start of the series.
The lack of willingness to work and the unflattering statistics tend to prove the skeptics right. The club’s top scorer against the Panthers is defender Morgan Reilly (three assists). Auston Matthews only has two assists for Mitch Marner. For his part, John Tavares was acquitted. Jake McCabe (-7) and TJ Brodie (-5) don’t have it easy with an equal strength, Ilya Samsonov was injured in goal, so that Joseph Woll had to take over.
In short, the portrait is not very glorious, but the leaves are still alive. Can they become the fifth team in National Hockey League history to win a series after losing the first three games? Everyone in the locker room hopes so.
“We have no choice now. It’s life or words. We have our backs to the wall,” Matthews told the media.
“I have immeasurable faith in our group,” Keefe told NHL.com. We’ve lost three times in a row, Florida has won three times in a row. If we win three times in a row, we can play a Game 7. That’s the goal for us, but of course we have to start with a win.
feed on hope
The bookies aren’t giving much of their skin away, and besides, the Leafs are only claiming a gain in regulation time in the 2023 playoffs. That’s nothing to convince the optimists, but the key players are trying to motivate themselves as best they can. If they’re going to cause a stir, they’ll certainly need to be more explicit on Sergei Bobrovsky, whose second-round save rate sits at .938.
“I think we did well on offense, but Bobrovsky played well. I like what provokes our offense. Sometimes things just don’t go smoothly, said Woll. We all have faith in this formation. Regardless of the score in the series, I have faith in us and there are a lot of them in this dressing room.
Samsonov will undergo additional examinations
After Monday’s practice, Keefe said Samsonov’s case is uncertain ahead of his Game 4 encounter with the Panthers.
The Leafs head coach clarified that his player will have an MRI scan later in the day, but that he “feels better.”
Relieved, Woll stopped 18 of his competitor’s 21 shots. The 24-year-old also played in seven regular-season games, posting a 6-1-0 record, .932 save percentages and 2.16 goals against average.
Matt Murray also got the green light from doctors to start playing again. He has not been active since April 2nd due to a concussion.
-The fourth game of the series takes place on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on TVA Sports.