The Toronto Maple Leafs secured home-ice advantage for Round 1 of the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning when they earned a point in their 2-1 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins. The Lightning helped the cause by losing 6-1 to the New York Islanders. That three-point swing mathematically sewed up second place for the Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division.
With home-ice secured, now it is just a matter of figuring out the ultimate lineup for Game 1 of the postseason. Obviously, with all that, there are many questions to be asked and answered. That said, there are two of the puzzle pieces that do seem to be in place.
Puzzle Piece Number 1: Ilya Samsonov Will Be the Team’s Staring Goaltender
While it was felt that Ilya Samsonov had already earned the role of starting goalie in the first game of the playoffs, the conversation might have become moot the second that Matt Murray’s head hit the ice in Detroit against the Red Wings in last Sunday’s game.
While head coach Sheldon Keefe did not want to use the word “concussion” when discussing Murray’s injury and instead termed it as a “head injury,” that doesn’t change the facts. It does seem as if Murray’s head injury might indeed be a concussion. If that’s the case, it could be more problematic for him.
However, Maple Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe also ambiguously noted that Murray was also dealing with “other issues” as well. What these issues are, we sure haven’t heard.
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Our gut feelings with the situation is that this is not a day-to-day thing. It’s much longer. Still, even if Murray’s injury is a short-term one, it just reaffirms that this is now Samsonov’s net.
Puzzle piece number one seems to be settled. Samsonov will be the team’s starting goalie for the playoffs. Who his backup will be with Murray injured, no one knows for sure.
Puzzle Piece Number 2: The Maple Leafs’ Fourth Line Has Been Settled
The second puzzle piece that appears to be solidified is the fourth line. Barring an injury, David Kampf, Sam Lafferty, and Zach Aston-Reese will make up the Maple Leafs’ fourth line.
Coach Keefe had nothing but praise for that line following the Bruins game, stating:
“Those guys have been excellent for a number of games now. They’re playing hard. They’re fast. They’re strong defensively. They are scoring for us, as they did here tonight in a game in which it was extremely hard to generate any sort of offense either way.”
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Keefe’s right as rain. Those three players have been great. When asked about the line’s “identity,” Keefe followed up his first statement with the following:
“It’s the pressure on the puck. It’s playing smart. It’s playing connected as a group of three. They are advancing the puck and putting pressure on the opponent. They’re getting the puck to the net and getting rewarded for it.”
When it is time to defend, they are great defenders. They’ve earned the confidence of the coach that when they are out there, they are going to either do good things or not allow anything bad to happen.
These three players have really come together over the last number of games. We can see that momentum continuing.
Questions That Still Need To Be Settled for the Maple Leafs
Although those two puzzle pieces are in place, the following questions still need to be answered over the next 10 days and four games.
Question One: What will the line combinations for the top nine look like?
Question Two: Will Ryan O’Reilly be in the top six or will he be the third-line centre in an effort to spread the talent out?
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Question Three: Will Sheldon Keefe go with the traditional 12 forwards and six defensemen, or will he go seven defensemen and 11 forwards?
Question Four: What will the defensive pairings look like?
Question Five: Will Murray be able to return to assume the backup role or will AHL sensation Joseph Woll get the call?
There are five games remaining to answer these five questions. We will have to watch as the other puzzle pieces are put into place over the next week to 10 days.
[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs’ fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]
