TORONTO – “You’re in the jungle, baby,” Axl Rose warbled over the Scotiabank Arena loudspeakers during a TV timeout. “You’re gonna DIE.”
It was like Guns N’ Roses was speaking directly to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ anxieties, reminding them of every ghost that has haunted them, during their 56-year Stanley Cup drought, during their 19-year playoff series win drought, during their streak of six consecutive opening-round playoff exits. It took all of one minute and 18 seconds in Game 1 of their rematch against the Tampa Bay Lightning to be reminded that their annual regular season brilliance was no longer relevant. The Leafs were back in the jungle that is the Stanley Cup playoffs, a.k.a. the place they go to die year in and year out against more battle-hardened opponents. And rather than prove that, this time, they were up to the challenge, the Leafs treated the 19,000 plus in attendance to a 60-minute panic attack on ice, a circus of turnovers, lost edges, bad penalties and more.
What went wrong? What didn’t go wrong? The Leafs allowed buzzer-beater goals in the first and second period of their 7-3 drubbing. The left the ice for each intermission to a hailstorm of boos – for them or for the officials, we can’t say for sure. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who had nursed a mysterious injury down the stretch, delivered one fat rebound after another, amounting to an .793 save percentage, allowing six goals in two periods before being mercy-pulled for Joseph Woll to start the third.
“I will be better,” Samsonov said after Game 1. “I played like shit today.”
Most of all, it was agitator Michael Bunting symbolizing all that imploded for the Leafs in Game 1. The player Toronto has previously painted as a victim, a target of league officials who never gets the benefit of the doubt, actually had a call go his way early in the second period, drawing a penalty leading to a power-play goal from Ryan O’Reilly. But Bunting quickly erased that goodwill with a high hit on Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak, sending him crashing hard to the ice and knocking him out of the game with an undisclosed injury. It was an unforced error by Bunting, earning him a five-minute major and match penalty.
“Bunts, to me, is trying to win the line to set himself up to win a race for the puck and it got away on him,” said coach Sheldon Keefe. “A guy wasn’t expecting it and I’m sure Bunts is expecting a battle in that situation and didn’t get one.”
The Bolts scored twice during that five-minute power play, stretching the score from 4-2 to 6-2. The Bunting penalty all but ended the game on the spot. All in all, the Leafs handed the Bolts eight power plays, four of which they converted. Toronto gave the game away. And superstar Auston Matthews had no excuses for it.
“I think the (officiating) standard was set pretty early on, so that’s on us to not cross that line,” he said. “Most of the penalties that were called were penalties.”
That’s one way to look at it. All the demons, the pressure that seemingly gets more suffocating every year, mushroom-clouded on Toronto in Game 1.
“There’s always nerves opening night of the Stanley Cup playoffs,” said captain John Tavares. “A few days to prepare and the excitement builds. Obviously an area we have to do better in.”
And yet? It’s possible they walked away rewarded despite falling down 1-0 in the series and losing home ice advantage. Top Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman departed after the first period with an undisclosed injury. Cernak didn’t return after taking the blow from Bunting. And checking forward Mikey Eyssimont left after being wobbled by a heavy hit from Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe.
Here we have a Toronto team that just suffered one of its worst home-ice humiliations in recent memory and should be missing one of its top nine wingers for Game 2 in Bunting after the NHL Department of Player Safety decided the match penalty wasn’t sufficient discipline and called for a hearing. And yet…if you told them a week ago that they could face a Tampa team minus two of its top three defensemen in all-around horse Hedman and shutdown specialist Cernak…would you trade a loss for it? The Lightning are suddenly much smaller, much lighter and much easier to play against if they’re without 6-foot-7, 244-pound Hedman and 6-foor-4, 224-pound Cernak for extended periods of time. Speaking after the game Tuesday, Lightning coach Jon Cooper sounded hopeful that Hedman could be back for Game 2 but that it was too early to speak on it with any clarity. Ominously, there was no update on Cernak or Eyssimont.
So while the Leafs don’t necessarily deserve it after a truly embarrassing Game 1 showing, they have a golden opportunity to take over this series at home in Game 2. The Lightning have tremendous depth up and down the lineup at forward, but they are quite top heavy on defense after being forced to trade Ryan McDonagh as a cap casualty last summer. It stands to reason they’d be at a significant disadvantage for the balance of the series if they’re without one or both of Hedman and Cernak for a significant period of time. Mikhail Serchachev has the size, talent and pedigree to step up. But after that, you’re looking at veteran Ian Cole, rookie Nick Perbix, journeyman Zach Bogosian…it thins out fast.
As Keefe said Tuesday, it was impossible to get any sense of rhythm from the 5-on-5 action in Game 1 because there was so little of it. But the Leafs did have the edge in the share of scoring chances when they were out there 5-on-5. If they can stay out of the box, they may be battling a badly depleted Tampa D-corps all night. If they can’t: you can’t exploit the Lightning’s injuries if you’re spending most of your night killing penalties against their elite forwards. Given Bunting’s struggles to find the right side of the line, maybe it’s a blessing to have him mothballed for a game or two. Now it’s just a matter of whether the Leafs can seize that chance – or if the cold sweats and wobbly legs taker over once again for a team that seemingly can never get out of its own way.
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