They teach them a lesson rather than learn the lessons themselves.
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It seemed like a odd thing to say to the defending Vezina Trophy victor, a goalie who once again is a finalist for the award after the Washington Capitals allowed 16 fewer goals than the next-best team during the regular season. Nevertheless, he believed in the lessons learned from the surprising season. You learn a lot about your team. Every series you learn from. And so it was for Game 6 in Toronto, which was as tight and nervy as you’d expect from a potential elimination game.
The pace and tension continued to increase, but the ice was slowly tilting in favour of the Capitals as the President’s trophy winners had the majority of the chances early in the third period. But that’s hardly the story here.
Cassidy, who served out the season as the interim coach, said he “absolutely, 100 percent” wants to be back.
Against a team, in the Capitals, that had finished 26 points ahead of Toronto in the regular season.
“He came up huge, and that’s what Braden Holtby does”, said Capitals coach Barry Trotz after Washington’s series-clinching 2-1 overtime win against Toronto on Sunday night.
“This is just the start for us”, said Nazem Kadri, who can appreciate this resurgence more than most of his teammates after seven tough years with the Leafs. Andersen has been the best Toronto goalie since Ed Belfour. On one side you can take pride in the way that we battled and the way we competed.
They certainly will not.
But this time, after Leafs president Brendan Shanahan finished with his broom and then a tank job produced No. 1 overall draft pick Auston Matthews and a couple of other very bad seasons resulted in high draft picks like Mitch Marner, William Nylander along with trades and free-agent signings that netted the likes of Frederik Andersen, Nikita Zaitsev, Zach Hyman and Kasperi Kapanen, the hopes for the future are legitimate. That tied an National Hockey League record for one series, done twice previously. Oh, and that Auston Matthews kid? “But that’s the way our guys have been rolling this year, just making sure we just roll those guys over and keep going, and I thought that really gave us a lot of momentum. The experience is not overwhelming at all”.
As immensely promising as the performance of the rookies was this season (and to think they’re only getting better), the Leafs can’t assume everything will fall in place so nicely next season if they just leave the roster to sit and develop.
The wild card is whether Toronto joins the market for blueline help in July.
He also shared a shot of himself in a luxury box, mouth agape, hands on his head, wearing a #1 Fan foam finger with his little brother in the foreground as the Leafs lost in overtime to the Capitals, sending the Leafs home and the Caps moving on in the playoffs. With just some better luck in OT the Leafs would have had easier opponent.
Let’s take a moment to give a tip of the cap to Toronto.
The Capitals beat the Maple Leafs in the most recent overtime game to advance. It was another fluke play that Holtby had seen numerous times this series.
Babcock said the power play was not at its best Friday. Tonight’s goal was almost the flawless way to cap a rookie year the likes of which this franchise has never seen before, and one we may never see again in our lifetimes.
“We’re ready. We’re excited”.
Faceoffs were a key part of the Maple Leafs’ winning formula as they took a 2-1 series lead, and they reclaimed that advantage Sunday.
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It was hard to see the Leafs lose. “The future’s bright for us”.
