Toronto Maple Leafs

Leafs checklist: clinch and avoid the Capitals
April 5, 2017, 5:22 PM ET [47 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs got an idea of what a first round matchup with the Washington Capitals would be like, as the likely President’s Trophy winners had little trouble exerting their will in a 4-1 win over Toronto at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday.

Lars Eller, Kevin Shattenkirk, Nate Schmidt and Tom Wilson scored for Washington, who need a point to lock down home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Mitch Marner scored his 19th of the season to break up Phillipp Grubauer’s shutout bid with 1:08 left in regulation. Curtis McElhinney made 34 saves in the loss, which ended Toronto’s four-game winning streak.

The Leafs fell victim to the more experienced Capitals, who were effective in pressuring the Toronto defense, won most of the puck battles and played with physicality against a team playing their backup goalie in their second of back-to-back games (in which they are 6-10-1 this season).

“That's the way the schedule is. I thought (Washington) played good and I didn't think we did. I thought they had energy and we didn't have a whole bunch.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said following the loss. “To me we didn't measure anything, we didn't find out how good they were because we didn't push enough. To me it was a one-sided game, they were better than us from start to finish. Like I said, we had eight minutes or something there at the start of the second, but they were bigger, stronger, faster, quicker, more organized.”



The Leafs played with 11 forwards in the last two periods, as center Brian Boyle suffered an upper-body injury in a collision with Washington’s Tom Wilson.

The hit appeared to be shoulder-to-shoulder and Boyle returned for another shift before being shut down for the night. Babcock did not elaborate on the veteran’s status after the game and the Leafs did not practice on Wednesday, which means that an update will not be available until Thursday after the club’s morning skate.

If Boyle misses any significant time, Babcock’s top two options would be either Ben Smith or recalling Frederik Gauthier to center the fourth line.

The results on Tuesday flipped the standings in the Atlantic, as Ottawa’s 2-0 win over Detroit moved the Senators back into second place in the division and the Bruins 4-0 victory over Tampa Bay clinched a playoff spot for Boston and pushed the Lightning to the brink of elimination.



Toronto needs a win over Tampa on Thursday to clinch a playoff spot, but to improve their chances to finish in second or third in the Atlantic, they need the winner of Ottawa-Boston to be in regulation.

Boston will likely be without leading scorer Brad Marchand for their remaining two games, as the Bruins forward will have a hearing on Thursday after receiving a major and game misconduct for spearing the lower regions of Tampa defenseman Jake Dotchin.



Ottawa has three games remaining (at Boston, NY Rangers and at NY Islanders) and may benefit from both New York teams not having much to play for, as the Rangers will be taking on Montreal in the first round and the Isles will likely be eliminated by the weekend.

Tampa can still get to 94 points, but will need to win out in their three remaining games (at Toronto, at Montreal and home against Buffalo) and have the Leafs or Sens lose their last three.

If the Leafs draw Ottawa or Boston in the first round, they have a fair chance to win either series or at least be competitive, but it would be a herculean task for the young squad to match up against the Capitals based on Tuesday’s results.