For everything he has done since his famous arrival in 2016, Auston Matthews cannot change the history of the playoffs of the Round of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Perhaps, a better future is directly for a team that plays a more responsible defensive style of the new coach Craig Berube, and after Toronto obtained several individual and franchise achievements to ensure its first title of the Atlantic Division with a 4-0 victory in Buffalo on Tuesday night.
“I think we are prepared,” Matthews said after scoring his career goal number 400.
“Obviously, we cannot change what happened in the past. I think you use that,” added the number 1 choice in the 2016 NHL draft. “So I really feel safe in this group. I think we work hard during the season. Obviously, winning the division here is a great step for us. But we just want to continue moving forward.”
With La Victoria, Toronto (51-26-4) won his team record 25 and, with a remaining game, it is guaranteed that he will end with his second most important victories and third more points. Meanwhile, Mitch Marner established a high in his career with his 100th point, while goalkeeper Anthony Stolarz stopped 35 shots to extend his best winning streak of his career to eight.
By ensuring the second seed of the East Conference, Toronto will face its provincial rival Ottawa in the first round and revives the so -called “Battle of Ontario”. Los Maple Leafs have won the four playoff series meetings against senators, the most recent first -round victory of seven games in 2004.
Toronto, however, also carries the weight of its most recent playoff history. The team has advanced beyond the first round only once, a victory of the 4-2 series over Tampa Bay in 2023, in its last nine apparitions in postseason.
The different thing is how the Maple Leafs are playing in a 12-2-1 race, including a section of nine games in which they have won eight times while exceeding opponents for a combined margin of 28-12.
“The whole season is a learning curve, especially with a new coach who enters, new systems. It is different from the style of game with which this team has played in previous seasons,” said Eavel Steven Lorentz, who signed with Toronto after winning a Stanley Cup with Florida last year.
“It may not be so exciting when you win the game 2-1 instead of 7-6,” Lorentz added. “But you know, that’s the championship hockey and that’s what you need if you want to play in June.”
The Maple Leafs have certainly not lost their offensive touch. With 263 goals, Toronto is approaching at the end of its ninth consecutive season classified among the 10 best of the NHL.
What has changed are the objectives of the team against. The Maple Leafs enter their final game in the tenth place in the NHL by allowing 226 goals. Only twice in the last nine seasons have ended with a better classification.
The players attribute their goal tandem that includes Joseph Woll, and with Stolarz collecting his fourth whiten from the season, third in four openings and 12 of his career.
“He was off last year,” Lorentz said about Stolarz, who also spent last season in Florida. “He simply brings it. He is a player. Nothing is taken seriously. And I think that’s what makes it so good.”
Stolarz emphasized how the team plays deeply in front of him.
“I feel good, but I think at the end of the day, the boys really commit to a complete two -way game on the ice,” said the 31 -year -old. “It is what will be needed to go far in the playoffs. I think we have to continue this trend.”
Berube, who won a glass training St. Louis Blues in 2019, said the key to this season has been the acceptance of the players.
“You are always trying to work on your identity. And that has not stopped throughout the season,” he said.
“I think our boys have done a good job,” Berube added. “Yes, I think we are in a good place, but we have to keep making sure that we are hitting and continue working on it and be ready to start.”
Flames Miss Playoffs
Despite coming from behind to win once again, Calgary Live Llamas have eliminated themselves from the containment of playoffs.
Calgary’s exciting 5-4 victory over the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday was not good enough since his destination was sealed earlier at night, when both the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues won to block the two shoes of wild cards playoffs at the West Conference.
Four weeks ago, the Flames were two points from a playoff place, but they had two games in their hand in St. Louis. Calgary has gone 10-2-3 since then, but could not invent any land when the blues compiled a 11-2-1 record to maintain that two-point cushion.
“I felt that we have been rolling, playing a good hockey, unfortunately, we couldn’t get any help,” said Nazem Kadri, who scored his 33 goal, establishing a race.
While Calgary has a remaining game, St. Louis has the tiebreaker so that lead is enough to leave the flames outside the postseason.
“I am disappointed, a little sad for our players,” said Flame’s coach Ryan Huska. “They worked hard during the year to get to this place and felt that they probably deserved better than where they ended.
“You also have to give St Louis a lot of credit. Not many teams run in which they took the playoffs. If they had not had that type of career, we are probably where we want to be now.”
Five of the 10 victories of Calgary in his furious impulse from the late season arrived in the games in which they lost after two periods.
“Character guys, a good group of boys,” Kadri said. “We could have been out of this a month ago, but it shows (our) annoying attitude. And I felt that if we could have entered, there could have been something there because we have had a lot of impulse and we have played a great hockey against some great hockey teams.”
It is the third consecutive season that Flames will lose the playoffs.
“You feel for the older boys, right? That is really what it is,” said Kadri, 34. “I am sure that young players will have long races and will be doing this for a while, but they are the older boys for which you feel.”
The oldest player of the team is Captain Mikael Backlund, 36.
“Only many emotions at this time,” Backlund said, whose 14th goal was the second of two goals in 32 seconds, drawing the 3-3 game in the third. “I struggled very hard throughout the season and to fall short at the end, it is difficult.”
With the second salary of the lowest team in the League and having changed veterans like Jacob Markstrom, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin of the team last year, not much expected of the flames this season, but they challenged the skeptics.
“No one believed in us, but we believed in ourselves from the first day, starting in the training field, and immediately, you had the feeling that everyone was buying and believing and when everyone buy and believe, you can achieve some big things,” Backlund said. “Unfortunately, we did not reach the playoffs, but we fought until the end and we were so resistant all year.”
For Mackenzie Wegar, her predominant emotion after the game was pride.
“I am proud of this group. The perseverance and leadership of all, the belief, everyone bought and says a lot,” said the veteran defender. “Everyone came to work for each other this year and I think that is the most important thing. So the credit for this team. And we really fight with everything we had.
At the end of the game, the crowd of 19,055 stood up and greeted the team with a thunderous ovation, that the players remained on the ice to recognize.
“I said at the beginning of the year, the people of Calgary want to see hard work,” said Huska. “They really do. And they appreciated what the boys did all year. So it is unfortunate that we cannot continue.”
He also scored for Calgary Morgan Frost, finishing a goals without 25 games. He also scored the decisive goal in the shooting. Adam Klapka had the other goal.
The rookie Dustin Wolf, making his eighth consecutive beginning, was starring once again making 38 stops to improve at 29-16-8.
Brandon Saad, Nicolas Roy, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for the Golden Knights who go to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons. They will meet the Minnesota Wild in the first round.
