If you’re a stressed out Toronto Maple Leafs fan, Don Cherry has a message for you.
“Listen to me, listen to me: I know everybody’s concerned about the Leafs. It’s good right now, they’re having a tough time — rough time, we’ll tell it right now,” Cherry said during Saturday’s ‘Coach’s Corner’ segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “Now, you cannot go through the season like they were going through the season, having 45 shots … and Andersen’s the first star all the time. You can’t go through it.”
As Cherry understands from his days behind the bench of the Bruins, it’s easy to ignore flaws when you’re winning.
“I know what it’s like. When I was with the Boston Bruins, we were 17-2. We were in first place, rolling along playing stupid hockey but still winning,” he explained. “Try to get through to anybody — it’s like the Leafs when they were before.”
Talk of the Leafs’ fast-paced, high-scoring, low-defence playing style being unsustainable has gotten increasingly louder, and the timing of their current slump, made worse by injuries on the blue line, seems less than ideal for those anticipating a tough first-round battle against Boston. The Maple Leafs have let in 37 goals in 10 games this month, going 5-5 during that time.
“This is good for them,” Cherry reiterated. “It’ll teach them a little toughness going into the playoffs because if they get in against the Bruins, they’ve got to be a lot tougher.”
“This will toughen them up,” he added. “I know the people of Toronto and everybody around it says this will toughen them up.”
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