TORONTO – With another chance to secure a playoff spot, there are bound to be some nerves bouncing around Air Canada Centre before puck drop on Saturday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t shying away from that reality. They felt them in missing a chance to clinch against Tampa on Thursday and expect a similar atmosphere with the Pittsburgh Penguins coming to town for Game No. 81.
“You relish the opportunities that you feel like that because I think it’s real important to feel like that,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Friday. “You shouldn’t be in this sport if you don’t. I think any competitor, in games that are exciting that way. I think it’s good for you.
“And I think it’s real good for our guys.”
The Leafs still control their own destiny.
A win against Pittsburgh on Saturday or Columbus on Sunday is enough to get them in. But the margin for error is shrinking with each passing day and a team with seven rookies won’t want to arrive at the final day of the regular season without an “X” beside its name.
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“It’s no different than being on the tee at the Masters,” said Babcock. “You step up there, you’ve got to clear your mind and hit the ball. If there’s momentary doubt, you push through it and you hit it down the middle and you get ready for your next shot.
“It’s the same thing here in hockey: You play your shift, come back and take a deep breath and get a drink of water, and play your next one.”
With that in mind, we asked some of the Leafs about the game that made them most nervous in their past, and how they think it will stack up to Saturday night against the Penguins:
Morgan Rielly
May 22, 2016 – Canada vs. Finland, IIHF World Hockey Championship final
(Photo Credit: Nathan Denette/CP)
Morgan Rielly couldn’t sleep. At least not like usual.
His game-day routine was completely out of whack with a chance to win a gold medal at Moscow’s VTB Ice Palace last spring.
“You feel the pressure leading up to that,” said Rielly. “I mean your pre-game warmup, it’s really all you can think about. That was probably the biggest game of my life, for sure.”
What made the situation so unique?
“That’s an easy answer because of how nervous I was,” he said. “It’s one and done. It’s one game and you’re playing a team that you don’t really know that well and you’re in a foreign country and you don’t really have your fans there. You have one chance to do it and if you don’t do it you’ve got to wait a year to go back there.”
Rielly managed to hold his nerve and help Team Canada to a 2-0 victory. He hopes to draw on that experience Saturday because it’s a moment he feels is only a degree or two off in terms of its magnitude.
“It’s not night and day [apart] – that’s a big game tomorrow night,” said Rielly. “But I think the approach has to be a bit different. You’re not playing for a gold medal, you’re playing for an opportunity to go to the playoffs.
“That’s a huge opportunity and I mean you can’t downplay it, but you can’t blow it out of proportion either.”
Connor Brown
March 28, 2009 – Toronto Marlboros vs. London Jr. Knights, All-Ontario Bantam AAA Championship
(Photo Credit: Paul Vernon/AP)
The last championship team Connor Brown played for needed to be perfect.
Coached by his father, Dan, the Toronto Marlboros went 8-0 through the tournament of champions. Connor was 15 at the time and recalls being as nervous as he’s ever been – before or since – in the lead-up to facing London in the final.
“At the time, that was huge,” said Brown. “You work so hard all year.”
The Marlboros ended up winning 3-0 and celebrating with non-alcoholic champagne on the bus ride home from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
In the years since, Brown has learned to manage his emotions before a big game.
“Nerves are nerves,” he said. “It’s like anything, once the puck drops it kind of just all goes away. Once you first step on the ice and you just get yourself into the game all of the noise and everything kind of goes away.”
Connor Carrick
Oct. 1, 2013 – Washington Capitals vs. Chicago Blackhawks, first NHL game
(Photo Credit: Nathan Denette/CP)
When Connor Carrick attended his first NHL training camp with the Washington Capitals, he didn’t expect to make the team. He didn’t even have a contract.
But the teenager turned some heads in pre-season and wound up making the opening-night roster – playing in his hometown against the Chicago Blackhawks, no less.
It was a difficult experience.
“I thought I’d be jacked up for it,” said Carrick.
Instead, he was nearly out of gas.
“I wasn’t signed going into camp – I signed real late, the third or fourth week of camp – and I remember finding out I was on the roster on Twitter because they’d sent a guy on waivers,” he said. “Every day was like Game 7, every practice I was jacked up for and I remember my first NHL game, it was in Chicago, and I was physically tired and mentally tired.
“The season hadn’t even started yet.”
He played a little more than 10 minutes that night and was on the ice for a couple goals against.
Carrick is a player who tends to put a lot of pressure on himself, but now takes pride in being able to calm his nerves when the heat gets turned up.
His secret?
“Having done it and making plays,” said Carrick. “When you’re getting ready to play big games what makes you nervous? Well, screwing up. If you’ve already played big games and screwed up [you learn it’s not the end of the world]. Like, I still have a career, I’m fine – your head’s above water and you’ve got to make plays.
“Honestly, the most crippling thing is when you’re afraid to make mistakes. That’s hard hockey to play, when you’re really, really jammed up.”
Brian Boyle
April 8, 2006 – Boston College vs. Wisconsin, NCAA national championship
April 7, 2007 – Boston College vs. Michigan State, NCAA national championship
(Photo Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
Brian Boyle has experienced just about everything the sport has to offer – Game 7s, Stanley Cup finals, overtime games in the playoffs when your season is on the line, etc.
But it was two huge games in college where he felt the most anxiety.
“It wasn’t necessarily nerves, but I learned a lesson there,” said Boyle. “You try so hard to be the guy and I think it comes from a good place, but you just have to do what gets you there. … The battles and the opportunities to kind of rise to the occasion will present themselves. You can’t go out looking for it and get yourself all out whack and get yourself too wound up.
“I think that’s kind of what I learned even before I got to the NHL, but it takes years and years for some guys and other guys just go out and they play their game and they do well and it translates well.”
His two NCAA championship games are not fond memories.
As a junior, his team suffered a 2-1 loss on a third-period power-play goal by Wisconsin’s Tom Gilbert.
As a senior, Boyle put Boston College ahead before Michigan State rallied in the third period, getting the winner from Justin Abdelkader with 19 seconds left to play in regulation.
“They stay with you,” said Boyle. “It’s 10 years ago and it’s still, it’s tough. You learn a lot more from losses a lot of times and you keep playing.
“You have another opportunity and you’re never guaranteed any of those, so we all should be excited. It’s a very exciting opportunity for us tomorrow.”
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