With just nine games remaining on the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ schedule, the club will need to keep the foot on the gas if it wants to clinch a playoff berth.
The New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning continue to nip at their heels in the standings, both coming off extra-time victories on Friday night. Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins remain just three points behind. The Leafs have won three in a row and seven of their last 10 games, but will the young core be able to maintain this torrid pace as the season winds down?
Sportsnet Hot Stove host Roger Lajoie was joined by Ben Nicholson-Smith and Donnovan Bennett to discuss how fatigue that comes with the added mileage of an NHL season could impact a young team.
“You think about the kind of grinder that Auston Matthews has been through ever since the summer — when he was drafted, then he’s playing in the World Cup of Hockey, then you have the season,” Ben Nicholson-Smith said on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. “The same could be said about William Nylander and Mitch Marner to a certain extent, but now you have the biggest test that they’ve ever faced as professional hockey players.”
The 82-game grind of an NHL season is unfamiliar territory for the Leafs’ three leading scorers.
Matthews played 42 games including playoffs in Switzerland’s National League A last year plus an additional 17 games for the United States at the international level. Marner played a total of 61 games for the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League and five more for Team Canada at the world under-20s while Nylander suited up for 60 games between the Leafs and the Toronto Marlies.
The final few games on the schedule won’t make the team’s hope of putting together a strong finish any easier as the season concludes with a tough four-game home stand. They’ll play the Washington Capitals on the second night of a back-to-back before finishing against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets.
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