Morgan Rielly and his Maple Leafs teammates knew something no one else did when they huddled together for dinner before the start of the 2016-17 season. Holtby looked a little shaky at times but finished things off by stopping 61 of 63 shots during the final two games.
"It's just kind of been nonstop so I'm not going to go", Matthews said of the worlds in Germany and France after his exit interview with Leafs management. "So we've got a lot to work to do and we understand that as an organization". "You expect us to win more games and with that comes playoffs and winning in playoffs". I think we have a bright future, we have unbelievable support from the city of Toronto and Leafs Nation. Last season, Washington and Pittsburgh were the two best teams in the Eastern Conference and faced off in the second round.
They lost Game 6 in overtime, 2-1 to the Washington Capitals, just as they lost Game 5, by the same score, same number of periods.
While they had good point-per-game averages in the first six games of their careers, they'll have to replicate that over long periods to reach the success of these players. That tied an National Hockey League record for one series, done twice previously. Toronto became the first team since the 1988 Boston Bruins to have five rookies (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Zach Hyman and Kasperi Kapanen) score a goal in a playoff series.
The 19-year-old draft led all rookies with 40 goals and 69 points - both Leafs franchise rookie records. The Maple Leafs also capitalized on broken plays, used their young, speedy legs on the forecheck and did everything to limit the Capitals' time in the offensive zone and disrupt breakouts.
To say the Leafs would've forced a seventh game and completed an upset of the Presidents' Trophy winners with Polak in the mix might be a stretch, but in the end the Caps were able to replace Karl Alzner, one of their key injured backliners, with Nate Schmidt, and not miss a beat.
After Game 6, in a dressing room which exuded both disappointment and optimism, van Riemsdyk noted how the Leafs would no longer surprise teams next year and with that expectations will rise - not just internally but externally too. He played a great Game 6 to clinch the series.
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Fans cheered as the clubs took part in the traditional post-game handshake, and then roared as the Leafs gave one last stick salute.
"They were way better than us in overtime, I thought", Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.
We know this much is clear now: The Leafs are well on the way to being a team that competes in the playoffs for years to come. "We've worked all year and all summer to get back into this position, and now we're here". If you can't-for example-bring in the right type of player like Brian Boyle, then you do nothing. Lamoriello said. "Whatever you might think a team has excess of, might not be". I'm really proud of our guys.
Kadri and Ovechkin had words - good ones - during the post-game congratulations. The next eight games were a different story, as the team reeled off six wins to move above the.500 mark.
"We focused on me being more patient on deflections, " Holtby said, "and not moving too soon". "But now we have to earn the respect of being one of the best teams if we want to compete". The days of futility are over.
Auston Matthews was fantastic and the supporting cast was there, but it just wasn't enough to take down a truly dominant Washington roster. If you look at Tampa and the quality organization they are, and they still nearly got into the playoffs with the injuries they had.
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