I know people want more out of Matthews and Marner. It's true that they haven't dazzled or been as dangerous as we normally expect them to be. But they connected for a seriously important goal! And They're matching up with Florida's top scorers, and doing great against them. Barkov also has only one point in the series. And yesterday Bennet, Reinhart, Tkachuk, and Verhaeghe combined for zero points.
The fact is, this year is finally the opposite side of the reality coin for the Leafs. This team is better than in years past, but the bounces and the timing are finally coming up heads instead of 8 years of tails.
When we used to get backbreaking goals against at the worst time, the goals are now going in for the Leafs at the perfect time. Early leads, quick response goals to stop momentum. It's great.
We used to shout in rage 'how did that go in' at an unexpected goal against. Now we're shouting it in joy at an unexpected goal for.
The little things required to close out a game are working, like a clear or a line change on the fly. Used to be so much harder looking to end a game. But now it's finally working.
Even game 2 when the Panthers were objectively the better team, The Leafs found a way to win and got the stops needed and converted when they got chances. We used to get playoff losses feeling like the Leafs were the better team. But it felt like the hockey gods just wouldn't let them advance. Now the door is being held wide open. With 2 evenly matched teams, one deserving group still loses. It was somehow the Leafs every time for almost a decade. It's nice to be on the flip side so far in round 2.
