Leafs Lock Up Home Ice; Loose Out On Northeast Title

For everybody who thought yesterday’s match up between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators would be a playoff preview, it was indeed just that. With a commanding 6-0 win against the Senators, the Maple Leafs locked up home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs but lost out on the opportunity of winning the Northeast Division as the Boston Bruins defeated the New Jersey Devils this afternoon jumping ahead of the Leafs to win the division.

Since the humiliating 7-2 loss to Tampa Bay on home ice on March 23rd, the Maple Leafs have redoubled the attention paid to defense. In the last five games after that loss to conclude the regular season, the Leafs have allowed only four goals in those five games, while mixing in three shutouts against Boston, Buffalo and Ottawa. The defensemen have done an excellent job of identifying their assignments and the forwards, especially in the last two games, have made a real solid commitment to backchecking in their own zone to help break up quality scoring chances. Solid team defense is essential to success in the playoffs and the Leafs seem to have ironed out all the defensive kinks going into game one.

The injury situation for the Leafs also has some optimism as Ken Klee is expected to return to the lineup for the first game of the playoffs. Darcy Tucker may not be ready for the first game but he seems to be targeting somewhere in the middle of the first round for his return. Owen Nolan is still out indefinitely which makes a return to the lineup any earlier than at least until the third round very unlikely. Getting Tucker and Klee back will be a help to the Leafs. Klee has been very dependable on the backend all season and Tucker is the type of player that opponents hate to play against.

The Leafs will begin the playoffs on Thursday night at Air Canada Centre against the Ottawa Senators.