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The Toronto Maple Leafs finished off their home schedule with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night that raised questions and provided some hurdles in the upcoming first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Auston Matthews notched his 69th goal of the season in a second-period comeback, but will have to get a goal in the club’s final two games in the Sunshine State to reach the 70-goal mark for the first time.
Mitch Marner, Nick Robertson, and John Tavares also scored for Toronto, who clinched third spot in the Atlantic Division with the loser point and Tampa Bay’s regulation loss to Washington, but who they will play in the first round is still up in the air after both Boston and Florida won on Saturday.
Consistency and injury questions sprung out of the loss to the Red Wings, who were in a win-or-else scenario in the Eastern Conference wildcard race. Detroit was clearly the more motivated of the two clubs, replying to Marner’s opening power-play goal with four first-period markers on Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov. Toronto’s Masterton Trophy nominee followed up his six-goal outing against New Jersey with another wanting effort that included a goal reminiscent of his December struggles to David Perron, before rebounding in the second and third.
On the health front, defenseman Timothy Liljegren was clearly a target of the Wings in his first game in nearly three weeks, as Joe Veleno throttled the Leafs defenseman into the boards and sent him briefly to the locker room. Bobby McMann did not return after suffering a lower-body injury in the first period, and Jake McCabe also did not return after being hit with a deflected puck in the face.
After the game, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe could not provide an update on the severity of McMann’s injury, and said that McCabe should be fine, but was prevented from returning because of the swelling around his eye.
With the Leafs locked in third, bumps and bruises less than a week out from the playoffs being a concern, and the prospect of playing their likely first-round opponent in the Panthers on Tuesday, Keefe hinted at giving some players a night off in the last back-to-back of the regular season, including Matthews and some of the star players.
“We will make the decision that we think is best for the team,” Keefe said. “We have guys dropping right now. We will have to dress 18 skaters. Some guys will not be available for us. That is going to be a factor. The salary cap is what it is. We can only have so many guys. We have lots to sort out here in the last little bit.”
Based on the rough-and-tumble nature of the Panthers and the fact that they will likely try to inflict some pain on the Leafs in their season finale, it would be wise of Keefe to sit Matthew in Sunrise on Tuesday and play him against Tampa Bay on Wednesday, who will likely be resting some of their veterans and possibly goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy in their home finale.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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