TORONTO – Strong, grizzled regular-season monarchs clinging to one last best shot at ruling the kingdom. The emergence of a precocious, confident contender to the throne. Blood. Injury. Comedic relief. Redemption. Struggle.
And now, a cliff-edged confrontation and talk of a killing.
Game 6 of this wild, fun and nasty series between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs has officially reached Lion King levels of theatre.
"You can hear the roar in the city," says Mitchell Marner, shedding his armour after Sunday’s morning skate.
They don’t believe it or act like it, but for the first time the 2016-17 Maple Leafs woke up on their deathbed today, facing elimination at home against as fierce an opponent you could draw.
"You can do anything you want in life, but nothing gives you urgency until you have your back against the wall. You’re in survival mode," Capitals coach Barry Trotz says.
"It tests you to be great. It pushes you in ways you’ve never been pushed before. You find out a lot about yourself."
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The Leafs are finding they can laugh and tease each other and celebrate practice goals even when they could be planning summer vacations at this time tomorrow instead of working out power-play kinks. Straight hating Mondays.
If you expected these playoff newbies to arrive at Air Canada Centre tight, then you don’t know them, or their coach.
So why, Brian Boyle, you sage of the dressing room, was everyone so loose Sunday when your season could end in a few hours?
"It’s game day. These are the fun days. Practice days are boring. Days off are boring. We’re here to play hockey," Boyle smiled.
"We don’t want any handshakes tonight."
Marner insists Toronto has had a "Why not us?" attitude since training camp. Defenceman Morgan Rielly notes the off-season additions of Auston Matthews and Frederik Andersen churning belief. Re-signing Roman Polak was significant, too, he says.
All those blown third-period leads didn’t faze them, Rielly says, because they were jumping to leads in the first place. Beating elite teams, staying in the hunt.
Down the stretch, when the Leafs dropped consecutive 4-1 stinkers to these Capitals and a surging Lightning squad, and a playoff berth came down to the final weekend, Toronto never let skepticism seep into their dressing room.
"To be honest with you, most groups would have. We never had any doubt. When we went for dinner and stuff, there was a lot of confidence. No worries," Rielly says. Hakuna matata.
"No one was concerned we’d have to head home soon. We were going to get the job done one way or another. And that’s how we feel today."
How coach Mike Babcock felt as he walked out of Verizon Center Friday after another OT loss was that he was coming back for Game 7. He told the rink’s employees as much.
"They were being nice to me on the way out and saying, ‘Have a good year.’ I said, ‘No, see you in a couple of days.’ In my mind and in my heart, that’s what I know is going to happen," Babcock says.
Villain/hero Nazem Kadri gets slick: "I think Washington’s a beautiful city, so I wouldn’t mind going back."
Kadri also says he’s getting under Alex Ovechkin’s skin, a claim Trotz scoffed at Monday.
The bulletin board is getting crowded.
Caps defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk won’t fall for the mind games Babcock has been playing through the media since the coach’s "pucker factor" comments set the table.
"It seems he’s been trying to do that a lot. He’s someone who loves doing it. It’s always fun. You know in the locker room when it’s being played, and you give it a chuckle," Shattenkirk says.
"We’re ready to go home and say hello to the Verizon guys on Monday as well—just getting ready for Series 2."
The Capitals’ imperative, naturally, is to finish the job—now. They don’t want to allow the Pittsburgh Penguins another two free days to ice and rest up for Round 2.
"You get an opportunity to push someone off a cliff, you need to push them off," says Trotz, drawing on his inner Scar.
Babcock takes no offence to friend/foe Trotz’s aggressive metaphor.
"When you have someone down, and you have a chance to step on them, you step on them or they might get up and kill you. I agree with him 100 per cent," Babcock says. "There should be no more desperate team than us."
Rielly agrees: "This is the most motivated this group has ever been. This is what it’s all about. This is why you play. You want to do anything you can to keep playing."
It’s that simple. Dig in your claws. Cling to that cliff from here until Tuesday.
"If you’re not loving this today," Babcock says, "you shouldn’t be in hockey."
