TORONTO – Another win down and the equivalent of nine more over the final 16 games should do it.
That’s how the Toronto Maple Leafs are approaching their situation.
There is nothing quite like a playoff chase to get your mind into small places. Amid the whoosh of a busy season, we tend to overlook the fact that victories are often like snowflakes: No two are exactly alike.
Against Philadelphia in an energized Air Canada Centre on Thursday night, you had Tyler Bozak playing through a nagging injury and scoring a big goal, and Frederik Andersen putting up a wall. There was also Toronto’s highly effective penalty kill coming up big in the third period and a couple power-play goals.
"I feel like I’ll get this question a lot down the stretch and I’ll just say all the wins are important," Brian Boyle said after a 4-2 result. "No matter who is in your lineup or what kind of team you have, all of these wins are important. For the team, for the points, for the obvious reasons of climbing, trying to get in.
"No wins are really the same. You have to figure out different ways to break through. The power play was great tonight, Freddie was great tonight, a little hiccup at the end but he wasn’t panicking."
We are officially entering the best time of year, when results are basically all that matter.
You need not ask how, but how many.
The Leafs look poised to take this playoff chase down to the wire and will learn something about themselves in the process. There seemed to be a positive step when they took a 2-1 lead into the third period and dominated the first 10 minutes with a 12-6 advantage in shot attempts.
"We were assertive and kept playing pretty good," said head coach Mike Babcock.
Then Nikita Zaitsev took a penalty that was killed off, and Mitch Marner deftly cashed in a power-play chance, and Shayne Gostisbehere got it back to 3-2 with his goalie pulled and the Leafs held on for dear life until a Nazem Kadri empty-netter sealed it.
"We played really good and then we made some troubles in the end again – like we usually do," said Leo Komarov. "A couple minutes got to be really nervous."
This is simply how it’s going to be.
Babcock floated an interesting theory that his group might benefit from Tuesday’s win over Detroit because they turned a comfortable 3-0 lead into a white-knuckle 3-2 victory. They flirted with danger and survived.
"I would have liked to win 4-0, but for our own group it was better to win the way we did," said Babcock. "The game’s going to be tight tonight, I guarantee it, so keep playing."
That assessment was spot on.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign of all is that Andersen appears to have regained top form after a frightful February. He was lights-out here, stopping Brayden Schenn and Michael Del Zotto on a bang-bang sequence just seconds before Bozak scored at the other end.
"He’s the real deal," Boyle said of Andersen. "He controls the game. He’s a calm presence back there; he is very much in control. He sees angles when things get into flurries, we have a break down or something, he’s there."
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We have also reached the point in the season where injury information is guarded as though it’s a matter of national security. Bozak missed Thursday’s morning skate and was grimacing a bit during pre-game warmups, but managed to play.
The most reasonable guess is he’s dealing with a hip or groin issue that is making it tough to move on his edges.
"I’ve got a lot of things going on," said Bozak. "I wasn’t sick. It’s some injury stuff but we’ll battle through it."
He and linemates Marner and James van Riemsdyk had a tough night possession-wise, but the second-period goal scored from Bozak was a beauty. It also provided the lead the Leafs took to the third period.
The 30-year-old is the longest-tenured member of the team and has seen plenty of meaningless March games in the past.
As a result, it’ll take more than a minor nagging issue to keep him out of one of these higher-stakes occasions.
"Walking around is a little different movements than skating, so you get out there and see," said Bozak. "As the game goes on, you kind of get the adrenalin and that’s obviously the best pain-killer there is.
"I mean once you get in the heat of the game and you start thinking about that you kind of forget about the other stuff and can just battle through."
They opened up a four-point cushion over Philadelphia in the process.
The games are nearly as tight as the standings. The push to the finish is on.
"It’s hard to score," said Boyle. "We should know that and remember that. It’s hard to score in this league and if we defend the right way we can make it even harder."
