Game 2 Notebook: Maple Leafs debating how to quiet Matthew Tkachuk

TORONTO – Matthew Tkachuk did not take it easy on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ new hope in Game 1.

So what if Matthew Knies is just a rookie whose pro career is all of nine games old?

Tkachuk was just as quick to engage verbally as he was physically in the Florida Panthers’ 4-2 Game 1 victory.

“Yeah, he was just chewing my ear out, trying to get in my face, get under my skin. I think he’s really good at that. He likes to change the energy of a game,” Knies says.

“I think everyone in this locker room knows we’re not going to let that affect us. Put our heads down and go to work and let our play do the talking.”

Yet it was the Tkachuk line’s play on Tuesday that screamed at eardrum-damaging levels. That’s what a three-point, nine-hit, two-drawn-penalty performance under the bright lights will do.

Skating to the right of Nick Cousins and Sam Bennett, the Panthers MVP had his claws all over the series’ first 60 minutes. Whether he was giving or receiving chirps, supplying or taking hits, he was the most noticeable man on the ice.

“That’s playoff hockey,” Tkachuk says, unflustered. “You’ve got to take few hits to make plays at this time of year. Dish ’em out, and you’ve got to take ’em.”

His coach, Paul Maurice, smiles devilishly at the idea that his most dangerous player might be fazed by getting bulldozed by the likes of Luke Schenn.

“That’s in his wheelhouse,” Maurice says. “That doesn’t make him worse. He enjoys that.”

Sheldon Keefe and his staff didn’t exactly enjoy the effect Tkachuk’s unit had in Game 1, as they outshot the Leafs 8-4 at even-strength, scored early and often, and tilted the ice something fierce.

Never leading the contest, Keefe tried getting his best defensive centre, Auston Matthews, out against Florida’s fourth line to create mismatched scoring opportunities, but Tkachuk & Co. feasted on Toronto’s bottom six.

Does Keefe go best-on-best? Will he form a new checking line? Will a hard-match strategy take Toronto’s own stars out of rhythm?

Tkachuk has exploded for 11 points in five games. Bennett is a forechecking hammer and a point-per-game player since he returned from his lower-body injury.

“They're a huge factor on their team,” William Nylander says. “We’ve got to be aware when they're on the ice and try to make them play D-zone.” 

Keefe and the Leafs staff hunkered back to the drawing board, spending a chunk of Wednesday debating the best plan to neutralize the hottest line in the East. They weighed the pros and cons of keeping Matthews and Mitch Marner together.

Toronto’s lines, as ever, remain in flux.

“We’d like to find some rhythm, for sure. We were trying to find rhythm last series, too, and never really did,” Keefe says. “Maybe we’re better off with less consistency and more flow and being less predictable and having the players just go out and play.

“We’d like to find some lines that are ready for an opportunity to respond.”

Whatever Keefe drums up, it better work.

For falling down 2-0 to the carefree Cats is a scary proposition, and a result that would spark panic over two long days off before Sunday’s Game 3 in Sunrise.

Maurice knows an overhyped storyline when he sees one, though, and expects a hungrier home team Thursday night.

“I don't think this is the greatest line in the history of hockey. I think we're in Toronto,” Maurice says. “They had three points.”

Home, sweat, home

For all the effort the Maple Leafs poured into earning home-ice advantage over 82 games, they’ve handed it right back to their opponent 60 minutes into both playoff series.

Toronto is 1-3 at Scotiabank Arena this postseason, which falls in line with a tournament trend of road teams spilling fans into the streets with frowns.

Keefe admits that not seizing last change and building off crowd enthusiasm is growing frustrating.

“It is a leaguewide trend, but it doesn’t make you feel any better about it. You’re still trying to get it right here at home. It should be a tough place for teams to play,” Keefe says.

“We should be better. We should have more life. All these kinds of things. And we just haven’t had that. It’s certainly a topic around here.

“At home, we should never fade.”

The 8-seed Panthers executed an excellent road plan Tuesday: fly out the gates, kill early penalties, build a two-goal, morph SBA into a library.

“Most of it is just effort based. We gotta be harder to play against,” says Matthews, calling for urgency. “It just starts with our work effort.”

Nylander due for an impact

Nylander entered the postseason hot off his first 40-goal campaign.

He has now gone five games without a goal and three without a point.

Keefe is using the carrot, not the whip.

“Just remain confident,” the coach assures Nylander though the media. “Like a lot scorers, they’re streaky. Just gotta stay with it. Keep getting the chances. Keep attacking the net. Shoot with authority. It’ll go in.”

Agreed.

But Nylander’s 200-foot game has another level to reach this month. He’s a minus-3 over his past five game and a minus-3 in the playoffs.

“Not too worried. I’ve had chances to score,” Nylander says. “As long as the chances are there, the goals will come.”

Keefe may tweak his 5-on-5 lines, but he likes the effect throwing Nylander over the boards as the first power-play guy on the second unit has.

The coach believes Nylander now gives the back half of the power-play a fresh jolt, and the Leafs’ data reveals that they are getting better scoring opportunities late in the man-advantage as a result of the tweak.

Giordano owns his mistakes

The oldest skater in the league averaged a hefty 18:57 over 78 games in the regular season, playing a top-four role for his hometown for long stretches as the Leafs dealt with blueline injuries.

That workload, combined with a relentless schedule and some punishing opponents, appears to have taken a toll on the veteran. So have some monster hits.

Giordano’s ice time has dipped to 17:23 and may need monitoring. He’s a minus-6 this postseason. Only his former partner, the healthy-scratch Justin Holl (minus-7), has a worse mark for the Leafs.

“Try not to overthink things, but try not to be on the ice for goals against. When you’re on the ice for goals against, it can get to you sometimes,” Giordano says.

“You gotta eliminate that. That’s the bottom line. You gotta be better. You can’t be on the ice for goals against. And every time you are, it’s on you as an individual to critique what you could’ve done better on that shift or that play — and I do that all the time.”

One-Timers: Sam Lafferty draws into the Maple Leafs’ fourth line, and Zach Aston-Reese will sit Game 2 out. “He’s got a lot of pace in his game. We think that can help. That’s really it, to be honest,” Keefe reasons.… Luke Schenn went and fetched Matthew Knies’ first-goal puck from Game 1. Knies says he wasn’t trying to get fancy with his first one: “I didn’t really know what I was doing there with the between-the-legs shot. Just trying to get it on net.”… Defenceman Jake McCabe, following a rough outing in Game 1: “My best hockey is yet to come.”… No changes for the Panthers’ winning lineup.