TAMPA – On a sunny morning in Tampa, Luke Schenn bumped into Pat Maroon Tuesday at Amalie Arena as one was arriving for pre-game skate and the other leaving his.
The two hardnosed hockey men asked each other about families and shared a friendly moment not all that far from where they partied on a parade of boats and sipped from the same silver mug. The big, shiny one that weighs 34.5 pounds and has Schenn and Maroon’s names etched into its sides a combined five times.
A few hours later, they were shedding gloves and launching balled fists at each other’s faces.
“There was a lot of emotion in the game,” said Schenn, a former Lightning and renewed Maple Leaf, following Toronto’s 4-3 win Tuesday at Amalie Arena.
“I can flip the switch.”
Schenn’s brother, Brayden, won a Stanley Cup with Maroon, too. And these long, hard runs, Luke says, are the battles, the triumphs, that bond grown men forever.
Schenn is looking to write a similar story in Toronto, with a Maple Leafs organization that drafted him eons ago, to create the same type of brotherhood that he already has with Tampa stars Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, two of his closest friends on Toronto’s Round 1 opponent.
In those deep summer championship runs, their kids would play together, their wives would visit, and the players would putt around to each other’s homes in golf carts.
“It’s a unique setup,” Schenn says. “Those are friends for life.
“But in saying that, it’s easy for me to switch gears and focus on what I’m doing right now.”
What Schenn is doing now is setting a tone.
“There’s no fights in college with the cage on, so it’s pretty fun to see,” newcomer Matthew Knies said. “It’s intense out there, you know?”
Added fresh-faced Joseph Woll, stellar in a 46-save effort: “It was awesome to see a couple fights. It’s already playoff-style hockey.”
Scrums and whistles aplenty. Crease crashing and the influence of special teams.
Schenn threw a game-high five hits, scored his first goal in his second life as a Leaf, and helped underscore a toughness and competitiveness that Toronto will need to reverse last spring’s playoff result.
Jake McCabe, another defence-first defenceman, gets tougher matchups and more minutes, and he too is exhibiting an edge lacking in previous incarnations of Toronto’s previous playoff rosters.
The Maple Leafs rested superstars (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner) and regulars (Mark Giordano and Ilya Samsonov). Heck, they threw extra D-man Conor Timmins up on the wing.
They had intended for the overworked McCabe to take a night off as well. Until Erik Gustafsson was too hurt to dress.
“This guy just gives us everything he has, all the time. If Gustafsson is healthy, he’s not playing here today,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He doesn’t take a shift off. There’s nothing easy about how he plays.”
Good.
Because there will be nothing easy about snuffing out the three-time finalists in the first round.
Tuesday’s playoff preview was choppy and chippy, and Jon Cooper suggested the officials came in with an agenda to throw guys in the box.
The box score meant nothing to the standings and, with an incomplete lineup, very little in terms how next week's matchups will shake out.
But those 60 minutes did give fans a taste of the nastiness, the effort, and the quality of goaltending and penalty killing (the Leafs went 8-for-8 on the PK) that will be required to outlast the men on the opposite side.
“The character of our group is really strong, and (so is) the togetherness of the group in terms of rallying around whatever the situation is,” Keefe said. “Guys just really dug in.
“Really is somewhat of a meaningless game for the group, but the guys didn’t give a meaningless type of effort. And that’s what I love to see.
“They’re just out there playing for each other.”
Fox’s Fast 5
• Steven Stamkos was honoured for his 1,000th game Tuesday. While Stamkos donned his usual 91 sweater in warmups, all his teammates wore STAMKOS sweaters with the number 1000 on the back.
Former teammate Vincent Lecavalier —the only other player to suit up his first 1,000 games with the Bolts — presented Stamkos with his silver stick.
“I’m just kind of a loyal guy by nature. That’s how I was raised, and they were the team that selected me from Day One, that had the faith in me,” a grateful Stamkos said.
“I’ve seen some tough times here, but to see the peak of the mountain as well and just go through that transition, I think that’s what you want to do as a player — be part of something special like that.”
• The makeshift top line of Knies – O'Reilly – Nylander was a little slow to get going 5-on-5, as the NCAA stud continues to reveal both promising glimpses and signs that he needs more seasoning before getting thrown into this level of competition.
That’s fine. He shouldn’t be expected to be processing the game at NHL speed yet.
Knies is not in my Game 1 lineup yet, but he’s feeling more confident by the shift and registered his first NHL point with a primary assist that was a couple inches from being a goal:
“I honestly thought it hit the back of the net and came back out, but happy I could get on the board and O’Reilly batted that one in. He was apologizing to me, but it was a good play,” Knies said.
“I felt a part of the team.”
• Schenn on the steady string of Maple Leafs amateur backup goalies:
“They’re all really good kids. They all can’t believe they’re in this situation. They’re just awesome guys. We’re trying to take them in and chat with them a little bit. They’re a little bit shy, but we’re trying to make them feel comfortable. This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them. If you put yourself in their shoes, you’re probably thinking, How the heck did this happen? And how proud their families must be, and all their friends talking and texting them. You want to make this memorable for them.”
• Calle Järnkrok’s first 20-goal campaign arrives in his 10th season in the league. Matthews and Marner could be seen celebrating their teammate’s achievement in the press box.
• Corey Perry dragged Michael Bunting into his first NHL fight.
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