Dave Feschuk: Maple Leafs are about to find out what edge of the sword their playoff experience sits on
is in the midst of a concerning late-season fall-off. In six appearances since returning from a 17-game absence with another in a line of injuries, Murray owns a 3-3-0 record that comes attached to a hefty 3.67 goals-against average and an .886 save percentage.
Maybe McCabe and Samsonov and Lafferty, with so little real-life reference points to lean on, will be overwhelmed by the pressure of the opening-round spotlight. Or maybe, because they carry around none of the baggage of their current team’s seemingly eternal struggle, they’ll be unaffected by any of it and perform as they’ve been performing — which is, by and large, very well.
And head coach Sheldon Keefe spent part of a recent media availability talking about how, as much as Järnkrok is the prototypically selfless Swede — and as much as he’s spent most of his career as a bottom-six grinder — he’s also not so intimidated in the presence of bigger talents like Matthews and Marner that he’ll commit the sin of over-deferring to their greatness.
As good as he has been, you can make the case it’s a stretch for a career third-liner to command regular minutes on Toronto’s top line. And maybe, like all of Keefe’s combinations, this one will be temporary, too — especially with O’Reilly’s return to the lineup in the offing.
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