A brief recap of the Leafs' playoff stats from their series against Tampa
The Leafs are on to Round 2! We haven't been able to say that for awhile, so let's do ourselves a favour and relish in it for awhile. The series against Tampa wasn't perfect, but the Leafs got the result they wanted and a lot of that is due to the fact that the Core 4 and Morgan Rielly absolutely brought it, as did Ryan O'Reilly and Matthew Knies.
Marner, Matthews, Tavares, Nylander, Rielly, O'Reilly and Knies were among 16 Leafs to record at least 1 point against the Lightning in Round 1. In fact, the 7 of them combined for a lofty 52 points in the series. Here's the breakdown.
Marner - 2G, 9A = 11P
Matthews - 5G, 4A = 9P
Rielly - 3G, 5A = 8P
Tavares - 4G, 3A = 7P
Nylander - 2G, 5A = 7P
O'Reilly - 2G, 5A = 7P
Knies - 3A = 3P
Acciari, Jarnkrok, Giordano, Brodie, Kerfoot, Aston-Reese, Kampf, Holl and Lafferty were the other 9 players to record at least a point in the series.
We've been patiently waiting for the Leafs' top players to come in and steal a series. They did just that against Tampa in Round 1. As it stands, Marner currently ranks 1st in playoff assists (9) and 2nd in playoff points (11), just 1 behind Roope Hintz (12). Rielly leads all defensemen in playoff goals with 3 and also sits in a 3-way tie for 2nd in points among defensemen with 8, just 2 behind Evan Bouchard (10). Knies led all rookies in playoff points with 3, albeit in a tie with Nick Perbix. Matthews' 5 goals currently has him tied for 3rd in playoff goals as well.
Beyond all of that, we should also acknowledge the incredible play of Ilya Samsonov, who may not have the best-looking numbers at the moment, but his timely saves in important moments for the Leafs is a big reason why this team is headed to the 2nd round. Sammy currently sits 10th with a 3.14 GAA and 11th with a .900 SV% in the playoffs, but those numbers absolutely don't do his game justice. They're also skewed because of the fact that he surrendered 6 goals in Game 1 before being replaced by Joseph Woll in a 7-3 loss at home.
All-in-all, you couldn't really ask for much more from this team against the Lightning, who are coming off of 3 consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearances.
Stats from: NHL.com
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 30 | 124 ANSWERS A brief recap of the Leafs' playoff stats from their series against Tampa Who was the Leafs' #1 star of the 1st round? | ||
| Matthews | 20 | 16.1 % |
| Rielly | 31 | 25 % |
| Samsonov | 69 | 55.6 % |
| Other | 4 | 3.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
