Keefe explains why veteran defender was a healthy scratch against the Wings
Since arriving in Toronto, Jake McCabe has looked more and more comfortable on the blueline and has taken his game to another level, skating alongside the always dependable and steady T.J. Brodie. It has become very clear that McCabe and Brodie will be the Leafs' big shutdown pair come playoff time and in each passing game, they look to be finding more and more chemistry.
Among defensive pairs that have played 100 minutes together at all strengths since February 26th, McCabe and Brodie rank 8th in expected goals against, 13th in on-ice save percentage, third in goals against per 60 and second in expected goals against per 60. McCabe has done an excellent job taking over Morgan Rielly's spot on the top pairing and having done that, has given Rielly an opportunity to play more sheltered minutes so that he does not get exposed as much defensively.
Even new Leaf and fellow ex-Hawk Sam Lafferty has noticed just how good McCabe and Brodie have been together saying, "They see the game pretty similarly. They have similar strengths. They defend so well. They're so good with the puck, breaking pucks out & it seems like they've had instant chemistry. Yeah, it's really nice when they're on the ice together."
Sheldon Keefe echoed Lafferty's comments yesterday and explained why he chose to give McCabe the night off against Detroit. "He has done a tremendous job.�He's taken on a lot of minutes & done very well. He's a guy�that we're going to lean on a lot."
McCabe was not the only one who got the night off last night as Keefe also elected to have Mitch Marner and Mark Giordano some rest. Marner is in the middle of a point race to his first 100-point season and now has just 6 games left to record another 5 points.
*stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com*
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