Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe confirms that the Leafs have a new top pair going forward
The Toronto Maple Leafs put together quite possibly their most complete effort of the season on Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars, who are hungry for points in the Central Division playoff race, skating away with a convincing 4-0 victory.
The big story on the night was the play of 25-year-old Erik Kallgren, who made 35 saves in his first career NHL start, becoming the first to accomplish the feat since Garrett Sparks during the 2015-16 season. The Swedish netminder earned 1st star honours for his brilliant performance.
There were a number of secondary stories that garnered some attention, including the play of captain John Tavares, who recorded a goal and an assist to continue his strong season and Rasmus Sandin's highlight reel goal to open the scoring in the first period.
One of the more interesting, albeit under-the-radar story was the play of a brand new defensive pairing in Morgan Rielly and Ilya Lyubushkin. When the Leafs acquired Lyubushkin on February 20th, I don't think anyone was expecting him to play on the Leafs' top pair. Not only did he do just that on Tuesday, but he performed well enough to earn some post game praise from head coach Sheldon Keefe, who confirmed that he expects to keep Rielly paired with Lyubushkin moving forward.
Obviously, the trickledown effect this will have on the Leafs' lineup could be of great benefit to the Buds, who will now have T.J. Brodie taking on some softer matchups. If the Leafs still plan on bringing in another defender at the deadline, (Lindholm, Giordano) this could end up being a very good situation for the team.
| POLL | ||
MARS 16 | 292 ANSWERS Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe confirms that the Leafs have a new top pair going forward Will Lyubushkin finish the season on the Leafs' top pair? | ||
| Yes, he looked great on Tuesday | 123 | 42.1 % |
| No, Brodie will be back there eventually | 81 | 27.7 % |
| He'll be up and down | 88 | 30.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
