Luke Schenn the unlikely hero for the Leafs in the first round
After 6 games, Mitch Marner is one point off the lead for playoff points. Auston Matthews is two goals off the scoring lead. Morgan Rielly leads all defensemen in goals and even strength points. Ilya Samsonov just outduelled the best playoff goaltender in the world. Looking up and down the Leafs' roster, there are plenty of players who deserve to be hailed as heroes of the Leafs first round victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Luke Schenn's name belongs among them.
It's been a long, long road for Schenn to be reunited with the team that drafted him. In his first stint, he never got the chance to play in the post-season. In his long awaited Leafs playoff debut, Schenn was a revelation. One of the biggest stories of the series was a complete lack of 5v5 production from Tampa's big guns. Kucherov, Point and Stamkos were completely shut down at even strength, largely due to the play of Schenn.
Touted as a big, hard hitting defender, Schenn's fancy stats were far from the minds of Leaf fans when he was acquired. His job was to lay the body and clear the net front. Not only did he do that, he maintained a massive, team leading 64.4% expected goals rate while doing it. In a series where Tampa carried the play for large segments of time, Schenn was a rock on the back end. In 98 minutes of ice time at even strength, Schenn was only on the ice for one goal against. One.
Of all of the moves Kyle Dubas made before the trade deadline this season, it's funny now to think that Schenn was one of the most important. He's been every bit the player the Leafs expected when they drafted him in 2008 and more. Credit will rightly be given to the Leafs' big guns for leading the charge through the first round, but Schenn absolutely deserved his flowers for the job he's done so far in these playoffs.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 30 | 909 ANSWERS Luke Schenn the unlikely hero for the Leafs in the first round Who was the most underrated blueliner in the Leafs' series win? | ||
| Luke Schenn | 557 | 61.3 % |
| T.J. Brodie | 109 | 12 % |
| Jake McCabe | 212 | 23.3 % |
| Other | 31 | 3.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
