Sheldon Keefe identifies the real ''first star'' of the game after Game 1 victory
I've been to a lot of Leafs games (including Monday night) over the years and playoffs or not, the atmosphere in Scotiabank Arena for Game 1 was unbelievable. The last time I heard the arena that loud for a hockey game was the 2015 gold medal game between Canada and Russia at the World Juniors and it's the first time I've heard a "Go Leafs Go" chant before the team comes onto the ice for anthems in forever.
It was an electric factory in there last night and at no point could you hear a pin drop, which is often the case during a regular season game. The crowd started with the "Go Leafs Go" chants before, during and after the anthems and followed that up with "MVP" chants the first time Matthews stepped onto the ice. Not only was the "MVP" chant used multiple times during the night, but Leaf fans were all over Vasilevskiy and Stamkos. Giving Vasilevskiy the Bronx cheer late in the game whenever he made a save.
With his name being too long for the traditional, long, drawn out sarcastic cheers of a struggling goalie, Leaf fans reverted to using the "ANNNNDDDRREEEIIIII" chant instead - doing the same with Stamkos after he missed the empty net.
This was Keefe's first playoff game in front of a sold out, full capacity crowd and to say he was impressed is an understatement. In his post game press conference he called the crowd the first star of the game and believes that it was the crowd that helped the team through the 5 minute penalty kill. He said, "I knew home ice would be important but I didn't think it would be that important."
| POLL | ||
MAI 4 | 63 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe identifies the real ''first star'' of the game after Game 1 victory Will home ice advantage give the Leafs the edge against the Lightning in a 7-game series? | ||
| Yes | 55 | 87.3 % |
| No | 8 | 12.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
