During the Leafs' Round 1 series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, we saw two teams go hit-for-hit in the series, with the power play time essentially split right down the middle. In the end, the Lightning may have deserved a better fate, having had more than their fair share of scoring chances. Unfortunately for the Bolts, Ilya Samsonov made just a few extra saves than Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Leafs moved onto Round 2.
Following the conclusion of that series, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper told the media that he felt as though the Bolts played well enough to win that series and that the difference was his team allowing the Leafs to beat them 3 times on home ice in Tampa, saying that it was a case of Tampa beating themselves more than anything else.
On Tuesday, following practice, Sheldon Keefe was showing shades of Jon Cooper, stating that while Florida played well, it wasn't so much a case of them playing well enough to beat the Leafs, but rather a case of the Leafs beating themselves in Game 1.
Keefe was careful not to take anything away from the Panthers or to give them any bulletin board material for tonight's game, but he did have a point. The Leafs were the more aggressive team most of the night, with Sergei Bobrovsky coming up huge to keep his team in the game and Ilya Samsonov allowing a couple that he'd probably like to have back that was the difference in that game.
While Leafs Nation didn't exactly love hearing Cooper take credit away from the Leafs following the conclusion of Round 1, I do tend to agree with Keefe that the Leafs were the aggressors against Florida and did play well enough to win Game 1. However, just like the series in Round 1, we can't change the past any more than Tampa could and we have to just turn our focus to Game 2 tonight - as I'm sure Keefe is doing. Hopefully the Buds can convert on their chances and keep the pucks out of their own net tonight to draw the series even at 1-1, heading back to Florida this weekend.
