Game 2 Preview: Leafs look to even series

The Toronto Maple Leafs will hit the ice hungry for redemption this afternoon when the puck drops on Game Two of the Stanley Cup Qualifying series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After 145 days without a meaningful hockey game, there had been some rust accumulated for both teams. Columbus took Game One by a tight score of 2-0, with both goaltenders earning praise for timely saves.

On Monday, the Leafs hit the ice for a tune-up practice to work through adjustments needed heading into Game Two. Head Coach Sheldon Keefe praised his team's mentality after the loss saying, "Our guys are not frustrated. They're hungry to get back at it and recognize where we can get better and know that we have more to give."

The qualifying series is not a sprint, yet it's also not a marathon. An uncommon best-of-five structure leaves little room for error for either team, so it's essential to be mentally tough when behind the eight ball early in a series.

Mitch Marner, coming off Sunday's performance where he was critical of his own play, talked about the team's mentality at practice. "We know we have more to bring out and show. We talked about that a lot today. Tomorrow is going to be a big game for us. We have to come out and play the way we talked about today."

After such a dominant regular season in the offensive zone, there was a lot left to be desired after Sunday night. I miss hearing Hall and Oates "You Make My Dreams Come True" as much as the next guy. Toronto's offence struggled to penetrate into scoring areas, and sustain prolonged offensive-zone time against Columbus' notorious disciplined defense.

The good thing is, Toronto already has the top talent needed to execute adjustments at an elite level. All that's left is putting words into action.

--

Ailish Forfar is a writer for MapleLeafs.com, professional hockey player and member of the PWHPA. She previously played for the Markham Thunder of the CWHL and played collegiate hockey for Dartmouth. Ailish has previously written for Yahoo! Sports and The Score.