Maple Leafs preparing for Cup Qualifiers with intrasquad series
Will play up to five scrimmages to 'have a little competitiveness' before exhibition game
ByDave McCarthy
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs are using an intrasquad scrimmage series to prepare for the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
With one exhibition game before the Maple Leafs play the Columbus Blue Jackets in a best-of-5 qualifier series beginning Aug. 2 in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city, coach Sheldon Keefe began the scrimmages Wednesday in an effort to simulate a game atmosphere as closely as possible. The are five scrimmages scheduled through July 23, though it is not certain they will all be played.
"Time is not on our side," Keefe said. "We need to make sure each day we play these scrimmages, our habits and details are falling into place. That's a big area of concern for us: our game habits and detail we play with. You can replicate that as much as we want in practice, but there are so many things that happen over the flow of a game, so we need the game reps to do that because we're not going to have that apart from the one exhibition game (July 28 against the Montreal Canadiens)."
"It's a little unconventional," Keefe said. "We're trying to get a lot out of these games, and keeping those guys together gives us an opportunity to try different things when it comes to special teams, we can change those lines at any time and use different combinations we have in mind. The Kerfoot line and Gauthier line for me have to make life hard on opponents with their habits and detail, and our top two lines have to get used to playing against lines that make it hard on them. We thought this was a way to try to create that environment and have a little competitiveness."
Team Andersen, which included goalie Frederik Andersen, won 6-5 in Game 1. Defenseman Jake Muzzin scored the winning goal with one minute left.
"I guess so, looking at the lineups on paper we seemed like underdogs, but we're 1-0 so far," said Kerfoot, who also scored.
The winner of the qualifier series between Toronto (36-25-9, .579 points percentage), the No. 8 seed in the East, and Columbus (33-22-15, .579), the No. 9 seed, will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.
When that series begins, it will have been almost five months since the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Kerfoot, who scored 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) in 65 games this season after being traded from the Colorado Avalanche on July 1, 2019, said the closer the Maple Leafs can get to the feel of game action, the better.
"It's not like beginning of the regular season," Kerfoot said. "It's do-or-die as soon as you get there. You have to ramp up the competitive level as much as you can, and scrimmages are the best way to do that. It's not like you're playing against another team, but it's the best we can do right now."
Clifford said of the scrimmages, "They're what is going to get us rolling and ready to hit the ground running. One exhibition game is not sufficient enough to get what you need. We're treating these scrimmage games like it is a mini playoff series. There's not a ton of physicality, but guys are taking it seriously."
Keefe said there is plenty of work to be done.
"It was quite sloppy, lots of back and forth, not a lot of saves," Keefe said. "Certainly not what we want to look like in the end, but it's part of the process here."
