Toronto Maple Leafs – What to Expect from the Blue Jackets

The time has come! Hockey fans across the world are more than excited for the playoffs to start. It’s felt so long since we have seen a live hockey game. It was nice to see some re-runs of historical hockey games but nothing beats a live game where you do not know the ending results. With the new format this year, the Toronto Maple Leafs have an interesting match up against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Even with the departure of Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, Sergei Bobrovsky, the Blue Jackets still have a well-rounded team. Leafs fans think this series will be a walk in the park but you need to remember, they swept the number one seeded Tampa Bay Lightning last season. Let’s break down this series.

It’s interesting to see these stats because these two hockey clubs are the complete opposite in playing styles. The Maple Leafs can score a lot of goals per game but they also give up a lot so that’s why they have tight games. The Blue Jackets don’t score a whole lot but they don’t let in a lot either so their games are tight.

The Maple Leafs will need to take advantage of their young goaltenders in Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo. There’s a reason why Toronto was top 3 in Goals for. Auston Matthews was having a career year in goals, on pace to break Rick Vaive’s goal record of 54. William Nylander bounced back from an off year with 31 goals and 28 assists. Mitch Marner had another 50-assist season in his early career. With a very powerful Maple Leaf’s offensive, it will definitely test the young Columbus goaltenders.

The Maple Leafs have a lot of pressure coming their way because of the struggles in previous playoff match ups. Obviously, the Boston Bruins isn’t an ideal match up for Toronto as they are a big team that can hit hard and score goals. This gives the Maple Leafs an opportunity to play someone different but this doesn’t mean to let off on the gas pedal. Columbus is a big team that plays good defense. Columbus might have one of the best D pairings in the NHL with Seth Jones and Zach Werenski. They were a big reason why Columbus’ goals against totals were one of the lowest in the National Hockey League.

It will sure be exciting to see the puck drop on August 2nd and having these two great teams go at it. I still believe Toronto will win this series but you can’t count out Columbus, they will give Toronto a run for their money!