BROOKLYN -- The Toronto Maple Leafs entered Friday night's matchup against the New York Islanders having already clinched a playoff berth, but that didn't distract them from focusing on the bigger task at hand.
After Jean-Gabriel Pageau's overtime penalty shot sent Toronto to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second consecutive season Thursday, Toronto's mindset changed from trying to clinch a playoff berth to focusing on improving their own game and gaining momentum to take into the postseason.
The Leafs took the first step in the right direction Friday at Barclays Center, rallying to beat the Islanders 5-4 in a back and forth contest.
A big night in Brooklyn. #FuelledByG #StandWitness pic.twitter.com/7m1AASH0vj
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 31, 2018
Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, who scored the team's third goal of the night and set up another to extend his point streak to 11 games, felt the contest was, in a way, a good playoff test for Toronto.
"Obviously the last couple of games, it’s been a couple back and forth momentum shifts, so that’s obviously crucial to make sure that we’re coming out on top of those," Marner said. "I think that’s what we’ve been doing these last two games and obviously when the playoffs come that’s what its going to be like. We’ve just got to make sure that we manage that and make sure that we’re ready for those."
Toronto trailed 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 on Friday night, but overcame its defensive blunders with timely offense to erase each of the deficits.
Nikita Zaitsev, James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Auston Matthews each scored for Toronto, which displayed its offensive depth while completing a three-game season sweep of the Islanders.
"I think (our depth) is one of the key things for this team," Matthews said after the game. "We’ve got a lot of guys that are skilled, can make plays, (and) put the puck in the net so it definitely makes it tough as far as matching up with us for the opposing team. Like you said, we’ve got three different guys (with 30+ goals) on three different lines, it definitely helps."
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While getting a lot of offense in the win was nice, Matthews noted that it "probably was not a fun game for the coaches," which was a sentiment shared by Mike Babcock. Toronto's coach would've preferred a tighter defensive performance, but was happy with his team's resiliency to overcome the adversity and get the two points.
"It was one of those games that was very loosely played and there was lots of room for both teams," Babcock said. "That’s probably not where we’re headed, but that’s what was available there tonight. We found a way to win a game. We seemed to be down all night and we crawled our way back and in the end got a win."
Marner said he and the forwards need to take some of the responsibility for the defensive lapses and help pick up the slack in their own end to avoid nights like this in mid-April.
"I think we gave up too many (goals) tonight," Marner said. "As a unit, I think we just need to get back more, kind of help out. They’re a high scoring team. They’ve got a lot of speed and skill up front and if you’re not back, they’ll make you pay for it."
The tests will only get tougher for Toronto, who is likely to meet either the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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Babcock said before the game that he and his staff will begin to prepare for both teams, but wasn't going to spend time worrying about who will be on the other side of the ice when the puck drops in a few weeks. Instead, he's going to continue focusing on what he can control, improving his team and getting them ready for the playoffs.
"We’ve got to do everything we can to play right and be going in on a high note," Babcock said at his pregame press conference. "Everyone wants to be feeling good going in. If you play right, you have a chance to play for a long time and if you don’t, you’re done in a hurry so we want to do everything we can in the next five games to make sure we’re ultra prepared and ready to go."
Babcock said that could involve resting a few players that might be a little banged up. He also said that Frederik Andersen, who made 29 saves in the win, could get an extra night off in the coming days.
Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly said he felt the team was in a good place physically and was looking forward to using the team's final few games to continue improving as a group and keep the winning run going.
"We really want to build momentum, really get the ball rolling, start playing good hockey, start playing playoff hockey cause it feels good to know that we’re in, but there’s a long way to go," Rielly said. "I think we have some things that we want to improve on between now and then so we’ve got to treat these games like an opportunity to do that."
Last season, Toronto didn't have that opportunity after clinching on the penultimate day of the season with a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Maple Leafs (47-24-7) were then bounced in the opening round of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Washington Capitals in six games. While it was a tough pill to swallow, Babcock believes his group has learned a lot from it and worked hard to improve its game to achieve a 100+ point campaign.
He hopes that his Maple Leafs are ready to gear up for the next challenge, come back even stronger this year and in the following years to come.
"You’re just at the point where the competitive season starts," Babcock said. "You want to be at this point every year for a number of years and then if you’re fortunate to get good enough, you’ll have a chance to win. That’s what we’re working towards."