OverDrive - Siegel on the Maple Leafs' triumphant series lead, the different team narrative and the offensive skill set

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

The Athletic Maple Leafs Reporter Jonas Siegel joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines from the Maple Leafs' victory against the Panthers, capturing two home wins in the series, the narrative on the differences of the team, William Nylander leading the offensive strength, Max Pacioretty making his mark, the elements leading to success and more.

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Visit a Virgin Plus store or virginplus.ca for details. Here he is, Jonas Sego from The Athletic. Nice of you to head down there jonah's i gotta tell you guys i'm risking not being able to take my bag on the flight to talk to you guys that's how much you mean to me uh... we appreciate that greatly we will give you a short note with that mean i got it because of sacrifice yeah it really is a sacrifice but it's just full of

garden seed and carrots so you'll be fine you can put that underneath seed and carrots, so you'll be fine. You can put that underneath the bird for three hours, you'll be fine. I got sushi, is that okay? Okay, that's very quality. That's quality stuff. Okay, well, Jonas, Leafs up two-nothing. Now that we've seen two games, what has maybe surprised you the most? What has stood out the most from your perspective?

I think probably how many goals they've scored. I mean, if you go back to the series in 2023, they had 10 goals the whole series. And I remember we talked so much about it. It was two goals every game. And I think there was a streak dating back to the first round against Tampa with two goals. And so the fact that they put 10 in already, and I think they've made Bobrowski look pretty ordinary. And if you look through the first two games like Tavares, I don't think that's scored. Matthews I think has not scored and they've just gotten contributions from a lot of different places and territorially like Florida I think has own things five on five, but then like you zoom into things a

little bit more and the shots are actually pretty close because the Leafs are blocking a million shots. So I think that's probably surprised me a bit. And then, I mean, the fact that they've gotten through this with the goaltending situation, I think is a plus. Like, I don't think Wall was amazing last night, but the stop he made on Sam Miscavige in the third period probably wins them the game. So those are just some of my top-line takeaways and obviously the patch already thing I think probably can't be talked about enough right now. Yeah it's very significant when you consider what he did in game six, what he did in game one and now what he did

last night and you know game five we were all down there in the building. Borube went through Holmberg, McMahon, Domey, Yarncroke. He tried four different guys in that game to spark DeVaris and Nylander and then he just said screw it I'm putting Paturetti in there for game six going to Ottawa and that caused a big stir because Paturetti didn't look great in the previous couple of games yet he's been a massive contributor. How much do you think Paturetti has factored into what we've seen out of knee lander particular because Willie's got five goals in his last three games well he just creates space like that goal that Neander gets last night that doesn't happen without patch already making the play in the

neutral zone to win the loose puck and then like if you watch the replay of the goal he slides the puck over like just in the nick of time before I think it's Seth Jones gets his stick on the ice like that's just like a veteran play and it's like he's got six points now and I think he's tied for fourth on the team in scoring for the playoffs. He has I think 18 hits in the last three games along with the six points and like one of the things that stuck with me from talking to him in December was he talked about like the things that stuck with me from talking to him in December was he talked about like the evolution that he had to make at this point in his career where

he wasn't going to be the same offensive player that he was back in the day so he felt like the way that he could contribute consistently night to night was by being physical and part of being physical for him was was having these momentum changing kind of hits and the thing that always stuck with me from that conversation is he said, it's really hard to play like that. Like it's really hard to play physically like it takes a lot out of you. And yet you look in these playoffs

and he's getting seven hits like every single game, which tells me like how much this means to him. And I think they're using him smartly. Like they're not really overplaying it. Like he played 12 minutes last night in each of the third period so the last couple games They've replaced him on that line for defensive purposes like I think the way they've handled it is I mean perfectly Anybody else stand out? I mean obviously the the key contributors we talked about Nylander

You know Marner scores a seeing eye shot, which was a really nifty play Is there anybody else that's flying under the radar that you've been really impressed with, maybe either farther down the lineup or on the back end? I think it's funny, thinking about the Matthews line, I know they haven't been the dominant line but if you look at the way that they've handled that matchup with Barkov, they've kept it pretty even and they've actually won, and we have to talk about expecting goals, like they've won those minutes and you look in each of the first two games, they've gotten the game winner, I believe in both games, Knives in game one and then Marder in game two.

And I think the fact that they can kind of take that matchup with Barkov and Reinhardt and kind of keep it even, that means that Nyland De'Vearez and Patoretti are getting lighter matchups and suddenly they have more opportunity to score and produce and I think that's like a low-key I don't know like it doesn't show up on the scoreboard and I guess it actually has showed up in the scoreboard but I think that line taking the difficult matchups is something we probably don't talk enough about it's kind of like I was thinking about it like Steph Curry. Like he takes so much attention just as a shooter that it's creating open looks for

other guys. And it's not exactly the same, but it's kind of how I've been thinking about it. With Jonas Ego of the Athletic on his way down to Florida Game 3 tomorrow night right here on TSM Radio. So what would you expect Florida to do differently once they get back home tomorrow night? Well, Noodles I think brought it up the other day with Joseph Wallen playing the puck. I thought that was an issue for the Leafs last night, whether it was the fact that Wall is not as good a puck handler as Anthony Stolar is, whether it's Florida's four check, whether

it's just, I don't know, reps from Walnock playing for three weeks. But I would think that that's a focus. And I'm really curious to see what Almaris does with some of the matchups, because you look at their third line, that line has just been dominant. And so what do they do with that line now that they have home ice? How do they try to target the Leafs forward lines? Because I think you could make a case that every line but Matthews is a little vulnerable to that kind of thing. So do they move away from Barkov against Matthews? Do they, I don't know,

how do they generate more five on five offense? Because if you look at the goals, all of their goals at five on five have come from that third line. They haven't gotten any goals five on five from the Barkov line. They haven't gotten any goals five on five from the Bennett line.

How do they generate more? And I'm really curious to see how the special teams game factors in the things important because belief power play i've been great the penalty kill had been great it manages to be disciplined which i think is obviously a big key and they continue to do that uh... in florida we will find out started to write you'll be in the building good luck with the

flight good luck with the flight. Good luck with the baggage, Jonas. Thank you for doing this. I'll send you updates. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Jonas Siegel of the Athletic. The biggest songs in the world.

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