Leafs hope playoff inexperience won’t spell doom against favoured Capitals
Self-destruction.
That’s how then-Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle described his team’s effort in Game 1 when Toronto last appered in the playoffs in 2013.
Coming off a nine-year post-season hiatus, the Leafs were throttled 4-1 by a playoff-tested Bruins team that had won the Stanley Cup two seasons earlier. Boston scored four unanswered goals while owning the shot-clock 40-20.
Mike Babcock is hoping his team won’t be frazzled like that when they begin a first round series against Washington on Thursday night. The current Leafs coach has wondered aloud about his team’s preparedness for the grind of the post-season, with nine players expected to make their debuts.