Composure, defence against Florida forecheck critical for Maple Leafs

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Keep your emotions in check.

The term is bandied about all the time in professional sports, for excellent reason.

Regarding the Maple Leafs in the second round against the Florida Panthers, the ability to keep composure presumably will be a significant factor in whether Toronto continues to slay Stanley Cup playoff demons and advances to the 2025 Eastern Conference final.

Game 1 in the best-of-seven series goes on Monday in Scotiabank Arena at 8 p.m.

“Emotion plays a big part of the game, we all know that,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said after the team had an optional practice at the Ford Performance Centre on Saturday morning. “Discipline and composure, we got through one round, and it has to be more elevated now.”

Fact is, the Leafs really weren’t tested in that area in beating the Ottawa Senators in six games in the first round. The Sens gave it what they had, but at no time in the series did the Leafs get too far away from being, as Berube likes to say, business-like in their approach.

In the Panthers, this is the defending Cup champion we’re talking about now, a team that is driven by several crucial facets including a forecheck that could give the Leafs fits.

It’s defending against the Panthers’ forecheck, and keeping players such as Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand to the outside as much as possible, where the Leafs will have to mentally stay within themselves.

“You definitely want to play hard,” defenceman Brandon Carlo said.

“You can’t shy away from anything that they’re going to be bringing, but being composed in the aspects of stuff after the whistle is important.

“Their game is trying to pull you out of your mental mindset throughout after the whistles, trying to get you to create more penalties in that regard.

“If we play really hard in between the whistles, give those crosschecks, give everything, and then as soon as the whistle blows, just look them in the eye and not retaliate … I think that’s more frustrating for guys.”

Moving the puck quickly and crisply in the defensive zone will be high on the Leafs’ to-do list, and each five-man unit on the ice will have to be connected. But thinking that nullifying the Florida forecheck nearly completely would be asking for too much, though, and Berube sees importance in another part of it.

Winning puck battles. And within that, staying composed.

“They’re going to put pucks in deep, and they’re going to go to work with numbers,” Berube said. “We’re going to talk about a game plan.

“Basically, it’s going to boil down to five guys working to help out against their forecheck, and getting numbers in there and battling pucks out. It’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a grind.

“You can talk all the X’s and O’s all you want, but in the end, they’re going to forecheck, and they’re going to get there. You have to battle it out. You got to have numbers in there, and you have to work together.”

There is little doubt that the series is going to have a nastier tone than the Battle of Ontario. It’s the way Florida can be effective, throwing big hits and toeing the line of what’s a penalty and what is not, and asking questions later.

Berube, stoic as usual, shrugged. The Leafs, with Berube behind the bench, have not demonstrated a tendency to be intimidated.

“I don’t feel worried about it at all,” Berube said. “Our team is … they’re ready for it. They understand it. That’s playoffs. It’s going to  be hard and there’s going to be hits, and you have to get up and play, and got to be disciplined. I’m going to keep talking about it (with this players).”

What’s also good to remember here is that with the mental piece, Berube won’t be asking his players to do anything that they have not done through the regular season and then the first round.

“It gets heated, it gets emotional, so being able to maintain composure is important,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “We’ll have moments in the series where I think we’re going to need that. Then we’re going to have moments where we’re going to have to really dig in and play with some emotion and some urgency.

“You have to reach both ends of it, and hopefully we’re able to do that, and we’re certainly going to be well-prepared.”

The last word from Berube on the matter: “Don’t allow them to push your buttons. That’s the way I look at it. You can control what you want to control.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun