herman said:
I originally wasn?t going to pick Mitch for MotM, but how many years have we seen stars take nights off against woebegone bottom feeders? The Leafs are doing it the right way these days: give the other team nothing at 5 on 5, and the more chances cashed early, the easier the night becomes. Another game where every skater saw double digits in ice time, and the stars were dialed down to like 14 min. I thought Robbie and Holmberg made the most of their extra time (and space).
I know we've played the Sharks back to back but for the last 5 games going back to the Carolina loss the Leafs game has been superb. I think their battles for loose pucks are better, more contact battling for pucks, passing has been good, breakouts, and most importantly we have been playing sound defensively from every line. Matthews has 2 goals in these 5 games no assists but he's been tremendous as has Mitch the whole team really. So other than tonight Mitch wasn't racking up the points but he's been more than notable, great defensively and noticeable regardless of production. Basically what I'm trying to say is the team all around has looked the best it has all year the last 10 days or so and even though some stars aren't piling up the points they've played great. This is the way the team has to play to win playoff rounds. I hope they can continue to do it and carry it into the playoffs. Helps that the goaltending has been good with Jones but very promising if Keefe can instil this type of play moving forward.
