Jeremy Swayman often says, “You can’t buy experience at Target.”
Jakub Lauko can confirm that.
Lauko admits that when he first played in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Florida Panthers last year, he felt overwhelmed.
“Last year I joined Game 3. And honestly, for the first two or three shifts I was just observing,” said Lauko on Sunday. “I couldn’t believe how fast the hockey was. It was a great eye-opening experience. I don’t think there’s anything else in the sports world like it. Playoff hockey in the NHL is a completely different atmosphere. The feeling is completely different.”
In the Game 1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Lauko was prepared for the intense atmosphere. He was one of several depth players who brought the emotion and physicality needed for the B’s to advance. In 11:31 of playing time, he delivered five hits and had a notable block at the end of regulation that caught the attention of the B’s captain.
“Lauks’ effort there – five seconds left and he blocks that shot,” Brad Marchand admired on Saturday night. “He doesn’t need to do that, it’s 5-1 at that point. But it just shows the dedication to the game and the details.”
In his first taste of playoffs last year, he played in the B’s two wins in Florida in Games 3 and 4. But after being in the penalty box for a third period goal in Game 5, he didn’t get into the lineup again that series.
Things can change, particularly when you’re a bottom six forward, but coach Jim Montgomery was impressed by Lauko's performance in his second chance at playoff hockey.
“I thought last year, there was an excitement to him to play and actually thought (his first two games) he was one of our better forwards for what his role is,” said Montgomery. “I thought (Saturday) night, he was excited but also a little more comfortable, handling pucks and wanting to go out there and be out there more.”
The third line with Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic had both positive and negative moments. At the end of the first period, a Geekie turnover led to matching penalties and then, after the faceoff, another penalty on Hampus Lindholm at the net that led to a lengthy 4-on-3 to start the second period.
But the line redeemed itself in the third period. The Leafs finally scored a goal and they were dominating play when the third line regained momentum with what Montgomery called “probably our best offensive zone shift of the game.” Geekie delivered a substantial hit early on and then they consistently won the puck back before Lauko drew a penalty, forcing Jake McCabe to take an interference penalty.
That shift pretty much eliminated any Toronto momentum for the evening.
“We just went in there and said ‘Hey, let’s have a shift, let’s wear them down, let’s make something happen,’” said Lauko “We had a couple good opportunities to score. Geeks had a great hit before. We were able to draw a penalty so it was huge. We need to do it more often as a line and keep growing our game.”
This kind of physical play needs to continue across the whole lineup.
“It’s very important. You have to tire teams out, and that’s how you wear them down,” Montgomery explained. “I thought the second period in the last 15 minutes after we killed that 4-on-3 was the best example of how we want to play. You could see players on the other team getting tired. On the other hand, in the third period, I thought you saw us getting tired. I wasn’t particularly happy with our third period, especially in terms of offense.”
Lauko managed to keep the fighting mindset until the end with that blocked shot.
“It doesn’t matter if it's 5-1 or 1-1 or whatever. You're there to do a job. It was my job to block the shot, even though there was one second left.”
Now Lauko and the B’s have to do it all over again in Game 2 on Monday…
The B’s changed their D pairings, putting Matt Grzlecyk up to play with Charlie McAvoy and moving Hampus Lindholm to a shutdown pairing with Brandon. The result was just one goal from the Leafs' fourth line and nothing from their big stars like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares.
But Montgomery believes the B’s, who were outshot 36–24, can do more at both ends of the ice.
“We didn’t spend a lot of time in our own zone, which was probably the biggest reason we were able to neutralize some of what they did,” said Montgomery. “But I don’t think we were all that good at net-front. Swayman had to make a lot of second-chance saves, which we don’t like. On the other hand, what can we do better? We need to spend more time in the O-zone. We didn’t do a good job offensively 5-on-5.”…
This may come as a surprise, but Montgomery didn’t name a starting goalie for Game 2.
“We’re still contemplating what’s the right way to go,” said Montgomery….
William Nylander, who missed Game 1 with a mysterious ailment, was on the ice at Warrior Ice Arena for about 45 minutes. As promised, coach Sheldon Keefe would not provide any kind of update or prognosis for the Leafs’ 40-goal scorer for Game 2.
