'What's next?' Riders' Armstead focused on showdown with Ottawa
23h ago
"I have a 'What's next?' mentality," said Ryquell Armstead, who faces his former team on Saturday.
The game faces are on in Toronto, as the media turns the heat up on the Maple Leafs in the leadup to Thursday’s playoff opener against the Boston Bruins.
Coach Mike Babcock and star Auston Matthews wouldn’t divulge information following a conversation that the pair had at practice on Monday that lasted less than a minute. The scrutiny is that intense, that a 45-second conversation between a coach and a player on the ice is newsworthy.
Not only do the Leafs battle the media, and the market, but memories of last year’s first-round exit at the hands of the Bruins. Toronto appeared to be ready to advance last year, when the Bruins scored four third-period goals in Game 7 to get to Round 2. Toronto defenceman Jake Gardiner was minus-5 in a 7-4 loss.
The focus in 2019 is on Babcock, the highest-paid coach in the NHL. The expectation is for him to right a wrong from last year, even though a Leafs win in this series isn’t a given.