TORONTO – Look no further than Rasmus Sandin for the twists and turns playoff drama, those split-second swings of emotion and perspective that get fans acting deliriously irrational.
The youngest Toronto Maple Leaf had his face to his own goalie and was two strides slow in his playoff debut when Paul Byron scored Game 1’s winner.
The next game, Sandin’s phone was exploding with Swedish congratulations from friends and family who’d pulled all-nighters to see him one-time a pivotal power-play goal, sparking a victory and one of those glorious Joe Thornton group hugs.
He looked poised in Game 3. The club beat the Montreal Canadiens again.
But his coach is a tinkerer who likes to keep his taxi drivers on call. And the Leafs were facing a back-to-back. As a result, Sandin was healthy-scratched — for a solid and fresh-legged Travis Dermott — in a relatively easy Game 4 win.
Sandin popped back on the ice for Game 5.
One observer could chalk up the 6:11 Sandin skated Thursday as a learning experience. Another could call it unmitigated disaster. They’d both be correct.
“You start understanding as you play more playoff hockey, there’s really no momentum from game to game,” said Jason Spezza, the Leafs resident player/sage. “You have a fresh chance every day to create new momentum.”
That goes for the other guys, too.
Sandin was bullied off the puck in his own zone by Corey Perry, and his resulting cough-up led to Joel Armia’s opening strike. Later, Jesperi Kotkaniemi picked Sandin’s pockets behind the Leafs net to hand the visitors a 3-0 lead and, essentially, end Sandin’s worknight. And, perhaps, his series.
The rookie saw one brief shift, alongside security blanket T.J. Brodie, in the third period.
Ostensibly, Sandin was in the lineup to revive a clunky top-unit power play. But when the Leafs earned a late 5-on-4 opportunity, Sandin glanced back at the coaching staff only to see Morgan Rielly get tapped instead.
Jake Muzzin subbed in to run point on PP2 and clapped one past Carey Price shortly after the penalty expired.
At that point, with Hall & Oates blasting, it would be hard to argue benching Sandin is the wrong decision.
Reviewing the tape and assessing what went wrong, Sheldon Keefe was careful not to mention Sandin — or overtime goat Alex Galchenyuk — explicitly Friday.
The coach did emphasize that, in a 4-3 OT loss, the Maple Leafs scored three goals.
“That should be enough to win in the playoffs. You don’t have to look any further, for me, than to the fact that they scored three unassisted goals last night. Two were actually unassisted, but for me the overtime, winning goal is unassisted as well. So that’s three out of their four goals,” Keefe said prior to hopping a Game 6 flight to Montreal.
“That just speaks to the fact that we gifted them offence — and that’s obviously something you can’t afford to do in the playoffs.”
We’re using Sandin as Exhibit A today, but in truth, the gifting of offence has long been a soft spot for the Maple Leafs. Blame gets shared just as high-fives do.
Although Keefe has rightly questioned the league’s bookkeeping on such stats, Toronto led the entire NHL in giveaways this season, averaging 12.56 per 60 minutes.
The Canadiens’ forecheck has swelled that figure to 13.15 in the post-season. (Among all 16 playoff teams, only Montreal — 13.95 giveaways per 60 — is more likely to turn over the puck.)
“Most of their offence they’ve gotten throughout the series has been stuff that we’ve given them,” Spezza said.
“I think that’s an important piece for us, to not give them free opportunities. To make them earn their chances. We feel like when we do that, we’re a very difficult team to play against.”
While Keefe stopped short of announcing Sandin’s scratch for the most important game of the year Saturday, trust has taken a body blow.
Of course, hockey is game of mistakes. But it’s also a game of limiting mistakes, especially when you’re game-planning to win 3-2.
“I just think that with Rasmus, the payoff can be really big for us in terms of his skill-set and what he can bring. That requires a little extra patience on our side,” Keefe said. “You want the player to be aware of the mistake, which I think that itself is pretty obvious. They know that. But it’s more just being aware of what was available there, what the better play was, and then you park it and move on.”
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Sure, Dermott didn’t wow in his one-game playoff look the way Sandin did in Game 2, but he didn’t make a city cringe and sweat either.
Keefe said informing Dermott he’d (temporarily) lost his job to Sandin at the outset of the post-season was a “difficult discussion.” Keefe also told him to stay ready.
“I know [assistant coach]Dave Hakstol trusts [Dermott] and will put [him]on the ice to defend, and [he]can play against any line,” Keefe said earlier in the week.
Sandin is a team-worst minus-3 in the series despite playing sheltered minutes. The Habs are now pressing him like a Cuban sandwich.
Through nine regular-season games, Sandin had two giveaways. He has five through four playoff games.
The post-season is an unforgiving beast. Rasmus Sandin is a heckuva talent whose day will come.
“He’s a young defenceman — you’re gonna make mistakes. You’re gonna make mistakes when you’ve played 20 years in the league as well,” partner Zach Bogosian said.
“Now’s not the time to dwell too much. We have a big game tomorrow night.”
