SUNRISE, Fla. — Troy Stecher called his shot.
Sort of.
“I told (Easton) Cowan and (Nick) Robertson I was gonna get one tonight, and actually did,” the Toronto Maple Leafs’ increasingly important waiver pickup said after Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers.
Then Stecher smirked.
“The problem is, I tell myself that every game — or tell somebody that.”
Cowan and Robertson laughed at Stecher’s bold pre-game prediction but came over to him during the TV timeout and told him he was bang-on.
The buzzy depth defenceman scores in about four per cent of his NHL games, so his attempt to speak goals into reality, he says, is a fake-it-till-you-make-it type mindset.
“You know, like: Give me the puck, I’m gonna score. And then most often, I’m going glass and out. So, it’s good to score tonight,” Stecher said.
“But it was a big goal at that moment. Gave us a lead, and we never looked back.”
The way Stecher — who skated 24:26(!) and ate the hard matchup with partner Jake McCabe — and the Maple Leafs comported themselves for 60 minutes against their bitter but battered rival, one wonders if the fake-it-till-you-make-it thing might just work.
As ugly as things have looked, as troublesome as the injuries appear, the Maple Leafs have consistently preached top-down belief even if their first-quarter play has spoken otherwise.
Slowly, with wins in three of the first four games on their longest road trip, confidence is swelling. Bit players are taking star turns. And the Leafs’ new win song, Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen,” is getting repeat rotation.
Sample lyric: These people ’round here/ Were beaten down, eyes sunk in smoke-dried face/ They’re resigned to what their fate is/ But no, not us/ No, not us…
Outside of his right-handedness, Craig Berube didn’t know much about Stecher when GM Brad Treliving scooped him from Edmonton. But he’s liked the player so much that Stecher is suddenly half of the coach’s shutdown pair.
“This guy is a highly focused hockey player. He’s very team-oriented and brings a lot of energy to our team — and brings a lot of pace to our team back there,” Berube said.
“He’s playing with a ton of confidence right now. Very composed. Him and McCabe looked like they got instant chemistry, which is great. And they move the puck.”
Boom.
That was the key to Toronto’s most complete win yet: speed and decisiveness. Elements that have been in short supply this season.
“Florida makes you play fast. They rim a ton of pucks,” veteran Scott Laughton explains. “Getting out of our D-zone and getting in the O-zone, and then you make it hard on teams to come back into your zone.”
Berube estimates his bunch executed one of their fastest games all season. They closed quick on their checks. They attacked the net. They moved their feet and sustained zone time.
Fittingly, the Leafs got a superb performance out of their slow-to-gel third line — against the opponent that drilled home the value of an effective third line in last spring’s playoff series.
When Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy, and Bobby McMann hit the sheet, the Leafs outscored the Panthers 2-0.
“That big, heavy line like that really sets the tone for our team,” Berube said. “They’re just on it. Joshua and McMann are really good on the walls in our zone, and Roysy does a great job being underneath with support.
“And when they go down in the offensive zone, whether it’s on an attack or they have to forecheck, they’re heavy. They’re doing a good job with their sticks, and they’re on people, and then they hang onto pucks.”
McMann believes consistent work and pushing pace are the keys.
“Three big boys that all can skate,” Stecher said. “Let ’em hunt it down. So, they’ve been playing downhill, it seems like, which is a benefit for anybody. Just makes the game that much easier.”
Sure, the Panthers are not the best version of themselves right now. But linking consecutive convincing wins in regulation, with all players engaged and contributing, is something the Leafs cannot take for granted anymore.
“That’s a big one,” McMann said. “There’s a bit of history here, so I think it’s just something that we can build off of and take that energy and ride that momentum.”
Laughton warns that the group cannot ease on the gas as they fly to Carolina and face the speedy Hurricanes Thursday.
“I don’t know if we’ve turned a corner. But we’re on the right track, right? It’s hard to gain traction when you’re kind of winning one, losing one,” Laughton said. “Momentum is a big thing from game to game. And to get that confidence and just continue that belief — because we have it in the room. So, we continue believing in one another, we’re gonna have more nights like this.”
Make like Troy Stecher. Speak it into existence.
Fox’s Fast Five
• The Maple Leafs have scored on their first shot in each of their past three games. All goals have come off the sticks of defencemen. Wild.
• Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong was in the house for this one, getting a live look at bubble Olympians like Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand.
Bennett’s slow start had some wondering if he’d get passed over for the national squad, but he has points in five of his past seven games.
“He’s been on fire lately, and it’s been fun to watch,” teammate Jesper Boqvist says. “He’s just a dawg, right? Like, he’s on the puck, f—— wants to score, everything. A gamer for sure.”
• Is Sergei Bobrovsky hitting a wall after three straight trips to the Cup Final (and an extra 66 playoff games played) in addition to his 50-plus start workload in-season?
The future Hall of Famer came into this one ranked 43rd in save percentage (.882) and 60th in goals saved above expected (-1.8), then gave up two goals on his first three pucks faced before settling in.
Bobrovsky needs a new contract and will be 38 when the puck drops on the 2026-27 season.
• Not a fan of the five-forward power play with Matthews running point instead of an offensive defenceman like Oliver Ekman-Larsson or Morgan Rielly.
The Panthers pounced all over it, with Sam Reinhart scoring shorthanded and chopping Toronto’s early 2-0 lead in half.
The new formation, born out of desperation, has resulted in at least one dangerous rush the other way every night.
“I mean, it’s a pretty big adjustment,” Matthews said. “I was telling Mo, it’s definitely not as easy as it looks up there.”
If the Leafs are committed to keeping the experiment alive, they should consider avoiding five forwards when leading or tied. Too risky.
Berube, losing patience, abandoned it mid-game.
“I’m not gonna put our team in that situation again,” said the coach, running out of PP solutions. “We just got to keep working away and find some chemistry with some guys and get it clicking.”
• The highlight of Toronto’s pre-game video session? A replay of Matthews trucking over unsuspecting assistant coach Derek Lalonde during Monday’s practice.
“Newsy took a nice spill there,” Laughton chuckled. “I saw the slow-mo of it. I was trying to keep it together, but he was sliding down the ice. Tone’s a big body.”
