The Toronto Maple Leafs won both games against the Winnipeg Jets, but praised their league-leading defensive structure.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won both games of the extended home-and-home showdown with the Winnipeg Jets over the past week.
The first contest was a narrow 1-0 overtime victory in Toronto on Wednesday, before the Leafs came out firing in the third period on Saturday, blowing a 1-1 game wide-open, beating the host 4-2 thanks to a power play goal from John Tavares and Auston Matthews' 40th of the season.
Speaking postgame, captain Tavares noted Winnipeg's impressive defence, indicating his thoughts of where the Jets stand across the league.
“I give our guys a lot of credit because, obviously, they’ve shown that they’re the best defensive team in the league," Tavares said of Winnipeg. "The success that they’ve had and how difficult they make it to generate offence and earn space in front of their net and through the middle of the ice."
But it wasn't just the veteran centre giving his overview. Head coach Sheldon Keefe also thoroughly broke down Winnipeg's structure.
“They close space really well; they’re connected well," he said of the Jets. "They’re not taking a lot of chances offensively, which is keeping their defensive structure in place, yet if you make a mistake, they’re transitioning really well and that’s where a lot of their offence is coming from. They’re just working well as a group of five, they’re connected to it and have good habits and not doing anything stupid. They’re not making a lot of mistakes and they’re not beating themselves."
"You have to play a very diligent, disciplined game, expect it to be low-scoring and try (not) to beat yourself," Keefe continued. "I think that was a real challenge for our team, a real test in this game — not this game but this back-to-back against them — and they made it tough on us, no question. But I loved how our guys handled these games against this team.”
Winnipeg has had difficulty finding the twine over the past number of games, much of which has been a stretch without No. 1 centre Mark Scheifele, who remains out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. The Jets have also been without Gabe Vilardi recently, while playing back-to-back games with just five defencemen for over 40 minutes of action, as both Josh Morrissey and Brenden Dillon each left early against Toronto.
“That was a hard game for us," Leafs' netminder Ilya Samsonov said of Saturday's victory. "Probably the best defensive team playing against us today. It was a hard game for both teams in a way. Every moment, every goal was important."
Still sitting atop the league in goals against, and goals against per game, the Jets will need to revamp things as they recharge over the All-Star break. Next up for Winnipeg is a test in Pittsburgh on February 6.