A season-best five-game win streak and a promotion to the Atlantic Division penthouse has afforded the team the luxury of easing off the gas, safe in the knowledge that the playoffs are a given and they’ll get back to playing urgent, inspired hockey another day.
Because they certainly didn’t bother matching the intensity or desperation of their opponent, the Vancouver Canucks, whose delayed and de-iced plane touched down at YYZ just five hours before puck drop and still looked very much like the more rested and in-sync squad in a 3-0 road shutout.
“Outworked us, outcompeted us, and that’s why they won,” said Toronto’s no-nonsense Chris Tanev. “We need to play our game better. That’s why we lost.”