Leafs look to stay even-keeled in first return to Amalie Arena

John Tavares wasn't interested in a walk down memory lane even as he walked into the building where he scored the biggest goal in this era of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey. 

"Honestly, just put it behind you and focus on tonight," the 33-year-old centre said as he returned to Amalie Arena for the first time since his Game 6 overtime winner sent Toronto to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2004. "It's a new year."

"It was a huge moment," said defenceman and Toronto native Mark Giordano. "A long time coming for our organization but, yeah, it just seems like such a long time ago now that we've moved on."

Although some Leafs couldn't help but reflect on what was a therapeutic moment for this core group after so much playoff pain.  

"The overtime goal, I can see it in my head thinking about it and that feeling of winning the series," said defenceman T.J. Brodie. "Sort of like a weight lifted off your shoulders."

"It was a thrilling night to have it end that way and get over that hump," said coach Sheldon Keefe. "But obviously we know what happened from there, which is a continued motivation for us to continue focusing on one day at a time, one thing at a time, control what we can control and not get ahead of ourselves."

The Lightning eliminated the Leafs in the 2022 playoffs, so this is a growing rivalry and Saturday's showdown feels like much more than an early-season game. 

"They're in there this year hungry," Giordano stressed. "Like, they lost for the first time early in the playoffs in a long time so I'm sure they're hungry to get back right where they were. It will be a good test tonight."

The series win does give the Leafs some added confidence with the matchup. 

"We've been here a lot the last couple years so you get that feeling of being comfortable playing here," Brodie said. "You know what to expect."

"Won a series in here last year, but every time you come in here you know you're in for a game," said Keefe. "Got tremendous respect for Tampa Bay and usually that brings out our best and that's what we'll need tonight."  

Adding to the intrigue on Saturday is the fact that both teams are off to middling starts. The Leafs have lost two straight to fall to 2-2-0. 

"Coming off two losses in a row, we know they're going be hungry," said Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman. "We're excited about that challenge. Saturday night in Tampa, it's going to be fun." 

The Lightning are 2-2-1 and have already dropped points to upstart Atlantic Division rivals Ottawa, Detroit and Buffalo. 

"When we're full strength, I'll take our goalie and the D and the guys down the middle and some of the guys on their wings and put them up against anyone so you take their mentality," said coach Jon Cooper. "They're a proud group of guys."

But, like the Leafs, a different group. 

"Some of the big voices are gone," said Cooper. "Pat Maroon was a character on our team. He was a big voice. Corey Perry, Alex Killorn, you've got a group of guys, even [Pierre-Edouard] Bellemare, these guys are big voices in the room and so now there's been a little transition as we've lost those guys. The new guys, phenomenal adds to our team, they're just a little quieter than those guys. It's hard to get a bigger voice than those guys that left. I'm sure on the teams they are on now they're the bigger voices in their too."

New general manager Brad Treliving aimed to add some louder voices to the Leafs room in the summer, signing Ryan Reaves and Max Domi. 

The Leafs will have six forwards and once defenceman in the lineup on Saturday who did not start last season with the team. 

"It takes some time," Giordano said of the chemistry. "Getting used to tendencies and all that, but what we're focusing on is getting back to our structure and our team game and then worrying about all the other stuff. Last game was better. We can still take it up a huge notch and create more offensively, but also just control everything all around the game much better." 

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Markham, Ont. native Steven Stamkos is usually front and centre in the media ahead of these games, but the Lightning captain was not made available to reporters after Friday's practice and then, once again, after Saturday's skate. 

On the first day of training camp, Stamkos expressed frustration about the lack of negotiations on a contract extension. Cooper was asked how Stamkos is handling playing in the final year of his current deal. 

"Honestly, had that not come up, I probably wouldn't have known it existed and that's how it is in the room," Cooper insisted. "Everybody in our locker room is pretty team-oriented, focused and Steven's the leader of that group. The concerns he has, it's never come up in our room or not with me anyway and I've been with these guys a long time. It hasn't affected him because his play's been great." 

Stamkos has five points in three games. 

"He's played great and that stuff will take care of itself," said Hedman. "This doesn't bother us one bit."

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Do the Leafs look much different to Cooper so far? 

"They look fairly similar," the coach observed. "It's the usual cast of characters doing their scoring for them. They play the structured game. They're an exceptional team. I just think it's a little early now to start judging everybody. Their big boy has six goals, that's a lot of goals for this early in the season."

That big boy would be centre Auston Matthews, who has actually gone two games without a goal after producing back-to-back hat tricks. 

"He's going to get his looks, but try and keep him to the outside as much as possible," said Hedman. "He can make plays too. Try to be physical on him early on and get him off his game."

The best way to annoy Matthews is to focus on his biggest weapon. 

"Try to control his stick," said defenceman Mikhail Sergachev. "It's not a lot about the body. It's about the stick."

Why?  

"Because he changes the position all the time with his stick," Sergachev continued. "He can shoot backhands, from outside, forehands pulled to the body and he does a lot of good things with that. Obviously you got to watch the body but gotta focus on the stick more than the body."

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With three assists and a minus-three rating, defenceman John Klingberg has come as advertised so far with Toronto. 

"The defensive side of the puck is always going to be his challenge and something he needs to really be dialled in on," said Keefe. "When I look at each of the games, a lot of our ... best chances in the offensive zone have come off of his stick where he's finding a seam or finding someone who's open or getting a puck to the net and that's really what you want from him is to make sure he's helping us on offence. The more comfortable he gets and more reps he gets playing with our guys I think that will come together even better."

"I still feel like I maybe need to get a little bit of a read off players," Klingberg agreed, "and the opposite way too, they can get a read off me."

After struggling alongside Jake McCabe in the first three games, Klingberg has moved to the third pair with Giordano. 

"He's made a couple backhand sauce [passes] across the neutral zone right on the tape that are pretty impressive," Giordano said. "Makes it look a lot easier than it is. You gotta have that confidence to make those plays and he does for sure. He's really, really patient with the puck. He makes some passes that it's a lot like the top-end forward guys."

Giordano's veteran savvy is appreciated by Klingberg. 

"He's been around for so long," Klingberg said. "He talks a lot. We had really good communication last game after almost every shift and on the ice too, which makes it easier."

Klingberg was asked if he could play to 40 like his new partner. 

"Isn't he 39?" Klingberg asked. 

No, Giordano turned 40 during training camp. 

"He's actually 40, eh," Klingberg said with a grin. "I don't think I'll play when I'm 40. We'll see. It'd be cool, but nine more years, I don't know."

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Projected Leafs lineup for Saturday's game: 

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Marner 

Knies - Tavares - Nylander 

Domi - Kampf - Jarnkrok 

Gregor - Holmberg - Reaves  

Rielly - Brodie 

McCabe - Liljegren 

Giordano - Klingberg 

Samsonov starts 

Woll