As the head coach of the visiting team in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Mike Babcock has a clear goal in mind for his underdog Toronto Maple Leafs: Take the crowd out of it early.
"There’s nothing like a bunch of fans who have long faces, who are sitting on their hands and are nervous like you can’t believe," Babcock said Thursday, per Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star. "That obviously is the goal for us."
The host Washington Capitals enter the postseason as the Presidents' Trophy winners for the second straight season, and are favored by many to come out of the Eastern Conference. A first-round series against the last team to clinch a spot should be a short part of that journey.
In the Alex Ovechkin era, however, this team has never advanced past the second round, and even small bumps along the road can make the most ardent of believers begin to question the Capitals.
An early goal or two from the upstart Maple Leafs would indeed silence the Washington faithful.
Capitals' head coach Barry Trotz, then, is making sure his team doesn't take anything lightly.
"Toronto's not coming here not to win. They're coming here to win and our job is to make sure that we're making sure that they don't win."
Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.