18 blocked shots in Game 1, 32 in Game 2, Toronto Maple Leafs defensemen are unstoppable

Blocked shots are the shots that ice hockey defensemen deflect or block before the puck reaches the net. This strategy is the ice hockey crux for any defenseman. And when we talk about Toronto Maple Leafs defensemen? They define blocked shots. They just know how to protect their net too well. In Game 1 of the best-of-seven series against the Ottawa Senators , the Maple Leafs accumulated 18 blocked shots, while the Senators had only 12 blocked shots. In Game 2, the Toronto Maple Leafs accumulated 32 blocked shots, almost double the Game 1’s tally! While the Senators could only block 6 shots.


Craig Berube just gave away his team’s secret - The D-men of Toronto Maple Leafs love to block the shots


The way the D-men of the Toronto Maple Leafs function is beyond commendable. Even Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube admitted to having the best D-men in his team at the Stanley Cup Playoffs practice on Wednesday morning,

“You gotta do that. That's part of the playoffs. You gotta really dig in those areas. You’ve got to block shots when you have to. And we had to last night in a lot of areas.

Guys did a great job of it. And everybody’s got to do it. It’s highly important. I can look back on playoffs, and teams, and look at the stats and all that, and if you look at a lot of the teams that were successful, they blocked a lot of shots. You got to block shots.

That(Ottawa Senators)'s a good team over there. They're going to get opportunities. They got skill. They got a lot of good things over there. And they're gonna get opportunities, and that's the desperation you need in playoff hockey is to get in front of shots.”


Craig Berube just gave away his team’s secret! The D-men love to block the shots! This is their secret. Just like the Vegas Golden Knights’ secret is not to have too many penalties, even when they play a mean and nasty game of ice hockey! The NHL is full of surprises! Nonetheless, one surprise just flew Twitter’s way through B/R Open Ice. It was Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly and captain Auston Matthews .


Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews synchronously play violin after their Game 2 win against the Ottawa Senators

Auston Matthews and Morgan Reilly busted out the violins after the Leafs Game 2 OT win 😭🎻 pic.twitter.com/MfNAuXrs9r

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 23, 2025

Both of them played violin with their ice hockey stick at the same time the moment they won Game 2 of the best-of-seven series! The moment was picturesque! And it really looked like their patience, perseverance and dedication towards the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs had paid the price, just like the patience, perseverance and dedication one feels while playing violin!

Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly were magically in sync! B/R Open Ice captioned their X post, “Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly busted out the violins after the Leafs Game 2 OT win 😭🎻”

X users couldn’t contain their emotions. One X user wrote, “Wow. I want to think this is fake but this pretty much seals the comeback. Imagine if they did this to the bruins?”

Another wrote, “Shockingly classy”

A third fan wrote, “If you paid attention to any of their wins, they always do this in rhythm with the celebration song.”

A fourth fan wrote, “Omg people.. they do this after every home ice win! Rielly started it last season.”

And a fifth fan wrote, “They are SO cool...classy folks”


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