About this time last year Leo Komarov had his bags packed and plane ticket home to Finland almost ready to go, his Toronto Maple Leafs wrapping up a 30th-place season.
Even Komarov, one of the longer-serving Leafs, didn’t expect the team to leap back into the postseason so soon. But Saturday, they clinched their first playoff berth in four years and second since 2004 with a 5-3 victory on home ice over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“When you see the young kids, you see they’ve got a lot of skills,” the Toronto center said, “and when we start winning you think we’ve got a pretty good chance.