from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

With this playoff push growing more tense and exciting by the day, it is widely being painted as on-the-job training for Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and friends.

But from the philosophical locker stall in the corner, where a quiet intensity burns like an ember from Boyle, this is about much more than that. All he sees are the 11 games left on the schedule following Monday’s 4-2 victory over Boston and the chance to go on a playoff run now.

“You’re not automatically going to be a better team from one year until the next,” said Boyle, with the wisdom of a veteran among rookies. “I learned that. We had a great year my first year in Tampa, we kind of struggled the next year and we picked it up (in the playoffs), and then this past year you look what happens and a bunch of guys get moved.

“It wasn’t where we thought we’d be.”

This wasn’t where many figured the Leafs would be, either, back when Matthews scored four goals on opening night in a game his team still managed to lose. The expectations were non-existent in November, grew steadily through December, January and February and dipped again as recently as last week following a 7-2 loss in Florida.

Yet here we had the young Leafs navigating playoff-like conditions in back-to-back games while grabbing three out of a possible four points from Boston and Chicago.

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