If the Toronto Maple Leafs advance past the Florida Panthers on Sunday evening, the downtown core will merge into one large block party. And the key to throwing the biggest party the city has seen in six years may come down to superior shot-blocking. We’ve gone over the importance of the transition game, shot quality, goaltending, receiving clutch scoring from your stars and timely depth scoring when it matters. Through six games, in what’s often been a cagey series, Toronto’s superior shot-blocking may end up being the difference.

Chris Tanev leads all players this postseason with 36 blocks, Simon Benoit ranks 3rd with 35 shot blocks, while Jake McCabe, Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo are ranked 8th, 9th and 13th, respectively, following the conclusion of the Dallas Stars-Winnipeg Jets series. Tanev has perhaps best embodied what Craig Berube wants out of his team: simple exits, a north-south approach to attacking, and a relentless approach to getting in front of pucks, especially when the Panthers are content to operate their offence through the point. It’s no surprise that the Maple Leafs have followed the lead of their best defenceman during the postseason, coming off a year where Tanev set the Maple Leafs’ single-season record for shot blocks too.

Toronto had no answer for Florida’s defencemen activating off the rush in a Game 5 disaster, but it was much better in a 2-0 victory during Friday’s Game 6. It completely minimized the Panthers’ quality of shots as well and this graphic from NHL Network’s Mike Kelly neatly summarizes how the Maple Leafs enveloped their opponent in a must-win contest.

It’s been a concerted effort throughout the lineup, and the Maple Leafs’ forward corps are doing their part. Mitch Marner’s 10 shot blocks this series are greater than any Panthers player — Gustav Forsling leads his squad with six shot blocks. This is partly a function of the Panthers boasting superior expected goals and offensive zone time through six games, but it also speaks to a willingness from the Maple Leafs to eat pucks and labour through the series against a Panthers team that has perhaps defined what it means to be a truly gritty postseason team. Marner was excellent in Game 6, Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton were terrific defensively, while Max Domi, who isn’t known for his backchecking, came up with a few critical plays in the defensive zone as well.

“I always talk about the buy-in,” Berube said Saturday morning. “A new change of a coach brings in a new system, a new identity of how we want to play, and a culture. I think our team has great buy-in. That is why it works. If you have the buy-in, it is going to work, and they bought in.”

It’s clear that the Maple Leafs have bought in to Berube’s system, after a Game 5 aberration from the script. The City of Toronto is waiting to run through the streets — and we should note that The Leafs Nation will be throwing the defining watch party on Sunday, hosted by Jay Rosehill at GRETA on King Street! The key to a block party Sunday, and ostensibly for the rest of the summer, where the Maple Leafs would be the highest-seed left in the dance, may be a shot block party against a Panthers team that will be intent on making life miserable.