TORONTO – Maple Leafs prospect Zach Hyman learned a little something when he faced Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and the Tampa Bay Lightning in his first ever NHL game.

“You realize that you can skate with them, you can check them and things like that,” said Hyman, a Toronto area native. “It definitely give you some confidence when you have success at that level.”

Hyman was one of 10 prospects to debut for the Leafs following the Feb. 29 trade deadline. They want to build off that first NHL experience with a run to the Calder Cup for the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies this spring.

The Marlies have never captured the AHL crown, but are the favourites this year after a dominant regular season in which they boasted an overwhelming plus-103 goal differential.

A deep playoff run for the prospects would increase confidence, add post-season experience and potentially make a positive impression on top Leafs brass like head coach Mike Babcock, general manager Lou Lamoriello and president Brendan Shanahan.

“At the end of the day if we win a lot of good things will happen to a lot of guys on our team and that’s the goal,” 22-year-old Connor Brown said.

Brown (six points in seven games) and Hyman (four goals in 16 games) were among the most successful candidates to debut for the Leafs, joined by William Nylander (13 points in 22 games) and Nikita Soshnikov (five points in 11 games).

Their challenge, beginning this weekend in Bridgeport, N.Y., is to maintain such performance when the stakes change to the AHL playoffs.

Nineteen-year-old Kasperi Kapanen said the trick is “to keep that same level that you had in the NHL and not sneak down to the lower level that the AHL is.”

Kapanen believes there’s a risk of satisfaction after that first taste of the NHL, a mistaken assumption that the AHL will suddenly be easier. The game might be different in the minor league ranks, he said, but that won’t make it any easier.

A sixth-round pick of his hometown team in 2012, Brown says he felt increasingly confident during his brief Leafs stint. He had three assists in his final game before returning to the Marlies.

“My first impression was less time and really good sticks,” Brown said of NHL play. “That was the thing that stood out for me is you’ve got a guy all over you like you do in this league, but their sticks are in the right spot to make it difficult to make plays and stuff like that.”

Brown quickly learned that his shot needed work. It was fine from the inside, but needed improvement otherwise.

“It’s not necessarily just the shot,” said Hyman, echoing his teammate’s sentiment, “it’s about getting the shots off quicker. Things are faster. Sometimes you get that puck and you don’t have a second, you have half-a-second so you have to catch it and shoot it and that’s hard to do.”

Those were the kind of lessons the Leafs hoped their prospects would learn with that first taste of NHL experience, lessons they hope will continue with a run to the Calder Cup championship.

“We hope that when we get to that point (of Stanley Cup contention) one day with the Maple Leafs that they can draw back on this, when they went into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and there was expectations on them,” Marlies general manager Kyle Dubas said.

“We’re the team to beat right now,” Brown added. “You just try to seize that opportunity.”