By Stan Smith
With the lack of consistency of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it is difficult to tell what you are going to get from the team game in and game out. That said, if there was ever a game I was confident the Maple Leafs were going to win it was this one. After the embarrassment of the ugly loss in Buffalo, you knew they were going to come out with a purpose in this game.
I was even thinking this might be a blowout for the Maple Leafs. First Columbus embarrassed Buffalo to the tune of 9-4, then the Sabres did the same thing to Toronto 9-3. I was thinking this game could end up with a similar score in the Maple Leafs’ favour to complete the circle.
But, I was wrong and the score was a more sedate 4-1 Toronto.
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The Good
The game started wide open with 13 High-Danger Scoring Chances in total (as per naturalstattrick.com), seven for Columbus and six for Toronto. Martin Jones held his ground stopping all 14 shots he faced. At the other end, it didn’t take long for the reunited Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews to connect on one of the 14 shots Toronto generated to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead.
After giving Columbus lots of room to roam in the first period, Toronto shut things down in the second. The shots showed it, as either team only managed five shots each. Three of the ten shots resulted in goals though. One for the Blue Jackets and two for Toronto. The Maple Leafs added a fourth goal in the third period while Jones shut Columbus down once again.
According to Naturalstattrick.com, Toronto allowed just one High-Danger Scoring Chance at five-on-five in the last two periods and four High-Danger Scoring Chances on four Columbus power plays.
Each of the Maple Leafs’ four goals were scored in different situations. Matthews had two goals, one at five-on-five and one on the power play. John Tavares scored a goal while the teams were playing four-on-four. William Nylander added a shorthanded goal in the to round out the scoring.
Auston Matthews
Matthews is closing in on a goal a game pace. With two goals in this game, he now has 28 goals in 30 games. He’s presently on a seven-game goal-scoring streak and has 12 goals in those seven games. In Matthews’ last nine games, he’s scored two goals in six of them.
Matthews has 20 points in his last 10 games. He’s opened up a four-goal lead in the race for the Rocket and has five fewer games played than second-place Brock Boeser (24 goals) and four fewer games than third-place Nikita Kucherov (23 goals). Matthews is now on pace to score 75 goals this season.
William Nylander
Moving Nylander off of Matthews’ line did not hinder his scoring at all. He had a goal and two assists in the game. Nylander leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 45 points in 31 games played. He’s fourth in NHL scoring, three points behind third-place JT Miller with four games in hand. Nylander is on pace to score 117 points this season. If he accomplishes that, it will be the second-highest point total for one season in Maple Leafs’ history behind Doug Gilmour’s 127-point season in 1993-94.
Nylander extended his present point streak to 11 games. He has 18 points in those 11 games.
Mitch Marner
With everything Matthews and Nylander are accomplishing, Marner has become the forgotten Maple Leafs’ player. Marner made the most of being back alongside Matthews by setting up his linemate up for his two goals. After having a string of games that saw Marner score eight goals and 14 points in eight games, he was held off the scoresheet in the losses to the Rangers and the Sabres. His two assists in this game give Marner a sedate 36 points in 31 games.
Marner was all over the ice in this game and was just as noticeable for his defensive plays as his offence. On one penalty kill in the third period he disrupted the Blue Jackets power play and iced the puck three times.
Leafs’ Defense
Head Coach Sheldon Keefe rejigged his defensive pairings following the Sabres game with positive results. Looking over the stats the one thing that stands out is the blocked shots by each defenseman. TJ Brodie led the way with four, followed by Simon Benoit, William Lagesson, and Timothy Liljegren with three each. Morgan Rielly blocked two shots, and Jake McCabe blocked one. I noted that Brodie had two key blocks in each of the back-to-back Columbus power plays in the third period.
I want to add that Liljegren has been solid in a top-four role since coming back from his injury. He has averaged over 21 minutes in the four games since his return including almost three minutes per game on the penalty kill. The biggest thing I have noticed is that I don’t notice him much, which for a defenseman is great. It means you aren’t noticing him for the wrong reasons.
Martin Jones
Martin Jones might have been new General Manager Brad Treliving’s best acquisition in the offseason. With Joseph Woll out long-term with an injury and Ilya Samsonov struggling as much as he is, Jones has had a stabilizing influence. The biggest thing I notice is his calmness in the net. He appears the emotionless opposite of Samsonov, who wears his emotions on his sleeve.
Jones stopped 27 of 28 shots in the game, a 0.964 Save Percentage. In the six games he has made appearances in, he has a 4-1-0 record with a 0.917 Save Percentage and a 2.79 Goals-Against-Average.
All this for a paltry $875,000.
Related: Would Auston Matthews Really Leave the Maple Leafs?
The Bad
The Maple Leafs only had one mistake that ended up in the back of their net in the game. Just 22 seconds into the second period, Jake McCabe let Justin Danforth get behind him. Johnny Gaudreau hit Danforth with a pass to send him in alone on Jones. Danforth beat Jones over his glovehand to tie the score at one.
The Ugly
The First Ugly Was Kuraly’s Injury
There was a scary situation with 18 seconds left in the first period. Sean Kuraly would get sandwiched between Matthews and McCabe along the boards behind the Toronto net. He would also get hit with the puck just after that. Kuraly crumpled to the ice following the collision and tried to get up but was obviously under duress.
It is hard to say if the puck hitting him in the midsection had anything to do with his injury or not. Kuraly would skate slowly doubled over, to the bench before collapsing in the hallway behind the bench. The Blue Jackets frantically called for assistance as the play was halted.
With the situation the intermission was called and the teams were sent to the locker rooms. The last 18 seconds of the first period were played at the start of the second period.
It was announced later in the game that Kuraly suffered an abdominal injury that was not deemed serious and he was being evaluated at a medical facility.
A Second Ugly Was the Refereeing
As for the game itself the other “Ugly” to me was the refereeing. I have been good to the referees this season and have not criticized them much. They were atrocious last night and missed several calls. I can understand the Columbus fan’s frustration with the refs in the game. Tavares got away with a trip and a hook. When David Kampf hauled down Adam Fantilli with a hook early in the second period Fantilli also got called for embellishing and went off with him.
Later in the second period, it appeared that Matthews was getting a call for holding Fantilli. Matthews even did the hands-off gesture that players do when they know that did something wrong. It was Fantilli who got the call.
The bad calls were not only relegated to the Blue Jackets. Shortly after the non-tripping call on Tavares, Kurally tripped Liljegren with no call. In the third period, Max Domi got called for high sticking when he didn’t have his stick in his hands. I understand that a player is supposed to be in control of his stick. It must be hard to do though when you don’t have it.
What’s Next?
The Maple Leafs get three days off to celebrate Christmas and then close out December with three games in four nights. That starts with a home game on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators under new/old coach Jacques Martin. They then hit the road to face the Columbus Blue Jackets for the third time in less than three weeks on Friday night, followed by a return home Saturday night to host the Carolina Hurricanes.
It will be interesting to see how Keefe uses his goalies in those three games. If I were to hazard a guess, I would think he would go with Jones against the Senators and Hurricanes and give Samsonov the start in Columbus. While I have written that I wouldn’t mind seeing Dennis Hildeby get a start, I don’t think that is going to happen.
The Maple Leafs head into the Christmas break tied for second in the Atlantic Division with the Florida Panthers with two games in hand. Each team has 40 points, four less than the division-leading Boston Bruins. Toronto also has a game in hand over Boston.
After 31 games this season, the Maple Leafs have a record of 17-8-6 compared to 19-6-6 last season. They are on pace to finish the 2023/24 season with 106 points, five less than last season.