By Stan Smith
The Toronto Maple Leafs opened a four-game stretch in six days with a visit to Long Island and came away with a point, after blowing a 3-1 second-period and losing 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders for the second time this season.
Related: Grading the Maple Leafs 2023-24 Season So Far
The Good
After giving up a power play goal to go down 1-0 the Maple Leafs scored three goals in ten minutes over two periods.
Bobby McMann showed us a one-timer ability we didn’t know he had at 12:39 of the first period. He accepted a nice soft pass from Noah Gregor deep in the face-off circle to the left of Islanders’ goalie Ilya Sorokin and blasted it past Sorokin’s glove hand.
Auston Matthews came out flying in the second period and scored two goals in 2:14 to give the Maple Leafs a 3-1 lead.
Just 26 seconds into the second period, Matthews would knock New York’s Adam Pelech off the puck behind the Islanders’ net to the right of Sorokin. After giving the puck to Mitch Marner behind the net, Matthews would back out of the corner in front of the net. Marner would thread a pass to Matthews, who went forehand to backhand to forehand and tuck the puck around Sorokin.
Pontus Holmberg did all the hard work on Matthews’ second goal. During a line change after Calle Jarnkrok dumped the puck into the New York zone, Holmberg followed the play into the corner with the idea of disrupting the play of the puck to help his linemates change. Noah Dobson would pick the puck up in the corner to the right of Sorokin and attempt to skate around Holmberg. Holmberg would lift Dobson’s stick and then shovel the puck free to Matthews who was speeding into the zone coming off the bench. Matthews once again went from his forehand to his backhand but tucked the puck between Sorokin’s legs this time.
The amazing thing about this goal was that Holmberg lifted Dobson’s stick and made the pass with just one hand on his stick. In the previous game, Holmberg scored a goal while holding off a San Jose Shark defender with one hand and flipping the puck up and over Shark’s goalie Kaapo Kahkonen with just one hand on his stick.
I can’t help but wonder if Holmberg practices these kinds of plays using just one hand or if this was just a situational coincidence. I will say he has to be strong to make these types of play. Note: Later in the period Holmberg would take a tripping penalty on Matthew Barzal once again using just one hand on his stick.
The Maple Leafs continue to play strong hockey at five-on-five. They gave up just one goal at five-on-five in this game. It is only the second five-on-five goal Toronto has given up in their past six games. At five-on-five, the Maple Leafs had 14 High-Danger Scoring Chances and gave up just six High-Danger Chances to the Islanders. In their past six games, they have averaged 10 High-Danger Chances For while giving up an average of six High-Danger Chances against.
Related: Whatever Happened to Maple Leafs’ Prospect Jeremy Bracco?
The Bad
Things got off to a bad start in this game when Matthews took just his second penalty of the season. It was a tripping call 31 seconds into the game, to give the Islanders an early power play. To be honest, the Islanders should have been called for tripping just seconds before Matthews’ call.
On the play, Matthews was tripped by Alexander Romanov while pursuing the puck in the corner of the Islander’s zone. Matthews got up and tripped Matt Martin. If the referee had called the trip on Matthews as soon as Martin touched the puck the play would have been blown dead giving Toronto a power play. Instead, it was Matthews who ended up in the box.
It took the Islanders nine seconds to cash in with the extra player. After Bo Horvat won the initial draw, Matthew Barzal got the puck back to Dobson at the point. Dobson fired a shot toward the Toronto net which Martin Jones attempted to bat away with his blocker. Instead of punching the puck with his blocker into the corner, the puck hit Jones on the thumb dropping down into the crease at the feet of Kyle Palmieri. Palmieri had a wide-open cage to shovel the puck into.
After the Maple Leafs took a 3-1 lead early in the second period the Islanders would score two goals of their own. Just 1:38 after Matthews scored his second goal, Romanov would beat Jones over his glove from the faceoff dot to the right of Jones. While this was a well-placed shot by Romanov I am sure it is one that Jones would like to have back.
Later in the second with Timothy Liljegren in the box for High Sticking, Horvat would tip a Dobson shot from the point past Jones to tie the game.
As well as the Maple Leafs were playing at five-on-five in this game, it was the special teams that were their undoing. They went 0 for 1 on the only power play they had while the Islanders went 2 for 3 with the man advantage.
The Ugly
After questioning Jake McCabe’s usage in overtime in the past, I complimented his recent offensive play following the last game. But, starting McCabe in the 3-on-3 overtime in this game would lead to the team’s undoing.
After Mccabe picked up a loose puck in the Toronto zone, instead of passing it up to Marner standing all alone at the Islanders’ blue line Mccabe tried to hit Matthews who was heading up-ice between two New York players. McCabe’s pass would miss Matthews and go for icing.
On the ensuing faceoff in the Toronto end, Matthews would win the draw cleanly but the puck would bounce off of McCabe’s skate out into the deep slot to Dobson. Barzal, who was opposite McCabe on the draw, would break for the Toronto goal. McCabe was late reacting allowing Barzal to get to the front of the net unmolested. Dobson got the puck to Barzal who shoveled the puck back-door past Jones.
Some More Good
Auston Matthews.
One game after Marner moved into 7th place in all-time scoring for the Maple Leafs, Matthews moved into a tie with Ron Ellis for fourth in all-time goals for the franchise. Matthews’ two goals in this game gave him 332 goals in 519 games for his career. That is less than half the number of games it took Ellis (1,034 games) to accomplish the same feat.
Matthews needs 33 goals to catch Dave Keon for third at 365 goals. With 43 games left to play this season, it is possible Matthews could catch Keon this season. Matthews is also just 94 goals from catching Matts Sundin and becoming the Maple Leafs’ all-time leading scorer. If he stays healthy and keeps scoring at the pace he has scored to this point of his career, Matthews should become the franchise’s all-time leading goal scorer sometime in the 2025-26 season.
As for the race to the Rocket this season, Matthews (33 goals) has a three-goal lead over Florida’s Sam Reinhart (30 goals) with three fewer games played. He leads third-place Nikita Kucherov by five goals with four fewer games played. Note: Matthews and Kucherov have both missed one game. Reinhart has not missed a game.
What’s Next?
This is the weekend we find out who the present Maple Leafs’ backup goalie is. Toronto hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night and then takes on the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night. We seriously doubt Toronto would play Jones in both games in the back-to-back. Sunday’s game will be their fourth game in five nights.
So, either Ilya Samsonov, who was recalled from the Marlies and backed up Jones in New York, or Dennis Hildeby, who was sent down to the Marlies and is scheduled to start their game against the Belleville Senators tonight, will most likely get the Detroit game.
My guess is, that if Hildeby has a good game tonight, he gets the Sunday game with the Maple Leafs. If Hildeby gets shelled against the Junior Senators, Samsonov will get the Red Wings game.
Stay tuned.