By Stan Smith
The Toronto Maple Leafs earned a split in their four-game Western road trip with a 3-1 win against the Kraken in Seattle.
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The Good
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Of course, Auston Matthews scoring a highlight reel goal that was his 38th of the season and 24th goal in his last 23 games was good.
Nick Robertson coming back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last three games and five of the last six, and scoring a goal was also good. Interestingly enough, Robertson has goals in four of his last six games.
The biggest “Good” to me in this game was the play of the Maple Leafs in the third period. It might have been the best third period this team has played with the lead this season. The Maple Leafs did not allow Seattle a shot on net until the 13:21 mark of the third period. They also only allowed them just four shots in the whole period.
They gave up just one High-Danger Scoring Chance in the period and Ilya Samsonov made a tremendous save on Justin Schultz. He robbed him of what looked like a sure goal on that chance.
Toronto didn’t hold onto the lead by playing defence in their zone, they did it by playing most of the period with the puck in the Kraken zone. They generated nine shots of their own that included good scoring chances by Simon Benoit, Pontus Holmberg, Max Domi, John Tavares, Robertson, and Mitch Marner.
Jake McCabe took a chance by firing at the empty net from behind his goal line. But he hit the target to put the game away.
The Maple Leafs did all of this playing their sixth period in two nights, and their third game in four nights. If anything, they should have been dead tired. Yet, the third period in this game might have been the most energetic period they played on the road trip.
Ilya Samsonov
Samsonov wasn’t given a ton of work, with the players in front of him playing so well defensively. Still, he made some great saves. Even more importantly, made the saves he should have made. That is two good games Samsonov has played since his return to the lineup. While it is not enough to declare him back, it is a good sign and something to build upon.
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The Bad
There are only two bad things I saw in the game. The goal against was one. The Maple Leafs only scoring two goals (not counting the empty netter) was the second.
On the goal Seattle scored, TJ Brodie turned the puck over in the Toronto zone. Then he and Morgan Rielly failed to keep in front of Samsonov cleared. Neither of them was focused on the Kraken player in front of the net or the puck. In the end, they played a role in Samsonov being unable to play it.
As well as the Maple Leafs controlled play and played defensively, you are not going to win many games scoring just two goals.
The Ugly
I have absolutely nothing ugly I can say about this game. The Maple Leafs needed a win and they got it on the second game of back-to-backs. The team played a solid game and came through with a key win.
What’s Next?
The Maple Leafs play two important games before the All-Star break, a home-and-home against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night and Saturday night. I think we will see Samsonov back in between the pipes on Wednesday. If he plays well, we might see him get the Saturday start as well.
With the Maple Leafs not playing again until February 5th, I would be surprised if Joseph Woll is not ready to go by then.