The Toronto Maple Leafs traveled to Montreal on Saturday night to take on the Canadiens. What were the Good, Bad, and Ugly aspects of the game?
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The Bad
With Mitch Marner returning, Head Coach Sheldon Keefe put Marner, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander on three separate lines to create more balance. The lines didn’t have much continuity to start the game. All four lines struggled to put multiple passes together and spent a lot of time hemmed in their end of the ice. The Canadiens carried the play, outshot the Maple Leafs 9-4, and had 60% of the Expected Goals in all situations, according to Naturalstattrick.com.
The Good
To say the lines “gelled” in the second period would be a massive understatement. The Maple Leafs scored four goals on eight shots in the first eight minutes of the period. Max Domi got things going with a deflection of an Ilya Lyunushkin point shot at 2:21. Seventeen seconds later Matthews scored his 64th goal of the season when his attempted spin-and-shoot move from the left of Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault banked off of David Savard’s skate into the net.
At 7:20, Matthew Knies banged in a rebound off a Nylander shot. Thirty-four seconds later, Bobby McMann finished off a give-and-go between him and Marner to put Toronto up 4-0.
Good Quickies
Keefe spread the talent over three lines in this game. All three lines scored at least one goal, and Matthews, Nylander, and Marner all had a point. Ten Toronto skaters registered a point in the game.
Keefe’s “Defense by Committee” approach also seemed to work as all six Maple Leafs’ defensemen were plus one in plus/minus in the game.
Matthews became the third player in the Maple Leafs’ history to have multiple 100-point seasons. The other two Toronto players were Doug Gilmour and Darryl Sittler.
Nylander edged closer to the 100-point plateau for the first time in his career with his 56th assist and 96th point.
The Ugly
While I watch the games I will be writing about, I take notes as the game progresses. As this game approached the halfway point, I jotted down that the referees were letting everything go. Just as I finished writing, Tyler Bertuzzi was called for high sticking (my bad).
It took the Canadiens twelve seconds to capitalize on the power play. Nick Suzuki blasted a one-timer past Ilya Samsonov from the bottom of the faceoff circle to Samsonov’s right. With 1:28 left in the second period, Mike Matheson circled behind the Toronto net. He found Cole Caufield alone in front of the net. Caulfield beat Samsonov blocker-side to close the Canadiens to within two.
After Toronto opened the period by scoring four goals on eight shots, Montreal closed off the period with two goals on four shots.
Another Ugly moment happened when Michael Pezzetta nailed David Kampf with a late hit along the boards midway through the second period. Kampf stayed down for a bit and then skated slowly to the Toronto bench in some discomfort. Kampf stayed on the bench. However, he missed a few shifts but remained in the game.
Some More Good
Any worry that Maple Leafs fans might have had and any excitement that Canadiens fans might have felt that Montreal might make a game of this were quashed when Toronto had a strong defensive third period. According to Naturalstattrick.com, the Canadiens only managed three High-Danger Scoring Chances. Two come at five-on-five and one on the power play.
The Maple Leafs were strong defensively throughout the game, limiting the Canadiens’ good scoring chances. Ilya Samsonov made the saves he needed to preserve his 22nd win of the season. In Samsonov’s last 21 games, he is 17-3-1 with a 0.914 SV% and 2.46 GAA.
The Maple Leafs’ win, combined with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, allowed Toronto to extend its lead over the Lightning in the Atlantic Division to four points.
What’s Next?
The Maple Leafs now play four games in six nights. All four of the games are against teams fighting for a playoff spot. The week starts with back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday. They host the Penguins on Monday and then travel to New Jersey to take on the Devils on Tuesday. They return to Toronto for another game versus the Devils on Thursday. Finally, they close out the week with a visit from the Detroit Red Wings.
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