By Stan Smith
The Ugly
I’m going to start with the Ugly because the first period of this game was downright ugly. The Detroit Red Wings came out to play, but the Toronto Maple Leafs did not. For the second game in a row, they hung Ilya Samsonov out to dry in the first period.
After getting on the board again, the Maple Leafs, as a team, gave up four goals on eight shots in just over nine minutes of play. I say the team because this is on them as much, if not more, than on Samsonov.
Morgan Rielly got caught in no man’s land on a half-way pinch, resulting in a two-on-one the other way. TJ Brodie attempted, but failed, to prevent the pass across from Lucas Raymond to Alex DeBrincat. DeBrincat scored his second goal in 20 games.
Four Maple Leafs players stood still on the second Detroit goal between David Perron and Simon Edvinsson. Pontus Holmberg, William Nylander, Nick Robertson, and Ilya Lyubushkin all failed to stop the puck from going from Edvinsson to Perron, back to Edvinsson, and into the net. I’m surprised the four Toronto players didn’t get whiplash as their heads swiveled back and forth, watching the puck.
The third goal was a power play goal after Auston Matthews took an accidental tripping penalty. Once again, four Maple Leafs players with their heads on pivots watched the puck go from Robby Fabbri to JT Compher, off of Samsonov, back to DeBrincate, and into the net.
Goal number four was mostly on Samsonv. It was off of a bad angle shot by David Perron that got by him on the short side. But once again, the puck got through four Toronto players from Compher to Patrick Kane to Perron.
Related: Maple Leafs Goalie Choices Over the Next Four Games?
The Bad
After coming back from being down 4-1 in the first period and going into the second intermission tied 4-4, the Maple Leafs failed to beat ex-Leaf James Reimer in the third period to complete the comeback. After failing to score on a late third-period power play, Max Domi took a tripping penalty with 11 seconds left in regulation. That penalty gave the Red Wings a four-on-three power play to start the overtime. Detroit would capitalize on their man advantage when Dylan Larkin tipped a Patrick Kane shot past Samsonov into the net.
I do want to note that on the Domi penalty, DeBrincat did a nice pirouette as he was falling and could have easily been called for embellishment. But, it was a trip.
Injury Scares And Actual Injuries
There were some frightening incidents in this game. In the first period, Timothy Liljegren was hit from behind up high by Joe Veleno driving his head into the endboards. Liljegren stayed down for a bit and slowly made his way to the bench. He missed a few shifts but stayed in the game. Surprisingly, Veleno was only given a two-minute minor on the play. It was a pretty vicious hit.
Bobby McMann left the game unnoticed in the first period after getting tangled up with a Red Wings player. At the start of the second period, it was announced that he had suffered a lower-body injury and would not be returning. Head coach Sheldon Keefe stated after the game that the extent of McMann’s injury was not yet known.
In the second period, Simon Benoit takes a dangerous high stick from Patrick Kane to the face. Luckily, Benoit’s visor took the brunt of the blow, and Benoit was not injured.
Also, in the second period, Morgan Rielly took a hit and fell awkwardly into the boards behind the Toronto net. He was in obvious pain and got up slowly. But he remained on the ice and finished his shift. He did not seem to suffer from any aftereffects and remained in the game.
After getting a great scoring chance, Matthews fell backward into the boards behind the Detroit net and was shaken up. He shook it off and remained on the ice.
Late in the second period, there was a very scary situation when Jake McCabe was hit in the face with a puck as he was blocking a shot. McCabe left the game bleeding profusely and did not return. Keefe stated after the game that it appeared McCabe would be alright. He also said McCabe had suffered some blurred vision, which was bothersome. It depends on the cause of the blurred vision. Was it blood, was it swelling, or could it be a concussion? I guess we will have to wait and see.
The Good
#69.
We are witnessing history. Tens of thousands of younger Maple Leafs fans have never watched a player score goals like Auston Matthews right now. It’s been 31 years since an NHL player has reached the heights Matthews has this season. He could have easily had 70. After he hit the crossbar on a shot early in the game, they mentioned on the broadcast that he leads the league with 20 posts/crossbars hit this season. (Who keeps track of these stats?)
Matthews scored #69 on the power play. Unless they feel a need to rest him, Matthews will have two more chances to hit #70.
One thing they did state during the game was that Matthews had set records in four categories this season: most goals (69), most even-strength goals (51), most goals at home (39), and most goals on the road (30). I guess when you figure that Matthews has surpassed the previous record for most goals by a Maple Leaf player by 15 goals, it makes sense that he would also have set new marks in the other three categories.
Nick Robertson
Nick Robertson is making a strong case for his inclusion in the lineup for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. At 9:04 of the second period, Robertson started the comeback when he took a rebound off of Samsonov, carried it the length of the ice, and wired a wrist shot past Reimer.
If we look at Robertson’s progression over this season, we see that he scored three goals in his first 21 games (a 12-goal pace for 82 games), five goals in his next 20 games (a 21-goal pace), and six goals in his last 13 games (a 38 goal pace). Even though Robertson has been a part of this franchise for five years, this is his first full season. This feels more like the real thing as opposed to some hot streak.
If this team is 100% healthy, Robertson is not in the opening game lineup for the playoffs. However, with McMann out and Calle Jarnkrok a question mark, Robertson has to be the next man up if they can’t go. Even then, I think we will see him at some point in the postseason.
John Tavares
John Tavares scored his third goal in the last two games. The goal was significant as it tied the game and moved Tavares past Phil Kessel on the Maple Leafs’ all-time goal list.
Mitch Marner
Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists in the game, giving him 84 points in 67 games this season. Although he has never scored 100 points in a season, he has now scored at a 100-point 82-game pace for the last four seasons. Marner needs just two points to move into a tie for seventh place in all-time Maple Leafs scoring with Ron Ellis.
Ilya Samsonov
Samsonov finds his way into the “Good” section because of how he recovered from that terrible first period. He made some spectacular saves in the last 40 minutes of regulation and was a big part of why this game went into overtime.
Samsonov was also robbed of an assist on the Robertson goal. After Samsonov made a save on Larkin, the puck went right from his pad to Robertson’s stick. I have watched the play over numerous times and in slow motion. No one else touches the puck between Samsonov and Robertson. McCabe almost gets his stick on it and does a good job preventing Larkin from playing it. However, the puck goes from Samsonov to Robertson. In fact, on the replay, you can see Samsonov purposely angle his body to direct the puck into the corner where Robertson picked it up. I was shocked to look at the official scoresheet to see that the goal was recorded as unassisted.
What’s Next?
The Maple Leafs lick their physical wounds and head to Florida to spend the week preparing for the postseason. They play the Panthers on Tuesday night and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday in two meaningless games.
The team has some tough choices to make. Do they rest Matthews, who is trying to make history, and Nylander, who is shooting for 100 points? Or do they risk playing them? What bumps and bruises do the players involved in the different incidents on Saturday night have?
Do they give Samsonov another start or rest him? Joseph Woll will get one of the games. Does Martin Jones get the other? Do the Maple Leafs want to set a tone in their Florida game, or do they play possum and not show the Panthers anything before game one?
What the Maple Leafs do and their decisions over the final two games could profoundly affect what success they may or may not have once the postseason begins.
Related: The Good, Bad & Ugly in Maple Leafs 6-5 Loss to New Jersey