Jets Fly Passed Leafs

 

Last night was the rubber match in the three-game series between the Leafs and the visiting Winnipeg Jets it would once again be Freddie Andersen between the pipes searching for his 150^th win as a Maple Leaf and at the other end of the ice it would be Laurent Brossoit in goal for Winnipeg, His first start since March 2^nd and he would be searching for his first career win against Toronto.

 

The first period would start quickly and just ninety seconds in the Leafs would find the back of the net as Pierre Engvall would fire a wrist shot home sending the water bottle flying putting the Leafs up 1-0…. or so we thought. There would be a coach’s challenge by Paul Maurice and when viewers at home were shown the replay and we would end up seeing the goal called back and the game restart at 0-0. Once this goal was called back in my opinion it seemed to take the life out of Toronto and the pace of the period seemed to be slow and at times Toronto seemed sluggish getting caught defending to much in their own end, but Andersen was able to keep the score level. The first period would end with the game scoreless and that is greatly because of Andersen once again as he would face a 2 on 1 due to Justin Holl pinching and going out of position, but a Freddie would make a gorgeous pad save to keep Winnipeg from scoring a sure goal.

 

The middle frame would see Winnipeg open the scoring as Winnipeg’s Lowry while covered would throw the puck to the net and because Travis Dermott is unable to stay with Mason Appleton as Appleton would drive to the net deflecting the puck in off his skate to pull the Jets ahead 1-0.

The Leafs would find themselves short handed when after a turnover Zach Bogsian would be called for slashing but with Winnipeg on the power play it would be the Leafs who would score as Mitch Marner would set up Jake Muzzin for Toronto’s first goal of the night, this would be Muzzin’s first career short handed goal and the teams first goal of the season with a man down. Just two minutes later there would be some more history made as Joe Thornton who was skating in game number 1,653 of his career moving him into sole possession of 6^th place all time would chip the puck to William Nylander for William’s 12 goal of the season and Thornton’s 12^th point with Toronto. With Toronto now holding a 2-1 lead I am sure everyone thought like me that the Maple Leafs would begin to take control of the game despite not playing at their best. The teams would once again see themselves level as once again Paul Stastny would find the score sheet when he would get credit for his 9^th tally thanks to a deflection from a Mark Schiefele wrist shot into traffic.

 

With 20 minutes remaining and the score tied two a piece the Jets would take both the lead and control of the game as after a dump in and some miscommunication between Freddie Andersen and Travis Dermott the Jets would continue with procession and Adam Lowry would give the Jets a 3-2 lead and they would not look back. Winnipeg would add two more goals to their total both coming on the man advantage thanks to Ehlers who had been a threat all series and Mark Schiefele would rub salt in the wound scoring the Jets 5^th goal of the contest to win the game 5-2.

 

Now before I wrap this one up, I want to give my thoughts on a few things. First, I would like to say I think both Interference calls on Reilly and Zach Hyman while Toronto was playing 6 on 5 were soft calls and I can almost guarantee these calls will not be penalized with the playoffs roll around this summer. I am likely about to come across as someone who is bitter because the Leafs lost but I found the Reilly penalty soft because if you watch it is Nikolaj Ehlers who initiates the contact with Morgan and because Ehlers goes down Toronto goes down a man. Now the Zach Hyman penalty, it is a won faceoff by Toronto in the Jets zone, and we see Zach Hyman and Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler battling for position off the won faceoff for Toronto. This was not a penalty at all because just as Sheldon Keefe let the officials know battles like that happen every single play all season and majority if not all of them go uncalled. I by no means am saying that officiating cost Toronto this game I am mentioning it because officiating across the entire league has been questionable and as a fan all I am asking for is some consistency. If those plays are interference penalties in the third period, then they should be interference penalties in the first and second period as well.

 

Lastly, I want to talk about the criticism that Freddie Andersen has faced from both Leaf fans and the media in this market. I want to start by asking do you really know why you are calling out Freddie? Because personally I think it is being done because the fans need to find something to complain about. Are his numbers great at this point in the season? No but my issue with the criticism is last night on the post-game show you have Gord Stellick, at one time Leafs GM in the same breath say “Freddie has played well recently but he needs to play better” so I honestly have no idea what side of the fence Gord is on when it comes to Andersen.  I think the critics are forgetting that in previous years when Mike Babcock was coaching with a much weaker defense if it was not for the play of Freddie, we Leaf fans do not even sniff the playoffs because when Andersen was not in net, we had to watch Jonas Enroth get lit up remember him? Toronto had to rely on Garret Sparks apart from getting a shutout in his NHL debut did absolutely nothing when he was called upon as an NHL backup. So, fans once again just relax Freddie Andersen, and the Toronto Maple Leafs will win games again.

 

Finally with the Jets series behind them Toronto is back in action tonight when they travel to Ottawa but this time they will turn back the clock while everyone else has sprung ahead and we will watch the Toronto St Pats for this first time this season as they square off against the Ottawa Senators in the latest chapter in the Battle of Ontario.