Magic Matthews Wins it in Overtime

 

The Maple Leafs and Jets squared off Thursday night for game 2 of their three-game miniseries with the same goalies, Freddie Andersen for Toronto and Connor Hellebuyck in goal for their respective teams. Toronto would be looking to rebound after dropping game 1 to these same Jets Tuesday night and early in the game Toronto would have a sense of déjà vu as William Nylander would come blazing in on a breakaway only to see his back hand opportunity stopped by the Winnipeg goalie. After the early Nylander chance it would be Winnipeg scoring the opening goal of the contest after a neutral zone turnover by the Leafs Travis Dermott would send Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nikolaj Ehlers in on a 2 on 1 and Ehlers would fire the puck off the cross bar and in to give Winnipeg an early 1-0 lead. Toronto would go on the hunt for the next goal and would accumulate some chances but head to the dressing room trailing 1-0.

 

Early in period number 2 Leaf fans watching at home would have something to cheer for because they would see the highly skilled Mitch Marner work the puck down low behind the Winnipeg net where he and Zach Hyman would team up and cycle the puck back to a waiting TJ Brodie who would send a point shot through traffic where Marner would tie the game at ones with the second chance opportunity. This goal would be Marner’s 11^th on the season and all 11 tallies for Mitch have come at even strength. Just like the last game the host Toronto Maple Leafs would be controlling the play but midway through the period Winnipeg would have another 2 on 1, this time because Justin Holl would be below the goal line with Auston Mathews. Holl would lose possession and with Jimmy Vesey unable to fill in for the pinching Holl Kyle Connor would assist on Ehlers’ second goal of the game to put Winnipeg ahead by a score of 2-1. Toronto would outshoot the visiting Jets 14-8 but would sadly head to the room once again trailing 2-1 and Leaf fans likely thinking “here we go again”.

As I mentioned last blog our Leafs are winless so far this season when trailing after 2 periods but something about this game just felt different. 6 minutes into the third the Leafs would find a crack in the brick wall that is Hellebuyck as Reilly would feed a pass to a streaking Tavares who would send a no look pass over to William Nylander who would fire the puck by a stretched out Hellebyuck to once again tie the game with also his 11^th goal on this short season. After Nylander tied this game Toronto would see their team go a man down as Zach Bogosian would receive a penalty for holding. The penalty kill in this latest stretch of games has been a bit of a concern as Toronto has given up a power play four times in their 3-game losing streak. Thankfully for Toronto the Bogosian penalty would be killed off and it spark our Maple Leafs as an adjusted third line with Alex Kerfoot taking the place of Zach Hyman and Kerfoot while behind the net of Winnipeg would send a pass through the skates of the Jets defender to a waiting Ilya Mikheyev who would score just his 4^th goal of year, but it would give Toronto their first lead of the game. Unfortunately, Winnipeg just would not go away and with a little over 2 minutes left in regulation the Jets would call Hellebyuck to the bech for the extra attacker and seconds after Paul Stastny would deflect a point shot by Freddie Andersen to level the game once again 3-3 sending the game to an extra period where these teams would battle for the all-important bonus point.

 

In the overtime session teams would trade early chances but then with the puck in the Toronto end of the rink Morgan Reilly would have his stick slashed out of hands in front of the referee with no arm going up for the obvious penalty. With Morgan rushing for a new stick giving Winnipeg a dangerous 3 on 2 advantage. With Reilly back in the play he would clear the zone on a rush with Auston Mathews and the frustration over the non call was short lived as Mathews would finish off a gorgeous backhand goal for his league leading 21^st of the season to win this match up for your Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

 With this series now even at a game a piece the deciding game will come on Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada with the Maple Leafs looking to build from this well-deserved win.

Some positives to take from this game are first the play of William Nyalnder who honestly could have had five goals himself as he had so many dangerous opportunities turned away. I also think it is fair to say that after the pointless criticism by Steve Simmons and some fans he has been playing quite well in this current stretch so lets just enjoy it. Finally, the last positive thing I would like to mention, and this was mentioned this morning by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek that in previous years Leaf teams of the past would have gotten frustrated and folded up shop when trailing in a game but this team despite trailing or seeing many chances turned away just stuck to their game and saw their efforts pay off earning this win.

As we all know each game is different and surely Saturday, we will see a Winnipeg Jets team looking to answer back but one things for sure it is going to be an exciting matchup.