Oilers Win Series Finale

         

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers met last night for the 9^th and final time this season and going into this matchup Toronto had a strangle hold on the Oilers holding a 6-1-1 record going into the final game. Mike Smith would once again get the start in goal for the visiting Oilers and Michael Hutchinson would be looking for his 4^th win of the season as he would be starting for Toronto.

 

Last night the Maple Leafs would play this game just like they did the other night against Edmonton. Toronto would control the play from the start of the first period to the end. Just five minutes the Leafs were already out shooting the Edmonton Oilers 9-3 but unfortunately it would be the visitors who would open the scoring. Edmonton would win a faceoff in their zone and Josh Archibald would be sent in on a breakaway after Morgan Reilly failed to keep the puck in, Archibald would slide the puck through the 5-hole of Hutchinson for his 6^th goal of the season to put the Oilers up 1-0. Luckily, Toronto would have an answer for the early Edmonton goal as Zach Hyman would send Mitch Marner in on goal where he would show his patience and then roof the puck passed Mike Smith for his 13^th goal of the season and even the game at a goal apiece. If there were any concerns from fans on the health of Auston Matthews and the strength of his injured wrist I think all those worries can be put to rest as he would score a goal that is accustom to a player with the skill set of Matthews. The Leafs would win an offensive zone face off and Mitch Marner would set up Matthews who would come out from below the goal line and fire a wrist shot top shelf on Smith to add to his league leading total of 23 goals that would see Toronto go head 2-1 a lead that Toronto would carry into the first Intermission.

 

Period two we would see both teams trade quality scoring chances but in this second period once again officiating is the center of attention in this period, we would see Mitch Marner get cross checked in the back and narrowly avoid going face first into the boards and suffering a serious injury. There are 4 officials on the ice and 2 of them can call minor penalties and this “missed” penalty happened right in front of the official and as expected there was no arm in the air. I do not understand the NHL and their officials. This is a league who wants to protect their stars because the stars sell the game. Mitch Marner is a star for the Toronto Maple Leafs and my question is how would the NHL defend they are officials if Mitch went headfirst into the boards and ended up being stretchered off the ice? All fans are asking for is consistency. Everyone reading this blog or anyone who watches hockey knows that if it were Wayne Simmonds cross checking Connor McDavid into the boards the referee’s arm would go up faster then you can snap your fingers. My point is plain and simple I do not care if it is a cross check on a first line forward or a 4^th line player playing for the league minimum a cross check is a penalty so call it. If the games were called on a more consistent basis then your fans would not be criticizing officials like they have been for so many years.

With that little rant over after 2 periods played the Toronto Maple Leafs would be leading 2-1 but their lead would be short lived as Edmonton would tie the game just a minute into the final period as Adam Larson would send a puck from the point that was going wide, but the Oilers would get a lucky bounce as Larson’s point shot would deflect off the knee of Kyle Turris and passed Hutchinson for just his second goal of the year. Despite gi9ving up that early goal Toronto and Michael Hutchinson continued to play well, and they came close on numerous occasions only to have Mike Smith keep the game level and fans would see these two squads go to Overtime in consecutive games.

 

The Overtime session would last just 17 seconds as Toronto would have Auston Matthews have his attempt turned aside just 9 seconds into the three-on-three session. After the early 2 on 1 opportunity by Matthews and the Leafs Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse would transition into an odd man rush of their own and it would be the Oilers winning the extra point as McDavid would assist on Nurse’s game winning goal his 12^th goal of the season to lead all defenseman in goals.

 

My thoughts on this game:

 

Toronto has played a solid defensive game yet again keeping their opponent to just 23 shots I once again liked how Toronto controlled the play and despite giving up the Turris goal early in period three they stuck to their game plan and went right back to work looking for the go-ahead goal. Lastly, I must mention the play of Michael Hutchinson now for those who have read along I have not been the biggest fan of him and his play but considering how bad his play was his last start against Ottawa I thought last night although there were times, he looked to be fighting the puck he did exactly what was expected of him. He gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a chance to win the game. Although Hutchinson was credited with the overtime loss, he has managed to collect 7 points in his 7 starts with a 3-2-1 record. Now if you add that to the 6 wins that Jack Campbell has accumulated so far for 12 points Toronto has collected 19 points in the standings thanks to their backup goalies. This is another sign that this Leafs team is continuing to head into the right direction and deserve to be labeled a cup contending team.

 

In closing the Toronto Maple Leafs will travel to Winnipeg with intentions of keeping the Jets grounded in their two-game series with 1^st in the North Division on the line. It is also worth noting that Coach Sheldon Keefe in his post-game media call last night said there was no update on the situation surrounding Freddie Andersen but stated he expected Jack Campbell to be available to start Wednesday night.