Johnny Hockey Wins It in Overtime

 

Last night was game two of a back-to-back from the Maple Leafs and they would look to rebound from their 4-2 loss in Montreal the night before. David Rittich who was acquired from the Flames on deadline day would be starting in goal against his former club with Jacob Markstrom in goal for Calgary. On the broadcast before the game, they mentioned that Rittich traveled to Toronto with his now former team after the trade which in his post game zoom meeting he mentioned how much he appreciated flying with the Flames because it gave Rittich a chance to properly say goodbye. There was a line up change made by Sheldon Keefe where he would scratch Jason Spezza and add taxi squad member Scott Sabourin to give him a well-deserved opportunity with the Leafs.

Toronto started this game much better than Monday night they had much more speed to their game were in on the forecheck and controlled most of the play in the opening period but unfortunately like the game before it would be the opponents who would open the scoring first as veteran Milan Lucic who was playing in his 1000^th career game after completing a nice give and go pass with every Leafs defender on the left side of the ice a wide open Jusso Valimaki who would score his second goal of the season to put Calgary ahead 1-0.

After this goal fans would see something, we had not seen in quite a while, Scott Sabourin would drop the gloves and square off with Milan Lucic and it was a decent fight with Lucic scoring the takedown but Sabourin would catch Lucic with a few good shots leading to Milan needing a few stitches afterwards. This fight seemed to give Toronto some jump as they would go right back to work looking for their first goal of the game. Toronto’s tying goal would come around the 10-minute mark as Morgan Reilly would send the puck wide of the Calgary goal, but Zach Hyman would be there to deflect the puck into the roof of the net tying the game at one for his 15^th goal of the season and with the assist Reilly collected his milestone 300^th career point.  That would be it for scoring as the score would remain tied after 20 minutes of play.

The second period would get off to a costly start as off the opening faceoff just seconds in Mitch Marner would be sent to the penalty box for tripping. So, with Toronto now on the penalty kill Alex Kerfoot would lose the draw in his end and after three quick passes Calgary would gain the lead for a second time just 34 seconds in as Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, and Elias Lindholm would team up on the power play goal, number 11 on the season for Calgary’s Lindholm and Calgary would now lead 2-1. Toronto would have their chances but Markstrom would keep the door closed and the Leafs would trail after two periods of play by a score of 2-1.

The Leafs this season have not been remarkably successful when they are trailing at the start of the third period only having 2 wins. As we know often on game two of a back to back the third period is when fatigue starts to set in but Toronto would play this period with purpose as they would once again look to tie the game and early on it looked as if Toronto would do just that as Auston Matthews would have a quality scoring chance turned aside the rebound would land on the stick of Mitch Marner but Jacob Markstrom would make a highlight reel kick save to keep the Flames ahead 2-1. Just a few short minutes later the Toronto Maple Leafs would find themselves level as John Tavares would have the puck in the Flames end and set up Alex Kerfoot, Kerfoot would make up for his lost faceoff on the penalty kill in period two would send the puck ringing off the post and in for his 7^th goal on this short season tying the game at 2-2.

With the game now level and momentum again with Toronto they would look to grab the lead for the first time in the contest and Joe Thornton while going for the puck would get a high stick in the face from Rasmus Andersson that would cut Thornton giving Toronto a 4-minute power play. With the Leafs on the power play sadly their struggles would continue as despite registering a few shots and hitting a post or two Toronto failed to score, and we would end regulation tied at 2 meaning overtime was needed. It would not take long as after an early Toronto chance Johnny Gaudreau would come flying into the Toronto end splitting through Matthews and Marner and would finish of a beautiful deke sliding the puck by Dave Rittich for his 15^th goal to give Calgary the much-needed win and bonus point to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

 

I thought despite giving up the opening goal for the second straight game I thought Toronto played a strong game they were most of the game the better squad but losses like this happen now and then. I was really impressed with Rittch’s play in goal and I think as he spends more time with his teammates his play bis going to get better and better. It is also worth noting that with the single point from last nights contest the Toronto Maple Leafs have collected a total of 32 points in the standings from their backup goalies showing that this Leafs team has a lot of potential to do something special in this coming post season.

The Leafs will now take today off and rest and regroup as they prepare to host the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.

 

Thanks as always for reading