The Matthews and Marner Show

 

Toronto would host their Provincial Rival the Ottawa Senators last night on Hockey Night in Canada. Now the other day after Campbell collect his franchise record setting 10^th win, I suggested that Michael Hutchinson should get the start so Jack Campbell can be rested for the next meeting with Montreal. Well after watching the game last night Sheldon Keefe proved why he is the head coach of the Maple Leafs and I just blog about them because Jack Campbell was in goal and it was absolutely the correct decision.

 

The Maple Leafs for some reason this season have struggled against Ottawa yes, they have a winning record against them as they do against the entire division but every game against Ottawa has been a battle and Saturday night would be no different. The visiting Sens would be the team starting on time and for the first half of the opening frame it looked as if Toronto could possibly be in for a long night, but Jack Campbell did his job and would keep Ottawa off the board. Just before the 9-minute mark and against the flow of play the dynamic duo of Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews would team up for the games opening goal as Mitch would skate into the Ottawa zone following a turnover and after a quick shoulder check he would drop the puck back to the waiting Matthews who would score his 29^th goal on the season beating the Ottawa starter Anton Forsberg blocker side and the Leafs now lead 1-0. Just 40 seconds later Marner and Matthews would be at it again, but this time Morgan Reilly would join in on the fun as the three would pull off a beautiful passing play that       you would normally see in a video game but after a highlight reel passing play Auston Matthews would light the lamp for a second time hitting the 30-goal mark putting Toronto up 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.

 

The second period however would be a lot like the first Ottawa would be once again controlling the play and getting chance after chance and if you are a fan of goals then this period would be the one for you as at the mid point of period 2 Ottawa would find their way onto the scoreboard as Toronto’s Justin Holl would have the puck behind his goal and instead of cycling the puck around the board he decided to send the puck out in front of Toronto’s net and after a Senators shot rang off the post the rebound would land on the stick of Drake Batherson and he would send the puck into the open Toronto goal. Shortly after Toronto would head to the power play and once again it went terribly. Morgan Reilly who tried to keep the puck in along the blue line would get caught flat footed and turn the puck over to Ottawa’s Alex Formenton would come streaking in on a break away who would beat Campbell 5-hole to tie the game a 2 with his 3^rd of the season. After this, goals would come fast and furious it would start around the 16-minute nark of the frame when Ottawa would grab the lead for the first time as from a won faceoff to the left of the Leaf goal Tim Stützle would beat a surprised Jack Campbell for his 7^th goal of the season. Leaf fans did not have to wait long for the tying goal as less then 30 seconds after Ottawa went ahead 3-2 the Leafs would be pressing for an equalizer as Alex Galchenyuk who was now on the top line with Matthews and Marner continued his strong productive play forced Stützle to turn the puck over and after a scramble in front of the Ottawa goal Mitch Marner would chip in a lose puck to level the game once again at threes with his 14^th on the season. With the period now in its final minute and looking like the scoring burst was complete Toronto had other ideas. The Leafs would win an offensive zone faceoff and after a point shot did not reach the goal Thomas Chabot would then lose the puck behind his teams’ goal thanks to Mitch Marner who would send the puck out to Auston Matthews who would complete his bid for a hat trick collecting his 31^st goal of the season putting the Maple Leafs ahead 4-3 after 40 minutes. Now even though Toronto had the lead after the second this was no doubt a very frustrating period and Toronto needs to be reminded that you cannot always score your way out of trouble.

Toronto would look to play a complete third period too come away with the two points and the period would get off to a good start as 4 minutes in Ilya Mikheyev would put the Leafs ahead by a score of 5-3 with a shot along the ice that beat Forsberg for his 6^th goal of the season. Despite now trailing 5-3 the Ottawa Senators showed they were not going to go away as former Leaf Connor Brown would score his 13^th goal and extending his goal streak to seven consecutive games to pull the visitors to within a goal. Ottawa would be looking to tie the game at 5 but Toronto managed to hold the Sens off, and Mr. Reliable Zach Hyman would collect Toronto’s 6^th goal of the evening his 14^th on the season and the Leafs and their fans thought they were in the clear but Ottawa once again with their goalie on the bench Ottawa’s Josh Norris would score his 11^th goal on the year. Thankfully, that would be as close as the pesky Ottawa Senators would get as the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs a 6-5 win breaking another record in the process as Jack Campbell now has an NHL best 11 wins to start the season breaking the record set by Montreal’s Carey Price in the 16-17 season. In fact, I forgot to mention that with his second goal of the game, his 30^th Auston Matthews is the first American born player to have thirty or more goals in his first five seasons. The Leafs will now turn their focus to Monday night when they travel to the Bell Centre to visit the Canadiens and Jake Allen who has given up 11 goals in his last three starts.

 

regarding Monday it is also the leagues trade deadline day, and I am thinking depending on how the deadline day goes for Toronto Tuesday’s article will either focus on the teams transactions and a little about the game because I have not written about the Riley Nash acquisition or if it’s a quiet trade deadline for the Leafs I will discuss the game against Montreal and then give some quick thoughts on the move or moves.

 

Thanks as always for reading