Leafs Fall in Shootout to the Wild

 

Tonight, the Leafs traveled to Minnesota for the first game or a quick two game road trip but unfortunately Toronto would find themselves shorthanded as Mitch Marner would be unavailable as Friday he would be shaken up after a collision with Jake Muzzin during practice. It is believed that Marner will be fine, but the coaches are going to be cautious in bringing Mitch back to make sure he is 100%. There was some positive news for the Leafs on the injury front as Ondrej Kase would return after missing the last few games with a minor injury.

Jack Campbell would get the once again in goal and for the Wild it would be Cam Talbot who heading into this matchup had won their last five games and they would look to continue their hot streak.

 

The first period of this one in my opinion did not go well for the Leafs as they would start this one slow chasing the play and were unable to match the speed of the wild early on and Minnesota would have some quality chances that were thankfully turned aside by the always reliable Jack Campbell midway through the opening period the visiting Leafs would head to the powerplay with the hopes of turning the momentum into their favour. While Joel Eriksson Ek would be serving a two-minute minor the Maple Leafs would see their man advantage expire only registering one shot on goal. Late in the period Wayne Simmonds and Marcus Foligno would drop the gloves after Michael Bunting had gotten under the skin of the Wild players and the Simmonds fight seemed to spark the Leafs a little as they began to try and work their way back into this first period as time was expiring. In the final minute when he looked as if Toronto was going to escape the first twenty minutes with the game scoreless Minnesota would catch a lucky bounce their first of many this evening when Matt Dumba would see his point shot hit the post with the puck landing on the stick of Jordan Greenway who would send the puck into the open Leaf goal as the Wild would lead this game 1-0 after twenty minutes.

 

Minnesota would continue to have more puck luck in the second period and momentum would clearly be in favour of the Wild as the Leafs would fall into penalty trouble early on as Morgan Reilly would get called for Cross Checking which would be killed off but just under five minutes into the second frame Toronto would once again need to play shorthanded as Ondrej Kase would be called for Tripping. The Wild who despite having one of the top offenses in the league their power play for some unknown reason ranked near the bottom. Tonight, though Minnesota on the powerplay would double their lead as Mats Zuccarello would see his centring pass deflect off the skate of Minnesota native Justin Holl and into the net. Toronto now trailing 2-0 would see their struggles continue as just three minutes later the home crowd would have reason to cheer again as the Wild would light the lamp for a third time as a Leafs clearing attempt would be knocked down by Eriksson Ek, his shot would be blocked by TJ Brodie. Now 99% of the time this blocked shot would usually result in seeing the puck end up in the corner, but it is the Leafs we are talking about so of course something strange must happen. Instead of the puck going into the corner it would bounce off the official and land right on the stick of Marcus Foligno who made no mistake sending the puck into the back of the net for his tenth of the season. With the Leafs now staring at a three goal deficit I will admit that I was sitting in my recliner thinking this game was done so I decided to flip over and watch some of the Toronto Rock lacrosse game as their season started this evening as well, they would win 10-9 by the way but I really need to learn that with this Leafs team no game is ever over. Just as I had flipped back over to the Leaf game William Nylander would enter the zone from the wing, he would then drive the Wild goal only to have Talbot make a sprawling pad save keeping Toronto goalless. This rush by Nylander although he was not able to score it sparked the Leafs as they would begin to use their skill and speed allowing Toronto to start leading on the shot clock and just after twelve minutes played Toronto would finally solve Cam Talbot. This goal can easily be added to the list of strange one from this game. Toronto would win a faceoff to the left of Talbot and Morgan Reilly would send the puck down low where Nick Ritchie would right away look to battle for the puck. Ritchie would win the battle along the end boards and send the puck to Jason Spezza who from an awkward angle would throw the puck on goal, and we would see the puck deflect off a defender’s skate then bounce off the side of Talbot’s mask and into the goal. I highly doubt that was the way Jason Spezza visioned his sixth goal of the season going in but there was absolutely no complaining from Jason or the Leafs as they were happy to finally breakthrough and get one behind Cam Talbot. Just a few minutes later it would be the Wild who would have penalty trouble as Jordie Benn would show a complete lack of discipline when he would cross check John Tavares from behind while he was trying to jam in a loose puck. So, with Toronto once again on the powerplay the Leafs would move the puck around nicely and with Matthews off to the right looking for the one time shot attempt Jason Spezza would slide into the middle of the slot and instead of shooting Matthews would send a touch pass to the veteran and Spezza’s quick shot would slide underneath Talbot for his second goal of the night his seventh on the season and his 981^st career point. At thirty-seven years old when most players are winding their career down or already retired Spezza seems to still can be a difference maker. Now, as a fan I may have had to wait quite a while for Jason to dawn a Leafs jersey, but I am so happy that myself and the rest of Leafs Nation get to watch this guy every single game. So, thanks to Spezza’s second goal Toronto was trailing 3-2 and full of energy as they would go right back on the powerplay with a terrific opportunity to find the equalizing goal and the Leafs would do exactly that. Alex Goligoski would serve a hooking minor and like the Wild the Leafs would find the back of the net in the final minute of a period. Spezza would win the draw back to Reilly they would play catch with the puck then Spezza would send a slap pass to Auston Matthews who would direct the puck in for his fourteenth goal of the season giving both Reilly and Spezza their third point in the game and surprisingly the Leafs managed to battle their way back to a 3-3 tie after forty minutes of action.

 

The final period would be full of intense moments. early into the action though it would be the home team with a few huge chances to pull ahead first after a won faceoff Kevin Fiala would turn in the slot firing the puck beating Jack Campbell, but it would ring off the post and staying out. Toronto’s penalty kill would be put to the test as Eriksson Ek would draw two consecutive penalties. First Morgan Reilly would be sent to the box for Holding the Stick when the replay clearly showed that both players were guilty but only Reilly would be sent off, then a few seconds later David Kompf would be called for High Sticking. With the Leafs now on a 5 on 3 penalty kill this was easily a make-or-break moment for the Leafs because if the Leafs had any desires of winning this game in regulation or at least getting to overtime with the hopes of winning in the extra session this penalty kill was crucial. Thankfully despite a few close chances the Leafs were able to kill of each penalty keeping the game tied at three.

I am going to jump ahead to the final minute of regulation now and talk about an incident that I am sure along with myself many other Leaf fans were yelling at their TV’s. Marcus Foligno had the puck and was driving the Leafs goal which of course is fine but then he would run over the Leaf netminder making direct contact with his head completely untouched and the only question I have is why in the hell did neither official raise their arm and call goalie interference? This league goes on and on about how it wants to protect the goalies which is great, but you aren’t protecting any goalie in this league if plays like this from Marcus Foligno go uncalled. You know years ago at one of the leagues summer clinics they experimented with having an official in the crowd standing on a platform calling penalties. Back then when the NHL tried this at a clinic I thought it was ridiculous and was not necessary at all but after seeing this incident with Campbell and through out this season and past years seeing countless missed calls I am beginning to think that having an official upstairs in a booth who can buzz down when there is an infraction is not such a bad idea.

With my little rant now over Jack Campbell would get up and be fine allowing Leafs Nation breath a sigh of relief, he would have to make one last crucial save as regulation would end with the game still tied meaning we would get an extra five minutes to decide who wins this contest.

The overtime would see five minutes run out rather quickly but there were some exciting moments first the Wild would catch the Leafs on a bad line change but Campbell would charge out of his net to clear away the lose puck then Toronto’s Michael Bunting would have a chance to end the game in close but Talbot would make a huge save to keep the overtime period going. In the final minute of over time with the play in the Leafs end the Wild would work the puck out of the corner and Jonas Brodin would be in close only to see his shot turned aside by Jack Campbell. Toronto would also head to the powerplay with fifty-nine seconds left and William Nylander would receive a great cross ice pass from Matthews, but Cam Talbot managed to get across and get just enough to stop his attempt. Overtime would expire and we would see Toronto and Minnesota head to a shootout.

Sadly, Toronto’s five game win streak would end as Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov would win the skills competition showing off his great hands and the Leafs would leave the Xcel Energy Center with only one point falling to Minnesota by a score of 4-3. After the game Coach Sheldon Keefe when speaking to the media gave an update on Mitch Marner saying that he will not be available for the next game which as I am writing this, I see it is two in the morning which means it is time for me to get some sleep because the Leafs next game is tonight at 8pm in Winnipeg.

I also would like to mention that the article for the game against the Jets will be posted sometime on Monday because I will start my day of sports watching Toronto play Hamilton on the East Division Final with the hopes of playing in this years CFL Gray Cup, then I am going to watch the Marlies play the Laval Rocket because Petr Mrazek will be starting his conditioning stint after recovering from his groin Injury, and then finally I’ll end the night watching the Leafs play the Jets and it looks like Michael Hutchinson would be in goal for that matchup.

 

So, thanks as always for reading Go Argo’s, Go Marlies, and of course Go Leafs Go.