Leafs Top the Blue Jackets

 

Before I talk about how this game went last night, I am going to first talk about news that came down during the second intermission of tonight’s matchup between the Leafs and the Blue Jackets. Now just for context last night in my article I mentioned that a ruling for the Jason Spezza suspension would come down at some point today. After reviewing the incident that saw Jason Spezza knee Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk the leagues Department of Player Safety has handed Jason a six-game suspension meaning that he can not return to game action untill the Leafs travel to Seattle to visit the expansion Kraken on December 19^th.  Elliotte Friedman tweeted out that Spezza will be appealing this decision which means that Commissioner Gary Bettman will now review the situation and decide if six games are enough or if the length should be reduced. If by chance Spezza doesn’t win the original appeal he can file for a second one and then a final decision will be made by a neutral arbitrator so needless to say this appeal could take some time to decide a result.

So, tonight the Leafs were back home at the Scotiabank Arena after a quick two game road trip and as the title of this article hints the Columbus Blue Jackets were the opponents. Toronto would see them have to play without four regulars in the lineup. Of course, Spezza was out but joining was Sandin who is thankfully only going to miss three weeks, Mitch Marner’s injury turned out to be worse than the Leafs had originally thought as Marner suffered an injury to his shoulder in the collision with Jake Muzzin in practice. The expected timetable for Marner is at most four weeks. Lastly, Travis Dermott suffered a minor shoulder injury and is not expected to miss much time. With those four players out of the lineup there would be a few Toronto Marlies would be making their debuts. On Defense Kristians Rubins would slot in for Travis Dermott, Timothy Liljegren would fill in for the injured Sandin, and lastly taking the spot of Jason Spezza would be Alex Steeves who in twelve appearances with the Toronto Marlies has collected twelve points earning himself a well-deserved call up.

Jack Campbell would appear in goal for the host Leafs and for Columbus their starting goalie would be Elvis Merslikins. There was the obvious question surrounding this game and it was how the Leafs are going to respond and react to having four key players out of the lineup but for myself the question I had was how the Leafs would respond to dropping both games this weekend. Both questions would be answered right away with the first period of this game because right from the opening faceoff the hometown Leafs were full of life and before Columbus knew it, they were being heavily outshot, and the early pressure would help the Leafs because Cole Sillinger of Columbus would be handed a two-minute minor for hooking sending Toronto to the powerplay. We would not have to wait long to celebrate as Morgan Reilly would have the puck at the point, he would then move the puck over to Auston Matthews who would not hesitate and fire a cross ice pass to William Nylander who would fire the puck into the back of the net beating Merslikins on the blocker side. This goal would be Nylander’s eleventh of the season, but Columbus coach Brad Larsen decided to challenge the goal believing there was goalie interference. After a few minutes the review was over and the call on the ice would stand and less then five minutes into the game the Leafs would be ahead 1-0 and awarded another powerplay because in the NHL a failed coach’s challenge results in a delay of game penalty. The Leafs would be unable to add to their lead on this second powerplay. Just after the midway point of the opening period Columbus would have their own powerplay opportunity of their own as Michael Bunting would be serving a two minute minor Toronto though, would manage to kill of the Bunting penalty but it did not come without any heart stopping moments and one of them would be when Justin Danforth would have easily Columbus’s best chance in the first when he would split the Leaf defense but his wrist shot would hit the post and stay out. A few minutes later we would see a goal that will surely be all over the morning highlight shows. The play would start when Morgan Reilly would send a stretch pass to Michael Bunting who tried to cut in off the wing. Jake Bean would be doing his best to defend this play and instead of shooting Bunting would see Auston Matthews coming into view so he would then backhand the puck through his legs to Auston who would slide the puck into the net doubling the Leaf lead 2-0 scoring his sixteenth goal of the year. The Leaf offense would not stop there as just over a minute later a scoring drought would finally end. Now for those who have been following this blog you have seen me on many occasions talk about how well Nick Ritchie had been playing despite having zero goals and seven assists. Well Nick Ritchie would collect his first goal of the season and his first as a Maple Leaf finally as Ondrej Kase would having the puck behind the net and Nick Ritchie who was left all alone in front would receive the pass quickly shooting and beating Merslikins on the blocker side and the eruption from not only the fans in attendance but the Leaf players was very cool to see because Ritchie had been working so hard all season and it had finally paid off, The Leafs would lead this game 3-0 after twenty minutes.

 

In period two we would see Columbus try and climb there way back into the game and early in the frame Columbus would have a great chance when Adam Boqvist would see his shot stopped but a rebound would be available for Oliver Bjorkstrand who was looking at a wide-open net and a sure goal. The Columbus players would be stunned when Campbell out of desperation would dive across and catch Bjorksstrand’s attempt keeping their zero on the scoreboard and the crowd would show their appreciation with a standing ovation. A few minutes later sadly Columbus would get on the board while on the powerplay with Morgan Reilly serving a Cross Checking minor. Zach Werenski would have the puck at the point and seeing all the traffic in front of the Leaf goal he did the smart thing and sent the puck towards goal and Bjorkstrand who was robbed by Jack Campbell minutes earlier would get some payback as he would slide the puck passed Campbell who could not see anything and with Oliver’s eighth goal of the season the Blue Jackets would now trail 3-1.

 

I cannot speak for every Leaf fan that watched last night but I know that the coaching side of me was watching this period and honestly I was not too happy with how the second period was turning in favour of Columbus because they started to outwork the Leafs but late in period two the Leafs would lower the tension a little when Columbus goal scorer Oliver Bjorkstrand would called for tripping allowing the Toronto powerplay to go back to work. After winning the faceoff the Leafs would set up and William Nylander would play catch passing the puck between each other, while this is going on John Tavares would head to his usual spot in front of the net. Morgan Reilly would throw the puck towards goal and Tavares would redirect the Reilly shot for John’s twelfth goal of the season. We would then see some history after this as just seven seconds later the Toronto Maple Leafs would light the lamp again when off the neutral zone faceoff Morgan Reilly would send the puck to Matthews who was behind the Columbus defense and Auston would beat Merslikins through his pads for his second goal of the game and seventeenth on the year. This goal marked the tenth time in franchise history that the Leafs would score two goals in seven seconds or less. Also, with his second goal Auston Matthews’ slow start is a distant memory as the current Rocket Richard winner has climbed right back into the race as he is now only four goals away from matching the total of Leon Draisaitl with twenty-one. The Leafs would head into the second intermission with a 5-1 lead and the game well in hand… or so we thought.

 

Period three would see Columbus switch goalies as Daniil Tarasov would take over and Columbus would score a quick goal on the Leafs by continuing to screen Jack Campbell something the had done all night and thirty-three seconds into the final frame as Jake Bean would have his point shot deflected by Oliver Bjorkstrand for his second of the game and eighth of the campaign. Toronto now leading 5-2 would try and grind down the game but at the same time you started seeing signs of fatigue because earlier in the game Toronto was able to clear the puck form their zone relieving the pressure but, in this period, clearing attempts were being stopped at the blueline forcing tired players to stay on the ice. With four and a half minutes left in regulation it looked as if the Leafs were in the clear and were going to come away with a 5-2 victory despite not playing their best hockey in the third. With Columbus facing a tired Leafs team momentum was going into their favour forcing Jack Campbell to stand tall and bail his team out and we would see another highlight reel save. The Blue Jackets would work the puck back to the point for a shot that Campbell would save but the rebound would fall too Jake Bean, but Campbell would manage to stop Bean’s rebound attempt with the paddle of his stick as Jack Campbell continued to do his part in helping the Leafs fight off the Columbus Blue Jackets. Unfortunately, the Blue Jackets would inch closer as Alexandre Texier would break out on a two on one with Sean Kuraly and Kuraly would finish off the two on one beating Campbell low on the blocker for his fifth of the season. Of course, this goal is one that Campbell would like back but there is a good chance that this goal does not happen if Timothy Liljegren does not pinch to try and keep the puck in the Columbus zone. You must know the situation your team is up 5-2 your opponent is looking to climb back into the game If Liljegren plays conservatively and plays his position he would have done the smart thing and skated back keeping the puck carrier in front of him but because he chose to pinch Columbus would trail 5-3.

 

Columbus would pull to within a goal but thankfully it came in the final second of regulation as Max Domi would collect his fourth goal of the season but that would be it as a tired Toronto team would end the night with a 5-4 win. Now, I would like to address a few things before I finish up this article. Last night on my social media I saw comments from fans and friends saying, “these guys get paid millions how are they tired?” and my answer to those people is I do not care how much money a player is paid to play a sport you get tired this Leaf team just got off a stretch that saw them play in three different time zones. Remember they played three games in California that’s a three-hour difference, next they came home for a game against Colorado before heading out to Minnesota and Winnipeg the Central Time Zone. That is a lot of time on an airplane and on a bus too the hotel and rink not to mention all the practices they have to maintain their conditioning on “off days”. So, to the people criticizing an athlete for being tired just remember how you feel after your nine to five job that carries a workload nowhere near a professional athlete.

 

Second, I would like to address why Alex Steeves was called up instead of Josh Ho-Sang like most fans want and it is quite simple. Steeves is on a two-way contract with the Leafs meaning that he can be called up or sent back down the AHL without any risk of being claimed off Waivers by another team. Josh Ho-Sang although he undoubtedly playing well on the Marlies is on an AHL only contract so for him to be called up to the big club the team must sign him to an NHL deal, and he would then have to clear waivers because he is not on an Entry Level Contract like Steeves. So, if the Leafs tried to call up Josh Ho-Sang there is a very likely chance that a team would see his production in the AHL and decide to take a chance and claim him. So, Toronto saw no reason to risk losing a player when Alex Steeves has been a point a game player on the farm and there was zero risk of losing him to Waivers.

 

Lastly, as I was writing this article the Canadian Government has announced a Diplomatic Boycott for the upcoming Beijing games in February over Human Rights issues among others in China. I am not going to give my thoughts on this decision because I feel politics is a slippery slope and can cause tension so the only reason I am mentioning this is because I hope this means the athletes can still compete because I would feel terrible for anyone who has worked hard to earn the right to represent their country on the biggest stage only to have the chance taken from them.

Thanks, as always for reading this will be the last article for a few days I will not be doing one after Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay because I leave Friday morning for a few days to go coach my York Simcoe Express U16 team in a tournament in Waterloo. So, thanks again for all the support and for reading my blog it is much appreciated.