Leafs Win A Shootout in Sin City

 

Photo Courtesy of Bloomberg.com

Let me start off by saying that 10pm games absolutely suck, last night’s game didn’t end untill close to one in the morning and it was a real battle for me to stay awake. I miss the days when 10pm starts were easy for me.

Last night the Maple Leafs had a meeting with the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights and they, like the Leafs were hoping to rebound with a win after Vegas lost 2-1 to Chicago and the Leafs falling to the Avalanche in overtime. Jack Campbell would once again be in goal for the Leafs and Robin Lehner would be the starting goalie for Vegas. The first period started well for Toronto when less then ninety seconds into the game Morgan Rielly would send a stretch pass to William Nylander who was in on a breakaway. Nylander while on his forehand would slide the puck around the pad of a sprawled out Lehner and the Leafs would up 1-0 early in the game thanks to Nylander’s 16th goal of the season. This goal was the 299^th career point for Nylander meaning that we fans are on milestone watching waiting for his 300^th point. With the Leafs leading they would continue to play on the front foot sending wave after wave of pressure as Auston Matthews and Michael Bunting would come streaking in on a two on one rush for another dangerous chance, but Matthews’ shot would go ringing off the post. Toronto would have a few powerplay opportunities in this opening period but would see both go scoreless as the Knights penalty killing did a great job shutting the Leafs down. Vegas would have a powerplay of their own midway through the first as Nick Ritchie like the previous game took a completely unnecessary penalty as he would get called for hooking. Vegas wouldn’t take very long at all to equalize the game as Evgenii Dadonov would take the puck behind the net and then centre a pass to Keegan Kolesar who would chip the puck passed Campbell for his 3^rd goal of the season tying the game at one. The major issue I had with this goal and really any coach would be annoyed here but both Muzzin and Holl went behind the net chasing the puck carrier leaving Kolesar all alone in front. Players must know the situation so in this situation if Jake Muzzin sees Justin Holl follow Dadonov into then corner then Jake is supposed to stay back and cover the open Vegas player, had he done this Kolesar likely wouldn’t have gotten the pass and the score would have remained 1-0. Don’t get me wrong Jake Muzzin is a very good defenseman but lately there have been far too many times where he forgets the little things and makes a mistake costing his team. The remainder of the first period was uneventful and the teams would head into the intermission tied at one.

 

Period two would see the Leafs look as if their strong play would continue as Auston Matthews would send Ondrej Kase in on a breakaway that Lehner would turn away. After this early chance the game would completely turn as it would be Vegas applying all kinds of pressure controlling the period as the Leafs would go at least ten minutes without registering a single shot. Honestly the Leafs better buy Campbell a dinner because if it wasn’t for him this game would have been over in the second, but Jack made many important saves keeping the score tied and his team in the game. Remember my last article when I talked about teams weathering the storm brought on by their opponent? Well on this occasion the Leafs were able to do that as shortly after the ten-minute surge by Vegas Toronto would manage to regain the lead. With the play in the Vegas end and the Leafs on the forecheck Ondrej Kase would gather the puck behind then net and send the puck in front to Bunting and instead of trying to jam the puck in he would slide the puck over to an open Auston Matthews who would score his 23^rd goal of the season giving the Leafs a 2-1 lead and with three goals in his last two games newspaper writers like Steve Simmons can take a deep breath because Auston Matthews is and his production are going to be just fine. Just a few minutes later the Leafs would double their lead as Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl would play catch with the puck before Holl would send the puck to Wayne Simmonds in the slot. Now I don’t know if this was a designed play or not, but Simmonds would send the puck wide and off the end boards and Ilya Mikheyev would come in from the side and send the lose puck into the back of the net collecting his 4^th goal of the season giving the Leafs the 3-1 advantage. When Engvall and Marner return from Covid protocol Ilya Mikheyev is going to make it very difficult for Sheldon Keefe to take him out of the lineup because since his return in December Ilya has averaged at least a point in each of the five games he has played. The second period would end and after forty minutes the Leafs would lead despite not bringing their best effort.

The previous game saw the Leafs lose their lead in the final frame and unfortunately this game would see the same as once again they would be out worked by their opponent. Early in the third Vegas would climb to within a goal as Reilly Smith with two Leafs defending him would send the puck out to William Karlsson would show great patience and slide the puck around Jack Campbell for his 5^th goal of the season. Vegas as expected after this goal has a lot of energy and would have some dangerous chances, but Campbell would shut the door. Toronto would find themselves shorthanded as Kyle Clifford would be called for tripping. However, with the Leafs shorthanded they would have a chance to restore their two-goal lead as Kase would steal the puck at center ice and come in all alone, but Lehner would come up with a massive save keeping the Knights deficit at one. With Toronto still a man down thanks to the Clifford minor they would take a penalty that simply can never happen. Toronto would be called for a bench minor meaning they would be shorthanded with a five on three advantage for their opponents the Vegas Golden Knights. Frustratingly for the Leafs and their fans just forty-eight seconds later after a failed clearance Alex Pietrangelo who always seemed to be on the ice would send a wrist shot passed a screened Jack Campbell for his 6^th goal of the season and this game would be tied at three. Two make things worse for the Leafs only the Clifford penalty would be taken off the board meaning for a little over a minute would be left on the five on four Vegas powerplay. Thanks to the continued strong play in net by Campbell the Leafs would kill of the remainder of the penalty and would stumble their way into overtime collecting one point at least.

The three-on-three overtime session was pretty lack luster meaning that a shootout would be needed to decide a winner in this contest. The shootout would need sudden death as each shooter was stopped in the first three rounds but in round four William Nylander with a chance to win the game would come in on the forehand and his shot would beat Lehner over the glove and Toronto would win the bonus point and leave Las Vegas with a 4-3 win.

Now although the Leafs won this game which of course I am happy with overall their performance for the remaining forty-five minutes of this game was to put it bluntly, terrible. The Leafs managed just nine shots in the remainder of the game. Now, yes, they managed to win the game bringing them two points closer to the post season but if this team wants to make some noise come the post season and if this team wants to stop being looked at as a joke by their own media, then they need to learn how to finish games and not let their opponent back into the contest. This Leaf team is a good one and a very talented one but this team needs to learn how to throw that knockout punch when their opponent is against the ropes on the verge of being knocked out. Also, I want the Leaf fans that criticize Mitch Marner constantly to realize how important he is to this team and its lineup because you can really notice it now that he is in protocol. Those fans who go on and on about Mitch not scoring a goal in the last eighteen playoff games are not looking at the entire picture. Obviously, goals are important and of course Marner would like to produce more and more for his team in the post season but if you look at the game overall Marner is very good for this Leafs team. Why? Because he is always on the puck. Mitch Marner when he has the puck is always a threat because we know he can score but he also brings his great on ice vision which allows him to find teammates and pull off passes that many other great players wouldn’t attempt. Then there is the defensive side of his game. We have seen Mitch in previous seasons be a player who is willing to sacrifice his body by blocking a shot in key situations or on the penalty kill because this kid is willing to do anything to help the Maple Leafs win. So, when Marner returns in the coming days and is back in the lineup I ask his critics to pay attention to his entire game and maybe then you will see the value that Mitch Marner brings to this Leafs team, because if goals were the only thing that mattered in hockey, then most of this Leaf roster should be moved out. Again, goals are important, but they aren’t the only thing that matters in the game of hockey.

The Leafs have a quick turnaround as they are back in action tonight as Petr Mrazek will get the start as the Leafs travel to Arizona for a meeting with the Coyotes in what has the potential to be a dangerous game because the Leafs are on game two of a back while the Coyotes although struggling this season likely to be in the draft lottery this summer. They are a fresh team so if Toronto doesn’t get on Arizona early tonight, they are fully capable of pulling the upset and beating the Leafs. Also, the Leafs need to see how Mrazek will perform after the teams long layoff because a lot of the teams postponed games will be made up in February during the three week break originally meant for the Beijing Olympics, and with the schedule about to be condensed the Leafs need to know they have two goalies capable of managing the coming work load.

I will be back again tomorrow afternoon with the writeup for the game against Arizona as this game has another 10pm puck drop meaning another late night for Leaf fans.

Thanks as always for reading.