Leafs Get Kraken in Seattle

 

Photo From MyNorthWest.com

Are we breathing a little easier now Leaf fans? Last night the Leafs finished their Western Road trip with a trip to Seattle for their first ever meeting against the newest team in the NHL the Kraken. Jack Campbell was in goal looking to rebound from his previous start against Calgary and for Seattle their starter would be Philipp Grubauer whose numbers haven’t been the greatest as he has just 12 wins in 35 appearances. He has a goals against average above and a save percentage of .885, so the expansions season has been a rough one for the fans of Seattle.

  

The first period saw the Leafs start with some energy and just three minutes into the period the visitors would open the scoring. The puck would be behind the Seattle net and William Nylander would get to work on the forecheck allowing John Tavares to gather the puck. I hope Steve Simmons was paying attention because he would have seen Tavares slide the puck over to Alex Kerfoot who would send a wrist shot into the top of the net beating Grubauer over the shoulder on his blocker side. The Leafs would lead 1-0 thanks to Kerfoot’s 7^th goal of the season and Tavares with the assist continues his point a game pace, 45 points in 45 games. With the Leafs leading the game things were looking good for Toronto but midway through the opening frame Seattle would capitalize on a big mistake. On this goal William Nylander knowing his teammates were tired while in the Leaf zone Willy would drop the puck behind him, the puck would go off an official’s skate and right to Mason Appleton who would send a touch pass to Calle Jarnkrok who would score his 9^th goal of the season as his shot would beat Campbell tying the game at one. Mistakes like this are frustrating I understand that in todays NHL the focus is puck possession, but all Nylander needed to do was chip the puck forward allowing fresh troops to get into the play. Due to this costly mistake Toronto would have to get back to work hoping to regain the lead. Just as the Kraken fans had finished celebrating their teams tying goal they would once again see their Kraken trailing once again as Matthews and Marner would team up in a battle for the puck, with the battle won Auston Matthews would centre the puck to Michael Bunting who would slide the puck through the pads of Grubauer for his 15^th goal of the season and the Leafs would once again lead this matchup 2-1. The first period would go from bad to worst for Seattle as Jamie Oleksiak would trip Wayne Simmonds and as we have seen throughout this season the Leaf powerplay has been a dangerous one. While in the Seattle zone Jason Spezza would send a shot from the point that would take a double deflection before finding the back of the net. Spezza’s shot would first hit Bunting then go off Ondrej Kase for his 10^th goal of the season and with the secondary assist from the original point shot Jason Spezza is just thirteen points away from 1000, The Leafs would chase Grubauer from the crease and head into the first intermission leading this game 3-1.

 

Backup goalie Chris Driedger would come into the game to start the second period of if you thought the goalie situation gets better it doesn’t as Driedger has just four wins in fourteen appearances. Early in this period Toronto would be hungry for a fourth goal and Morgan Rielly would set up Nylander with a great tape to tape pass but Nylander would see his shot go ringing off the post. Seattle’s penalty trouble would continue as nine minutes into the action Vince Dunn would be sent off to serve a tripping minor. The Leafs top powerplay unit would be sent out by Coach Keefe and it didn’t take long for them to cash in. After a won faceoff Morgan Rielly would send a pass to Auston Matthews who would have his quick shot stopped but a massive rebound would be pounced on by Mitch Marner who recently saw his scoring streak snapped would start a new one as Marner would send the rebound into the open cage for his 17^th goal of the season and his 400^th career point. Toronto would lead the game now by a score of 4-1. Late in the second period on a powerplay of their own Seattle would test Jack Campbell but he remained cool, calm and collected and after forty minutes of play Toronto would hold onto a 4-1 lead.

Early into the final period the Leafs would find themselves shorthanded as Jake Muzzin would serve a minor for interference. Although Seattle is on the man advantage it would be the Leafs that would add to their lead. Seattle would see a pass to the point intercepted by Mitch Marner who would turn on the jets and head onto the attack. Marner instead of taking a shot on goal with a quick glance would see David Kampf joining him. Marner would then show off a move that is all too familiar from his days in London with the Knights, Mitch would go between his legs with a drop pass to Kampf and while Driedger was sliding out of the net Kampf would score on the backhand for his 6^th goal of the season giving the Leafs a comfortable 5-1 lead leaving the Kraken fans in attendance awfully quiet. It’s worth noting this was Toronto’s 6^th shorthanded goal of the season. Toronto would manage to kill off the remainder of the Muzzin minor but would quickly find themselves a man down and this time they wouldn’t be so lucky. With Justin Holl whose play as of late has rightfully so been criticized would be send off for a tripping minor which won’t help his stock among Leaf fans but while watching from the box, he would see the Kraken Cut into the Leaf lead. From a won faceoff Mark Giordano would send the puck to the far point to Jared McCann. He would send a shot on goal that was originally thought to have stayed out but after a review we saw that the puck would sneak its way through Campbell and like a curling rock it would slide over the goal line just enough to give McCann his 20^th goal of the season and the Kraken would cash in on the Holl minor but still trail the game 5-2. Despite trailing is this game for majority of the night Seattle would have a decent third period as they would spend quite a lot of time in the Leafs end of the rink but when called upon Jack Campbell managed to keep Seattle from getting any closer. Late in regulation Jake Muzzin would get in on the scoring fun, Nylander would take the puck around the Kraken goal before sending the puck back to Timothy Liljegren who would quickly send a pass over to Jake Muzzin who send a one timed slap shot into the back of the net ending a 28-game goalless streak collecting his 2^nd goal of the season and the Leafs would win this contest by a score of 6-2.

 

Although this Western trip saw the Leafs pickup only two of a possible six points there were plenty of signs, they were going to come out of the two-game funk the team happened to be in like I said in my previous article losing games sucks and it does in fact become frustrating but once again Leaf fans lets relax and have trust in the ability of these players and this team. Toronto is now off untill Thursday night when they return home and play host to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Some positive news for Leaf fans with Ontario finally beginning to lift Covid restrictions the Leafs will play Thursday’s game with approximately 9,400 fans so it will be fun to hear some excited Leaf fans cheer our team on. While you wait patiently for Thursday evening to arrive Wednesday has a double bill of Canadian Olympic hockey, first off tomorrow morning at 8:30 Canada is squaring off against Sweden in the Quarterfinal round in the men’s tournament after Canada beat host nation China 7-2 in the Qualification Round. Then to end the night at 11pm the Gold Medal game in the Women’s tournament kicks off with Canada battling their archrivals the Americans. So, there’s plenty of quality hockey to watch in the next few days and I can’t wait for it, thanks as always for reading.