The Leafs are Going to the Playoffs

 

Photo From CP24

Well, the city of Toronto is a buzz right now because there are plenty of sports action surrounding the cities many clubs. The Raptors are off to the playoffs for the eighth time in the last nine seasons, their minor league team the Raptors 905 are in the semifinals of their leagues playoffs, the Blue Jays are going for the series sweep this afternoon against Texas, for the Lacrosse fans that might see this the Toronto Rock are playoff bound, the Marlies are on the verge of clinching an AHL playoff berth, and lastly the Leafs punched their ticket to the post season last night. Before I talk about the game, I just want to say anytime the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens the next day is always a great day.

 

So, as I said the Leafs who had returned home from a four-game road trip where they went 3-0-1 returned to a full house at Scotiabank arena to host the Canadiens for the final time this season. Jake Allen would get the start in goal for the Habs while Erik Kallgren would be in goal getting his first start since getting hurt in the game against Florida.

 

Last night’s game would start of much like the game in Dallas did for the Leafs, we would see them taking complete control of play. The Leafs would be testing Allen early and often with shots, but he would stand tall keeping the Leafs from opening the scoring. With thirteen minutes played however Toronto would open the scoring, the Leafs Mitch Marner would enter the Montreal zone and then send the puck to Mark Giordano at the right point he would then attempt a centering pass to Michael Bunting who was on the doorstep but Jake Allen would knock the puck away, unfortunately the puck would end up on the stick of Auston Matthews who would fire the puck over a sprawled out Jake Allen giving the Leafs the 1-0 advantage and Auston would collect his 57^th goal of the season and his 50^th goal in 50 consecutive games. For Montreal fans the bad news would pile on as on the Matthews goal Jake Allen would end up hurting himself and would need to leave the game and backup goalie Sam Montenbeault would come in for the remainder of this game. Sam would receive quite the welcome to the game as he would allow the first shot, he faced to go in. Justin Holl in the neutral zone would move the puck to Bunting who would quickly send a pass to Matthews and his wrist shot would find the back of the net beating the Montreal backup low on the glove side giving Matthews 58 goals this season for his second point of the night, sitting on 99 and needing just one more to reach the century mark.

 

Toronto now leading 2-0 they would continue their strong play, but Montenbeault would keep the Canadiens deficit at two as these rivals headed into the first intermission. Toronto would keep the pressure on their opponent as Matthews and Marner would team up for a chance to extend the Leaf lead, then Nylander would be in all alone on a breakaway, but Montenbeault would turn both opportunities aside thanks to his strong play in goal. Montreal would get on the board six minutes into the second after Toronto failed to clear the puck and Montreal rookie Cole Caufield did an amazing job keeping the puck in for his team. The puck would eventually make its way to Jeff Petry who would send the puck down low to Nick Suzuki, he would then take the puck around the net before centering a pass to Joel Edmundson whose shot beats Kallgren on the glove side for just his 2^nd goal of the season and Montreal would now trail 2-1.

Just prior to the midway mark of this second frame the Leaf lead would grow to two again as after a John Tavares backhand shot was turned aside Ilya Mikheyev would gather the rebound and quickly send the puck back too Tavares. John would have Montreal’s Rem Pitlick defending him, but the Leaf captain would show a great display of skill, he would spin away from Pitlick and while spinning John would send a shot on goal that would beat Montenbeault on his blocker side after the puck went off the skate of the Habs Jordan Harris and in giving Toronto a 3-1 lead and their captain 26 goals on the season. With the second period about to expire and Toronto holding a comfortable lead the visitors would pull to within one goal again. Montreal with some great puck movement in the Leafs would work the puck around to Brenden Gallagher whose centering pass would go off the skate of a Leaf defender and Cole Caufield would snap the puck into the net for his 18^th goal of the season and his fourth goal in as many games and after forty minutes the Leafs would lead this one 3-2.

 

I just want to say with Caufield on the verge of scoring twenty goals this season my question is what the former Habs coach was thinking with how he handled this young player because prior to Marty St Louis taking over Cole had just two goals and a stint in the minors with Laval whereas under St Louis he has managed 16 goals and is once again in the conversation for Rookie of the Year. It was no secret I questioned the hiring of Marty as Montreal’s coach seeing as his previous experience was coaching Pee Wee, but it is clear the team has responded to him and its simply because he isn’t focused on instilling a new structure for his team to play with Marty is just letting his players play and he’s trusting they’ll know when to sit back and defend and when to jump into the play looking too score.

 

The third and final period would see the Habs pressing for an equalizer as they tried to play spoiler against the Leafs and things wouldn’t be easy for Toronto as they would find themselves either shorthanded or playing 4 on 4 on a few occasions but Kallgren did a fantastic job keeping the Leafs ahead. In fact, all night Kallgren was on his game as most of the shots he faced remained in front of him or he would freeze play and slow things down allowing his teammates to reset. Toronto would have a few chances of their own but once again Sam Montenbeault kept his team within a goal and honestly despite allowing two goals against Sam did a great job coming in, in relief for Montreal. With two minutes left in regulation Montreal would head to the powerplay as Pierre Engvall would serve a High Sticking minor. The Habs would keep their goalie on the bench playing this powerplay 6 on 4, Montreal would press for the tying goal, but the Leafs did a great job shutting the game down and running out the clock and once the final horn sounded our Toronto Maple Leafs in Sheldon Keefe’s first full season as Leaf coach are on the way to the post season once again. Winning this game 3-2 gives Toronto 100 points in the standings and with ten games remaining they need three more wins to beat their franchise record for points in a season. With just a few weeks left in the regular season it will be exciting seeing if this team can continue their record setting pace as they head into round one of the playoffs.

 

For Montreal it sounds like their fans will see the return of a very familiar face as Carey Price is believed to return to the Canadiens officially on Monday. It goes without saying that whatever issues Carey was dealing with I like many fans are going to be very happy to see one of the game’s greatest goalies return. For the Leafs their next action comes Tuesday night as the Buffalo Sabres pay a visit and we fans will get to see Buffalo prospect Owen Power make his professional debut with the Sabres.

That’s all for this one thanks as always for reading.