Leafs Win Their Home Opener

 

Photo From CBC Sports

Have we backed away from the panic button Leafs Nation? Last night the Leafs were back in action for the home opening contest against the Washington Capitals. Toronto was looking for redemption after a losing effort in Montreal that Coach Sheldon Keefe deemed unacceptable while the Capitals were looking to bounce back from a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins. A can’t go any further without mentioning a real respectful gesture shown by the Leafs during their pregame player introductions. They introduced from the 2020 their 15^th selection Rodion Amirov to the Scotiabank Arena crowd, Rodion was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year and has been going through treatment but had recently been spending time in Toronto with his future teammates and while he is still currently going through treatment it goes without saying but I am sure everyone in the hockey community wishes Rodion the absolute best as he continues with treatment.

 Last night’s game had an interesting story surrounding it as Toronto starter Ilya Samsonov would be facing his former team while Charlie Lindgren would be in goal for Washington. Wednesday night in Montreal the Leafs were slow to start and chased the play most of the night but last night I felt the Leafs had a much better start and one that fans were familiar with seeing but that didn’t mean Leaf fans weren’t holding their breath. Just minutes into the first period the Leafs were defending in their zone when Alex Ovechkin would be set up for an opportunity, but his slap shot would go ringing off the post and the Maple Leafs would survive an early scare. The Leafs were playing with plenty of energy, and it carried into their play as they spent a lot of time in their opponents end for most of the opening frame but to Lindgren’s credit, he made some massive saves turning aside the likes of Marner, or Nylander, and Matthews. Toronto’s powerplay was an early concern after going scoreless in Montreal but maybe everyone will breathe a little easier after last night’s game. Five minutes into the first period after killing off a Calle Jarnkrok minor the Leafs would head to their first powerplay of the night and it wouldn’t take them long to cash in. With Nick Dowd serving an interference minor the Leafs would dominate the play as Washington spending the entire time chasing the play. Morgan Rielly would head into the corner gaining possession before sending the puck to Matthews covering the point, Matthews would send the puck over to Marner who without hesitation sent a perfect seam pass to Rielly. Now while everyone was screaming for Morgan to shoot, he saw John Tavares all alone on Lindgren’s blocker side and going untouched Tavares would redirect the Rielly pass for his first goal of the season giving the Leafs and their fans the early 1-0 advantage. Unfortunately, Toronto’s lead wouldn’t last long because three minutes later Washington would tie things up. The Leafs would get caught puck watching and after a give and go Erik Gustafsson would set up Nick Dowd whose shot would find its way through Samsonov tying the game at ones. Toronto would look to regain the lead but sadly it would be the visitors pulling ahead when after a neutral zone Marcus Johansson would send a shot on goal that would go under Samsonov’s blocker in a goal that would bring groans from the crowd. The Leafs would now be trailing 2-1 but to their credit would continue applying pressure but were unable to solve Charlie Lindgren and the horn would sound bringing an end to a well played first period despite trailing and outshooting their opponent 22-11.

Period two would begin with fans wondering how their team would respond in the middle frame and early on fans would have reason to celebrate as Morgan Rielly would send a stretch pass to Alex Kerfoot who knew he had Calle Jarnkrok on the opposite wing. Calle would use his speed to beat Washington’s Orlov and head towards goal, we all know if you go to the net good things usually happen and Kerfoot would center a pass to this streaking Jarnkrok, and Calle would chip the puck by Lindgren tying the game at 2-2. After this the remainder of period two tuned into a goalie duel because Toronto would continue collecting shot after shot one being a William Nylander breakaway but a huge positive for the Leafs was that Ilya Samsonov seemed to settle down which was needed because the Leafs would take four straight penalties giving their penalty killing a real test but thanks to some strong penalty kill combined with Samsonov gaining confidence Toronto’s penalty kill would have a perfect night as Washington would fail to score keeping this game level after forty minutes of action.

The final period would be when Toronto showed they not only can wear you down with puck possession, but they showed moments of some great physical play as Jake Muzzin threw a few big hits but one that really stood out was a hit thrown by Auston Matthews on defender Martin Fehervary leading to an early MVP chant from the Leaf faithful. With thirteen minutes remaining in this tie game the Leafs would pull ahead for good when the Leafs would be pressing for the lead as Mark Giordano would pass back and forth with his partner Rasmus Sandin, Giordano would send a wrist shot towards goal that would go over the shoulder in Lindgren and roll into the net giving Toronto the 3-2 lead. Now, I like many people thought originally the goal belonged to Giordano but after seeing the replay the shot was deflected ever so slightly by Auston Matthews giving him his first goal of the season moving him into a tie with Wendel Clark for eighth all time on the Leafs goal list.

With the Leafs leading as we know no game is ever easy and the Leafs always like to make things interesting as Muzzin would be called for interference after a hit on Connor Brown, but the Leafs would survive another Capitals powerplay. With time expiring and victory in site Washington would end up pulling their goalie as the Capitals would try anything to score an equalizer and send this game to overtime, but Toronto would tighten things up defensively and I will give credit when and where it is due but last night in the final seconds of play while everyone in the building was focused on Ovechkin expecting him to fire one of his trademark shots he decided to pass to defender John Carlson but Toronto’s Justin Holl would break up the pass as time ran out on the Caps and Ilya Samsonov would win his first of hopefully many wins as a member of the Maple Leafs. It is also worth mentioning that last night was the seventh straight home opening victory for our Toronto Maple Leafs. After this 3-2 win the Leafs will play their second game of this short four game homestand as they host their Provincial rivals the Ottawa Senators and I would expect that not only does Matt Murray get the start, but we will see a much better effort from the team to bring him his first Leafs win Saturday night.

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