Tavares Leads the Way in Winnipeg

 

Photo From CBC

Coming off a hard-fought win against the Dallas Stars the Leafs would head to Winnipeg for the start of a difficult five game road trip. We would see Sheldon Keefe make some more changes to the lineup as Wayne Simmonds would return to the big club replacing Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Kyle Clifford would step in for Pierre Engvall. Seeing Keefe bring some grit and toughness into the lineup shouldn’t be a surprise because last year during a 6-3 loss in Winnipeg the officials lost control of the game because of some dirty hits thrown by the Jets players. Ilya Samsonov would once again be in goal for the visiting Leafs looking for his fourth win in as many starts and for the Jets Connor Hellebuyck would be between the pipes.

These all-Canadian matchups are a lot of fun to watch because the crowd in the arena is full of energy because it’s a battle between the two fanbases. This game would see the Leafs start well collecting a few quick scoring chances but unfortunately, we Leaf fans would see an early season trend continue as the hometown Jets would open the scoring. The play would begin after a won faceoff for the Leafs in the offensive zone a Justin Holl point shot would be stopped and Winnipeg would begin the counterattack. Blake Wheeler would lead the rush before dropping the pass to Cole Perfetti. Perfetti would then send a perfect cross ice pass to Pierre Luc-Dubois whose first shot would be stopped by Samsonov but thanks to some bad luck the rebound would go right back to Dubois, and he would light the lamp for his second goal of the season giving Winnipeg the early 1-0 lead. I know it’s just six games into the season, but I hope Toronto can start playing games where they open the scoring forcing the opponent to play catch up because it's that old saying, “if you play with fire, you will get burned” eventually having to play catch up will burn the Leafs so hopefully they sort this minor issue out very soon. Despite falling behind early the Leafs would stick with their plan and get right back to work and their positive play would reward them as Josh Morrissey would be called for interference sending Toronto to the man advantage. A lot has been said about Auston Matthews only having one goal through now six games in the season but what the media conveniently forgets to mention is there are other ways to produce for your team. You can throw hits on the forecheck or you can collect assists and we would see Auston put in some work on this powerplay as he would manage to keep the puck in the zone then with a great second effort he would send the puck to Nylander who would move the puck to Tavares and the captain would make no mistake sending the puck into the roof of the net for his 2^nd of the season leveling the game at ones. Toronto would continue their strong opening period but thanks to some strong goaltending from both Samsonov and Hellebuyck the game would remain tied after twenty minutes of play.

I want to mention that midway through the first period Toronto’s Mitch Marner was hit from behind going face first into the boards. With the referee watching the play I wonder how that wasn’t ruled a penalty? I wrote an article after last years 6-3 loss to Winnipeg where I talked about how officials need to be held accountable. This hit on Marner that went uncalled would be a perfect situation where the official should be asked why there wasn’t a call? Don’t get me wrong there were missed calls that would have sent Toronto to the Penalty Kill but this hit on Marner could have been much worst and for me what made the situation even more frustrating was in the intermission when Kevin Bieksa said there was nothing wrong with the hit because it was “incidental contact”. In my opinion Kevin was a waste of a roster spot for any team he played for at any level of hockey and with takes like the one he gave it just shows you the lack of intelligence he has because if he was in Marner’s position and narrowly avoided injury he would be crying wondering why there was no penalty called. I said it in my previous article, and I will say it again the NHL needs to find their spine and set a strict standard on what is a penalty and what isn’t and then stick with it.

The second period was when Toronto would grab control of this contest but the first of the frame would be a test for Hellebuyck because the Leafs would apply wave after wave of pressure, but he would make some huge saves keeping the game tied. However, late in the second period when it looked like very little would happen before the intermission the Leafs would take the lead thanks to their fourth line. David Kampf would start the breakout of the Leafs zone with a stretch pass to Kyle Clifford, his centering pass to Wayne Simmonds would be partially deflected but Wayne would manage to drop the puck off for David Kampf to score his 2^nd goal of the season giving the Leafs the well deserved 2-1 lead. As everyone expected the rough stuff would show up as Pierre Luc Dubois would be called for Roughing on Rasmus Sandin in response to a hit that Sandin had thrown and after a few wrestling matches on the ice the Leafs would end up with a man advantage that the Jets fans didn’t agree with. The Leafs would make matters worst for the Winnipeg Jets as they would cash in on the powerplay for a second time.  Rasmus Sandin and Auston Matthews would move the puck back and forth at the point, Auston would then see John Tavares set up in front of the net and Auston’s wrist shot would be redirected by Hellebuyck for his 2^nd goal of the game and 3^rd of the season giving the Leafs a two-goal advantage as they now would lead 3-1. A lead they would take with them into the second intermission.  

The third period would come and just as I am sure we all expected Winnipeg really brought the pressure as they looked to make their way back into this game but the Leafs for the most part did very well dealing with the Winnipeg attack. That being said, throughout his career handling the puck has been an issue for Ilya Samsonov and we saw this on two separate occasions as Ilya would attempt to play the puck behind his net resulting in a turnover each time but somehow the Winnipeg Jets were unable to capitalize on these cough ups and Toronto would maintain their two goal advantage which caused the Leaf fans in attendance to let their voices be heard. Apart from the two heart stopping turnovers from Samsonov he was once again very strong in goal as he managed to get himself squared up with many of the Jets chances, and if pressure seemed to build, he would freeze play slowing things down. Late in period three Winnipeg would pull their goalie in a last stitch effort to try and even up this game. Sadly, for Winnipeg there would be no miracle comeback as Michael Bunting would score an empty net goal for his 2^nd goal of the young season. Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews would collect assists on the Bunting goal giving Matthews three helpers on the evening and last season’s MVP has averaged one point in the first six games of the Leafs season. So, again let’s be patient with Matthews because we know the goals will come but for now lets just enjoy the play, we have seen from him thus far.

Regulation would expire and the Leafs would start this five-game road trip on the right note with a 4-1 win keeping Samsonov’s perfect record intact. In fact the Leafs couldn’t have asked for a better start then the one they have gotten from Samsonov because in his four starts he has 4 wins a goals against average of 1.73 and a save percentage of .938, I know it is early into the season but if Samsonov can keep up the consistent play in net and with each start if he can constantly give his team a chance to win then we fans are going to be in for another positive season.

That’s it for this one game two of the road trip comes Monday night when Toronto travels to Vegas to take on Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights who will be looking to climb back into the win column after a 3-2 loss Saturday night to Colorado.

Thanks as always for reading.