Leafs Rally in Raleigh

 

Photo From CBC

I’m back after dealing with a brutal cold and the last time I wrote something it was while the world was crumbling around Leaf fans, they were pleading for Sheldon Keefe to be fired and Barrie Trotz to take over after a disappointing end to the month of October. For fun let’s take some time to refresh our memory. Wednesday the Leafs hosted the Philadelphia Flyers and thanks to a John Tavares hat trick they picked up a well deserved 5-2 win, then they followed it up with a performance that showed a glimpse at the character this group can display with a hard fought 2-1 over Boston, some unfortunate news came out of that Saturday night game as Ilya Samsonov suffered a knee injury on the Brad Marchand penalty shot after falling awkwardly. Late Saturday night the Leafs signed Keith Petruzzelli two a 2-year entry level deal because Samsonov will miss at least a week of action, Also Nic Aube-Kubel was placed on Waivers and later claimed by the Washington Capitals. So, heading into Sunday the Leafs took on Carolina and former goalie Freddie Andersen. The Hurricanes heading into last night had won four straight games, so it was going to be a challenging game for our Maple Leafs.

Erik Kallgren as expected would get the start in goal still searching for his first win of the regular season. To say the first period was a difficult one for the Leafs would be an understatement the Leafs were terrible in the first period and midway through the opening period Carolina would open the scoring after Stefan Noesen would score his 2^nd goal of the season from behind the goal line a goal that Kallgren would want back. However, to his credit if it wasn’t for him this game would have been over in a hurry, Kallgren managed to stay calm in goal and didn’t over commit on any of the Carolina chances. The first period would end with Toronto trailing 1-0 and only managing four shots on goal.

Period two started a lot like the first did with Carolina controlling the play and Kallgren bailing the Leafs out and halfway through the period Toronto had managed just one shot and I am sure many fans watching the game thought it was going to be a very long frustrating night but midway through the period momentum began to swing in the favor of Toronto as they finally began spending more time in their opponents zone collecting more and more scoring chances but Freddie Andersen was turning aside each Leaf opportunity. Late in the second period when it looked as if the Leafs would remain trailing after forty minutes of play Toronto would finally solve Andersen. Justin Holl would manage to keep the puck in the Hurricanes zone but in the process would be on the receiving end of a massive hit, doing this would keep the puck ion the zone and Pierre Engvall would set up a wide-open Calle Jarnkrok whose third goal of the season would beat Andersen and after forty minutes the Leafs would find themselves tied with Carolina and despite playing nowhere near the level they are capable of the Toronto Maple Leafs had a great opportunity to win this game.

The final twenty minutes saw Toronto start to pressure Carolina and it started with Kallgren in goal because he continued to keep the Leafs in the game with his play in goal and with eight minutes od the third period played Toronto would grab the lead. The play would start with Nick Robertson who would send a pass to Mitch Marner, we would then see Mitch do what he does best his vision on the ice is elite and anyone who says otherwise may not be paying attention because Marner would stick handle around the Carolina defender and then set up John Tavares with a perfect pass and our captain would score his 8^th goal of the season and his 399^th of his hall of fame worthy career, and I just want to point out to the people who continue to criticize his play he has fifteen points in thirteen games this season his point production as a Leaf has been better then his point production as an Islander and he averaged over a point a game there too so I don’t think I will ever understand the criticism thrown at him by Leaf fans.

With Toronto leading this game 2-1 we would then see the Leafs and their defensive play that was outstanding in the win against Boston carry over into this game against Carolina because we would see Carolina’s attacks tuned aside by the Leaf defense and if there were any times where the Hurricanes managed to set up in the Leafs end then Kallgren would calmly freeze the play slowing down any momentum Carolina was trying to build. The game would be put to rest when late in the third and the Leafs out of gas from a long shift Auston Matthews would elevate the puck too center ice where William Nylander would out muscle the Canes defender then send the puck through the pads of Andersen for his 5^th goal of the season giving Toronto a 3-1 lead. Nylander with that goal now has thirteen points in as many games this season and Matthews with his assist also in thirteen games has a matching thirteen points.

Erik Kallgren would grab his first win of the season after stopping 29 of 30 shots faced, by no means am a saying that with the team now 3-0 so far in the month of November am I saying that this team is going to be just fine. There are still some major injuries this Leaf team is dealing with, but the blue line deserves a shout out because with Timothy Liljegren returning to the lineup Saturday against the Bruins the defense has seemed to look a little more in sync. Is it perfect? No but with Liljegren returning the defense pairings are starting to return to normal and the minutes guys on the blueline play are returning to normal which will benefit this team. Of course, the offense needs to be talked about as well because every single fan was in a panic because the offense was struggling but with the big money players averaging a point a game or more and last night, we saw the bottom six forward group carry the play for Toronto I think it’s safe to say things are beginning to sort themselves out for our Maple Leafs.

Things don’t get any easier for the Leafs though because after a quick trip to Carolina they will return home to host the Vegas Golden Knights who are off to a great start this season and had beaten Toronto earlier on the Leafs five game road trip.

Thanks as always for reading.