Nylander Does it Again in Overtime

 

Photo From San Diego Tribune 

The Leafs after dropping their last two games in Detroit and Boston which had fans inching closer to the panic button once again, but last night Toronto returned home to face the Florida Panthers. Matt Murray would once again be in goal for the Leafs while Sergei Bobrovsky would get back to back starts for the Panthers.

 

This game was a wild one because if you’re a fan of goals this was the game for you, less then two minutes into the opening period Toronto would find themselves trailing after former Leaf draft pick Carter Verhaeghe would score his 21^st goal of the season on Florida’s first shot of the game. Toronto would tie the game 48 seconds later when Morgan Rielly would lead the rush and have his centering pass deflected in by Dryden Hunt for his 3^rd goal of the season but his first as a Toronto Maple Leaf. With the game now tied at one I’m sure everyone thought things had settled into Toronto’s favor once they were heading to the powerplay after the Panthers were called for Tripping. Toronto would have possession but would work the puck back to the point to Mitch Marner, the puck would end up bouncing over the stick meaning Florida would have an odd man rush. Barkov would have his shot stopped by Murray, but the rebound would be scored by Anton Lundell for his 6^th goal of the season. The Leafs would find the back of the net a few minutes later as Florida would be shorthanded for the 4^th time in the period. Sheldon Keefe would decide to start with the second unit and it would pay off as Calle Jarnkrok would set up Alex Kerfoot who would score his 7^th goal of the season and this game would be once again tied 2-2. Late in the first period when it looked as if we would head into the first intermission with the score tied but the Florida Panthers had other ideas. Florida’s Josh Mahura would send a slap shot from the left faceoff circle beating Matt Murray clean on his glove side and Florida would have the lead 3-2 after twenty minutes managing three goals on just seven shots.

This is a goal that Murray can’t let in at all, in the pregame show Elliott Friedman mentioned that he feels that every time Murray is looking for the puck he always leans to the right, his blocker side leaving all kinds of space in the net on his glove side. This is clearly something teams have picked up on because we have seen Calgary, Seattle, and now Florida beat Matt Murray this way.

The second period would start with the Leafs looking for a tying goal but Florida would double their lead less then two minutes into the frame as Florida’s Barkov would beat Murray over his blocker side shoulder. After this goal Sheldon Keefe had seen enough and Ilya Samsonov would come into the game in relief.

I have to say that seeing all the hate aimed towards Matt Murray today after being pulled is ridiculous but at the same time it isn’t surprising at all. Did Murray have a good game last night? No, obviously not but for the most part his time as a Leaf has been a positive one. It was mentioned last night that in Murray’s previous ten starts he posted a record of 6-3-1….that’s a winning record in case you aren’t away and heading into last nights game Matt Murray in his current ten game stretch had a record of 5-4, look at that another winning record. I think Leaf fans are forgetting that Matt Murray has won two Stanley Cups so he is capable of being a goalie who can win important games for your team. Yes, I understand his time with Ottawa wasn’t a good one and his numbers weren’t overly positive but everyone is ignoring the fact that defensively the Sens absolutely sucked and picked early in round one of the draft because their defense was giving up too many quality scoring chances. That isn’t Matt Murray’s fault that falls on the hands of Ottawa’s GM for spending money on assets that didn’t fit. Look at the Sens this season they went and loaded up on talent they went and signed Cam Talbot and are sitting 7^th in the Atlantic Division with just one win in their last five games. Everyone seems to forget that Ottawa retained salary in order to trade him to the Leafs and Matt Murray so far this season is 11-5-2 with a 2.56 GAA and a .917%, Leaf fans haven’t seen a goalie with those numbers for a very long time. So, the hate directed towards Matt Murray because the numbers prove it isn’t necessary, this guy will rebound and be just fine.

With Samsonov now in goal Toronto would try and work their way back into the game but Bobrovsky would stand tall keeping his teams advantage at two. Officiating all game would be the focus because of so many questionable calls. A perfect example of this would be when Timothy Liljegren would be called for interference for making contact with a discarded stick. Now originally the penalty was given to Sam Bennet but after a conversation the referees decided it was Liljegren who deserved the penalty. Now, here’s my issue, the rule states that you are allowed to move the stick of your teammate for him to gather it but your opponent knocks the stick away then that’s when the interference happens. If you watch the replay Liljegren doesn’t make contact with the stick but Bennet did and surprise, surprise the officials calling the game got yet another call wrong. In the final minute of the second period the Leafs would be once again on the powerplay as Radko Gudas would be sent off for Charging and with time winding down in the period William Nylander would center a pass to Auston Matthews and his wrist shot would find the back of the net. There would be a review for this goal because the officials thought Tavares knocked the net off but after they saw the replay they saw Bobrovsky intentionally knocked the net off meaning the Matthews goal would stand for his 22^nd of the season and the Leafs would head into the third period trailing 4-3.

The third period for the Florida Panthers has been a frustrating one because they have a goal differential of -19 as they headed into the final segment of regulation. Florida would see their third period struggles continue when the Leafs would tie the game with one of the strangest goals we have seen in a long time. With around six minutes of the third played the Leafs would be in their opponent’s end. The Leafs would win the draw and Mitch Marner would send a shot from the slot towards goal, the puck would deflect off Matthews and then off the head of Nylander and in for his 23^rd goal of the season. Willy had gone the previous seven games without a goal and this one surely wasn’t how he imagined breaking that slump but he will happily take it because the Leafs had found a way to tie this game at 4-4.

For the remainder of regulation both goalies would turn aside their opponents scoring chances and the game would need overtime as the Leafs who didn’t play well for the majority of this game but getting this game to overtime gave them at least one point and in the race to the playoffs every point collected is extremely valuable.

The overtime would see the Leafs start with David Kampf at center and we have seen Keefe do this many times because David Kampf is so reliable on the faceoff. The Leafs would be patient in the overtime making frequent line changes the Panthers would make an attempt to set up in Toronto’s end but John Tavares would knock the puck away allowing Connor Timmins to send a lead pass to William Nylander. Nylander would show off his speed by beating the defender and sliding the puck around a sprawling Bobrovsky completing the comeback with his 24^th goal of the year and the Leafs would win the game 5-4 for their third win in their last five games. With this secondary assist on the winning goal John Tavares extended his point streak to seven games but last night was a record setting night because Mitch Marner picked up an assist on Auston’s second period goal meaning he registered a point in 19 consecutive home games breaking Darryl Sittler’s record which was fitting as Sittler was in attendance for the game.

The Leafs will now have Wednesday off which will help the team recover from the flu bug that is going through the room at the moment but they return to action Thursday when they host the Western Conference leading Winnipeg Jets who last night fell to the Montreal Canadiens so Winnipeg will surely be looking to get back into the win column.

Thanks as always for reading.