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 Game 15: Habs vs. Leafs

Simon B

    The Maple Leafs were in an interesting position coming into Saturday night's game against the Canadiens. They are the clear favorites. That's not an area Leafs fans have been familiar with over the past "forever". But so far this year, Toronto has played like a clear favorite almost every night.

    Saturday was also "Hockey Day In Canada". Normally, this is a day where a community comes together around hockey, and broadcasters and former players share stories of their time in and around the NHL. Obviously, like everything else this year, it was don of e socially-distanced from a backyard rink in Oakville Ontario, home of Leafs captain John Tavares. However, Ron McLean once again did an excellent job hosting on a snowy Saturday night to add a nice twist to the broadcast. 

    In terms of the game, coach Sheldon Keefe didn't make any changes before this one. I fully agree with that decision based on the way the Leafs performed last time out (4-2 in Montreal).

The Game

    The Leafs gave us a really high paced start  in this one. Matthews and Marner were buzzing around like crazy and the puck seemed to find them wherever they went. On the second shift for the Matthews line (with Marner and Hyman), Marner found some space to free himself in front of the net. Matthews played it right to him and Marner snaps in his first career goal against the Habs to put the Leafs up one. 

Even after they broke the deadlock, Toronto was clearly the better team. They won most of the 50/50 battles on the boards and were always first on loose pucks. The Matthews line notably did not let up one bit. Toronto had huge amounts of possession and Montreal could barely get their offense going at all. All this pressure led to a penalty by Montreal's Tyler Toffoli to give the Leafs the first power play of the night. 

This was a really weird power play because it looked like it killed all the Leafs' momentum that had been building up all period long. One-shot on the net and that was it for the man-advantage. Near the end of the period, the Leafs were in the middle of making a line change so they had Nylander and Kerfoot (who are normally on different lines) out together. On one occasion, Nylader fed it to a wide-open Alex Kerfoot in the slot but he hit iron. Then, a second chance came second later, this time Kerfoot finding Nyalder all alone but Carey Price was bailed out once again by the post. It was a tough break to end the period that left the Leafs  by one nonetheless.

    I was really expecting Montreal to be much better in the second. In the first, Montreal were so much slower than the Leafs  and were definitely due  to pick up some urgency. That they did but Toronto's defense weathered the storm. The game was really going back and forth for a long time, and there was a part in the middle of the second where there was no whistle for a solid five minutes. Chris Cuthbert mentioned something in the broadcast that I found really important: Toronto has had excellent center scoring production all season long. Obviously Matthews leads the league in goals with 11 but when they were comparing the centerman scoring production points on the Leafs and then on the other teams in the north division, there's a big difference. I think that this has been a key element to the Leafs' success so far this season: they can count on their top players to score constantly and change the course of the game on a nightly basis. The period did not have much going for it action-wise as there were no penalties or goals. The Leafs  headed into the third with the lead.

    A thing that happens way too often, in any sport, not just hockey, is that broadcasters will give a stat like "the Leafs are a perfect 8-0 when leading going into the third". I know it's very superstitious on my part but more often than not, the "perfect streak" that the broadcasters talk about usually ends after they mention it. Well, in the first half of the second, Montreal was playing really physically, and Brendan Gallagher got the puck to Tyler Toffoli who was left wide open in front of Andersen, and he made no mistake tying the game up. So many times this season the Leafs have allowed goals by leaving a man in front. A lot of the time, when you leave an NHL player wide open (especially one as good as Tyler Toffoli) they're usually going to score. After the tying goal, Montreal kicked into high gear. They had the puck most of the time and with about 2 and a half minutes remaining, Brendan Gallagher knocked a point shot down which made Freddy Andersen move the other way and he put it up over his pads to give the Habs the lead. A lead they would keep until the final horn. 

The Wrap

    I think it's important to realize that the Leafs are still 11-3-1. That's their best start to a regular season since 194*  so there isn't much to complain about. However,  Toronto media will alway nit-pick; after 53 years of disappointment, that’s probably a habit born of seeing so much more to criticize than to cheer for Andersen was once again really solid, and the defense was strong. But offensively, they needed to bury some of the grade-A opportunities that they had (especially in the first). Looking ahead, the Leafs have 3 straight against the Senators. Ever since they beat the Leafs in their home opener, Ottawa has been awful. So anything less than 6 points out of 6 would be a disappointment for Toronto.

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    Thanks for reading! I'd love your comments and questions.

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