The Toronto Maple Leafs dominated the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night, winning the game 6-2 to secure their third win.
Bobby McMann would score his second and third goals of the season in the win, Auston Matthews would get his first of the year, and the Maple Leafs finally scored a powerplay goal!
It was a highly entertaining game to watch as a Leafs fan, with many standout plays and players. But, if you are like me, one play or one player will shape your entire view of the period or game.
That said, here are three thoughts, one from each period I could not get out of my head while watching the Los Angeles Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
One Thought From Each Period of Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Kings
1st Period: How did Ryan Reaves get on the ice before Bobby McMann
Bobby McMann opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs seven minutes into that game against the Kings. He then scored his second goal with three minutes remaining in the first period, his third goal in two games and one period.
This got me thinking... How did Ryan Reaves get on the ice before Bobby McMann this season?
Returning to opening night against the Montreal Canadiens, Ryan Reaves was in the starting lineup, and Craig Berube sat McMann up in the press box. McMann was forced to watch Reaves do nothing that night as the only stat he recorded was a hit taken.
I will never understand how Reaves keeps fooling coaches into putting him on the ice. He has little talent and does not have enough speed to be a threatening force on the forecheck anymore, and it is wild to me that Craig Berube thought it would be a good idea to put him in the lineup over Bobby McMann, who scored 15 goals in 56 games last season, most of them in the final 30 games of the season.
2nd Period: Anthony Stolarz gives the Toronto Maple Leafs all the momentum
In typical Leafs fashion, after dominating the first period, they came out flat to start the second period. The Kings outshot the Maple Leafs 10-1 throughout the first 10 minutes of the first period and would record 13 shots.
Stolarz stood tall to the early pressure, making all 13 saves in the period. Throughout this pressure, the Kings were credited with 1.29 goals in the second period, winning the expected goal battle 3.27-1.17 through the first two frames (via NaturalStatTrick).
Stolarz looked highly comfortable despite turning away multiple high-danger chances in the period. He was square to every shot and made all these saves look routine. After going scoreless through the sustained 10 minutes of pressure from the Kings, it looked like the Kings lost their confidence, and the Maple Leafs would dominate the rest of the period, scoring two more goals and stretching out their lead to 5-0.
Stolarz kept the Leafs in control of this game. If he had not been sharp at the start of this period, the game could have looked entirely different after 40 minutes.
3rd Period: The Maple Leafs gave up while winning?
The Leafs followed their awful start to the second period with an even worse start to the third. The Kings would come down the ice on a three-on-three rush to start the period. Instead of manning up and taking away all three players, Chris Tanev sat still and allowed Alex Turcotte to get the puck wide open in the slot and rip a shot past Stolarz.
The Toronto Maple Leafs then followed that up by giving up a goal on a rebound. Kevin Fiala took multiple whacks at the puck in front of the net while four Leafs stood there and watched him put the puck in the net.
This prompted Craig Berube to call a timeout, and he expressed his frustration with his team's effort.
The Leafs would manage one powerplay goal late in the third, but outside of that, their third-period effort was feeble. They played the whole third period on the defensive end and only managed to create one five-on-five scoring chance. Had this game been closer, as it should have been, the Leafs would have been in trouble coming down the stretch of this game.