Toronto Maple Leafs Takeaways: Opening Night

Watching tonight’s season opener against the Montreal Canadiens, there was some obvious takeaways for the Toronto Maple Leafs; mostly, somewhat surprisingly, positive takeaways:

Defensive Line Time

An interesting note was the relatively equal split of ice time given to the defensive lines; this seems tactically wise given the complaints targeted at Dion Phaneuf’s ice time and need for a rest last year.

This allowed Maple Leafs to commit themselves fully to their defensive duties, and then switch it up, rather than prolonging shifts to the point of lazy defence.

With Dion Phaneuf, Morgan Reilly and Jake Gardiner split across separate lines; the team can field solid core defence men across all three lines – this approach could be a difference maker for the team in terms of remaining sturdy at the back.

Martin Marincin and Scott Harrington saw least time with 15:57 and 16:36 respectively and this is likely the first hint that their two positions are interchangeable with the likes of Roman Polak and Frank Corrado.

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Possession Is Key

We saw a much speedier and more intense approach from the Maple Leafs than much of last season.

This was focused around strong possession of the puck which seems to be the template that Babcock will look to build around. This possession was evident on a delayed penalty call in the second period, the Leafs maintaining control of the puck for a minute before getting a shot away.

As the game wore on unfortunately, there were some lapses in concentration and the team didn’t quite maintain the same level of possession, especially in the third period, but the promise is clearly there.

Maintaining this intensity through the course of the year will be key; if opening night is anything to go by though, the players are buying into and understanding the coaching philosophy.

Bernier Beware

The early goal scored on Jonathan Bernier looked very much to be a sign of a cold goalie and could quite well have opened the floodgates. However, he showed great heart in bouncing back and pulling off a series of solid blocks.

He was helped on a couple of occasions by the pipes, but showed great strength of character where last years’ Maple Leafs may have given up.

Confidence will be vital for Bernier this year, he left shooting options open on a few occasions over the course of the game, but Montreal weren’t able to make him pay. A stronger offensive team may well have been able to take much greater advantage of this.

A consistent and comfortable goalie can make all the difference, this fact only too clear to the Maple Leafs, as Carey Price was on fine form at the other end of the ice, blocking all but 1 of their 37 attempts on goal.

Babcock was philosophical in assessing Price’s performance post-game, saying “that’s just a day’s work for him,” before assessing his team’s offense and providing the feedback:

"“You don’t have much time, but you have more time than you think. Bury it.” (SportsNet)"

All in all, it wasn’t a poor performance from the Toronto Maple Leafs and to lose 3-1 was rather unfair on the way they played; at least for the large majority of the game.

The management team hasn’t shied away from the fact that this year won’t be easy and won’t be comfortable as a fan, but as a fan, I came away from tonight’s game pleasantly surprised at the new approach by the Maple Leafs.

If we can keep this up, this season isn’t looking as uncomfortable as we may have first thought.

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