The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Winnipeg Jets 7-2.
That is the good news. The bad news is, the Toronto Maple Leafs played an undisciplined game and were lucky to escape with the victory – even as lopsided as it was.
The first 15 minutes of the game were all Winnipeg. They had three power-plays in a row, and if not for Frederik Andersen, the game probably would have been over then. As it was, it was a minor miracle that the Leafs weren’t down by at least a goal at that point.
Even though the score shows a beatdown, the fact is that you don’t win many games when your best players are stuck to the bench because you won’t stop taking penalties. The Leafs killed off eight minor penalties last night, and as awesome as that is, it’s not something you can count on every night.
Off -Season Additions
Last night was a great beginning for the Toronto Maple Leafs off-season acquisitions (except for Dominic Moore, who was a healthy scratch along with Marincin and Leivo). Patrick Marleau scored two goals, including a sweet deke on a feed from Matthews. He had five shots and a 50% CF in just under 10 minutes of 5v5 ice-time. Interestingly, he even got in on the PK action, playing three minutes and contributing to not allowing a goal.
It was a great debut from Marleau.
Ron Hainsey also shined in his debut. He led the Leafs in PK ice-time, and the team didn’t allow a goal, so right on. Almost the entirety of Hainsey’s value comes from the PK (he was only a 45% CF and was the least used defenseman 5v5) and last night he showed why.
One thing we should keep in mind however, is that results are often random and it’s the process that counts. The Leafs might have killed off eight penalties, but for a lot of those penalties the Jets had the puck the entire time and only luck and Andersen prevented a goal. Hainsey had an 11% Corsi on the PK (25% is very good, to give you an idea of the range) and so, even if they didn’t allow a goal, you can’t claim it was because of Hainsy. The pairing of Rielly and Borgman played far less time on the PK, but they did limit shots and were 20% CF.
Speaking of Borgman, he had a great debut. As mentioned, he was great on the PK, and his 5v5 Corsi was almost 60%. He and partner Connor Carrick were arguably the Leafs best pairing and they kept the ice tilted in the right direction all night. All in all he played 16 very effective minutes.
Only problem was in the first when he almost killed Marc Scheifele with what would have been a suspension if not for the lucky fact that Scheifele managed to get mostly out of the way.
All in all, a great debut for the Leafs off-season pick ups. Well, most of them.
More from Editor In Leaf
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Nick Robertson Healthy and Ready
- Ryan Reaves Will Have Zero Impact on Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Playing Max Domi In Top-Six a HUGE Mistake
- Top 10 Scandals in the History of the Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Results from the Traverse City Prospects Tournament
Leafs Win!
The Toronto Maple Leafs won, hockey is back and there were a ton of goals in a very fun game. You can’t ask for much more from a season debut. Sure the buds were a little sloppy, and sure, they had to get a little lucky, but you have to like what you saw regardless. The team can move the puck, they’re extremely fast and their depth makes them very hard to defend.
Obviously they need to take less penalties, and usually they’ll face better goaltending, but last night was a good start.
Weird Fact #1: Connor Brown, demoted to the fourth line with the acquisition of Marleau, and skating 5v5 with Fehr and Martin, led all Leafs forwards in total ice-time. I doubt we see this happen very often. Also, Brown won’t be a fourth liner for long.
Next: Leafs Contract Extension Slide Show
Weird Fact #2: Eric Fehr and Auston Matthews had roughly the same amount of total ice-time. 7-2 or not, that should never happen. It is because the Toronto Maple Leafs took eight penalties, and had such a lead that there was no reason to double shift AM at 5v5. It doesn’t matter, and it’s not a criticism, I just thought it was kind of funny.
Thanks for reading.
Stats from naturalstattrick.com