The Toronto Maple Leafs had a sloppy win against the New York Rangers, let’s face it.
During the first period, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to put up five goals, but the Rangers didn’t remain silent.
They surmounted the comeback (almost), but it was the Leafs in the end who came away with the victory and as much as it was sloppy, it’s still two points for the good guys.
However, I’m sure we can all agree that an absolute onslaught would’ve been better although seeing Henrik Lundqvist pretty animated was a solid alternative.
How about him acknowledging the crowd for making a save?
Good stuff.
Mike Babcock and company will have their work cut out for them as there will definitely be some trimming around the edges to come out in better form for their next tilt.
Let’s take a closer look at the win and go over a few points, dealers choice, though.
Outlook
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The odd roster change that saw Dominic Moore and Calle Rosen replacing Eric Fehr and Andreas Borgman respectively worked out.
It’s just weird that Babcock tinkered with the lines after their win in Winnipeg, but maybe it’s because of the eight penalties they took that game.
Either way, no harm, no foul.
It’s actually interesting how Lou Lamoriello demoted Rosen to the AHL and after the first game, sent Martin Marincin down to recall Rosen just to leverage more cap space out of the Joffrey Lupul predicament.
Smart, smart man if you ask me and the Leafs are beyond lucky to have him.
Alright, let’s look at the team statistics comparison chart.
| Team | SOG | TFO% | PP | PIM | HITS | BLKS | GVA |
| Rangers | 35 | 40% | 2/3 | 12 | 20 | 18 | 8 |
| Leafs | 42 | 60% | 3/6 | 6 | 21 | 7 | 13 |
The Leafs got a lot of shots towards the net and many more chances, it’s just that the Rangers were able to get their sticks and bodies in the way 18 times.
At center, the Leafs dominated the dot, especially Moore who didn’t lose a single draw all night, however, the penalty kill wasn’t as good as it should be.
On the powerplay, the Leafs were able to net three on six chances, keeping their effectiveness on the PP at 50% through two games.
And the last note we’ll touch on is the giveaways at 13, which is just too much.
Now it’s time to get to the individual stats.
Individual Stats
Zach Hyman scored two goals, had four shots on net and played a pretty positive game all in all.
Anybody that thinks he should be demoted from the Auston Matthews and William Nylander line, feel free to speak up.
Regardless if he didn’t capitalize last night, he still played a great forechecking role, retrieving pucks, turning them over, you name it, Hyman’s print is all over the game.
He’s right where he belongs and the only person that can change my mind about that is Hyman himself.
That’s just one player, though.
- Zach Hyman: two goals
- Nazem Kadri: one goal, one assist
- Leo Komarov: one goal, one assist
- Nikita Zaitsev: one goal, one assist
- Jake Gardiner: one goal, one assist
- William Nylander: two assists
- Dominic Moore: one goal
- Tyler Bozak: one goal
- Patrick Marleau: one assist
- Matt Martin: one assist
- Mitchell Marner: one assist
- Auston Matthews: one assist
- Ron Hainsey: one assist
Everybody’s chipping in, but then again, it’s kind of hard not to when there are eight goals on the board.
In two games, 12 different Leafs players have recorded a goal, while only Fehr, Rosen, and Connor Brown have yet to record a single point this season.
That’s pretty good.
Lastly, Frederik Andersen was in-between the pipes and didn’t have his best game, posting a Sv% of .857 turning aside 30 of 35 shots although he did make some very important saves at key moments during the contest.
Things are quite positive right now for the Leafs.