Last night, William Nylander, Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 .
Nylander and Matthews combined for 4 goals and 2 assists against the Sabres. Both star forwards were absolutely phenomenal. They are both clicking at the right time and hopefully will continue their success in the playoffs for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Surprisingly, Matthews’ two goals came on the power-play. He’s been quite extraordinary at scoring goals when the Toronto Maple Leafs are playing 5v5 hockey, but he hasn’t done much damage on the power-play. If the Toronto Maple Leafs end up playing the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, having Matthews dominate on the power-play would be clutch. The Lightning have a terrible penalty kill unit and currently post a 76.1 PK%.
My favorite goal of the night was Matthews’ third period power-play goal. The play started off with Jake Gardiner sitting at the point. Gardiner gave Matthews a quick pass. Matthews couldn’t find an opening, so he fired a backhand pass back to Gardiner. He then faked that he was going to take a shot from the point and quickly delivered a pass to Nylander. Nylander spotted Matthews wide open and fired a one-timer pass to him. At the same time, Sabres’ net-minder, Chad Johnson moved towards Matthews. Matthews saw Johnson slide across the crease, he then fired the shot five-hole to score his second goal of the night.
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Stay Out Of The Box
If I had to nit-pick one thing about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ play last night it would be the amount of time spent in the penalty box. Roman Polak, Nikita Zaitsev and Nazem Kadri all served time in the box. Polak served 6 minutes in the first period for high-sticking both Kyle Okposo and Jack Eichel. In the second period, Kadri served 2 minutes for goaltender interference. In the third, Zaitsev served a 2 minute minor for hooking Eichel.
The Sabres were able to capitalize on 50 percent of the penalties committed. If the last place team in the Eastern Conference was able to succeed against the Toronto Maple Leafs’ penalty kill, Mike Babcock should be concerned how the Lightning or the Boston Bruins will fair come playoff time.
All-in-all, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to stay out of the box. Hopefully, they’ll avoid giving up power-play goals on Thursday night in New Jersey.
Johnsson Delivers, But Shouldn’t Have Huge Playoff Role
Aside from penalty issues, Andreas Johnsson was outstanding against the Sabres. He scored a goal in the first period and grabbed an assist on Matthews’ first goal of the night.
He was pivotal to the Maple Leafs success against the Sabres, but has been inconsistent offensively since being called up. Aside from last night, Johnsson has only scored one other goal since joining the Maple Leafs.
On the defensive side, he isn’t bad. He has registered 5 hits and 3 blocks in 8 games. He just doesn’t have the defensive skill-set that Leo Komarov does. Komarov has been outstanding defensively and will be a must-play especially if the Maple Leafs take on the Bruins. In 72 games played this season, he has 212 hits and 47 blocks.
It’s clear that Komarov has the upper hand over Johnsson.
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Recap
The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to grab another win on the road against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. The Devils are fighting for a wild card spot and will have to beat the New York Rangers and/or the Maple Leafs to ensure a spot in the post-season.
stats from NHL.com & hockey-reference.com