The Toronto Maple Leafs started Garret Sparks for the first time since November 24th. It could’ve gone better.
Heading into the third period, the Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves down 4-1 to the Detroit Red Wings. The Leafs would claw their way back though.
John Tavares with a bullet of a wrist shot, 4-2! Zach Hyman banging hom a rebound from the point!! 4-3, Andreas Johnsson sneaking the puck in from a pass off the boards, 4-4!!! We are heading to overtime!
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, as Dylan Larkin took advantage of a breakaway in the extra frame to backhand the puck through Garret Sparks’ five hole to give the Red Wings a 5-4 victory, snapping the Leafs’ five game winning streak and giving them their first loss at Scotiabank Arena since November 6th.
Sparks Looks Shaky
After starting Frederik Andersen for the last four games, Mike Babcock turned to Sparks, in his sixth start of the season, to give Andersen a much-needed rest heading into the weekend. He probably should’ve given Andersen the start in retrospect.
Sparks allowed five goals on 32 shots, the lowest shot total the Leafs have allowed since the 24 shots they faced on November 24th against the Columbus Blue Jackets. That game was also the last time the Maple Leafs had lost before Thursday night. Not every goal was Sparks fault, the Leafs left Luke Glendening wide open streaking towards the net on the 2-1 goal and letting Larking waltz in on a breakaway in overtime wasn’t great either.
Those two goals aside, two goals went in after being fired from the point, and the other was on a delayed penalty with Gustav Nyquist freezing Sparks on a fake slap shot and sniping it past his left shoulder. As groan worthy as it is to say, Andersen probably would have stopped a few of those. Sparks should get more starts to give him experience and Andersen some rest, but if he plays like this he will be lucky to start 20 games this year.
Nylander Returns
After signing a six-year, $45 million contract just five minutes before the 5 PM deadline on December 1st (Thanks for the heart attack boys), William Nylander made his hotly anticipated season debut for the Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Nylander ran on a line with Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau, and while the fans were excited to see him, Babcock used him sparingly. He played just 12:29 seconds and recorded no shots with a -18.5% relative Corsi. A player making his debut after everyone else has been playing for two months is always going to have a rough time. It will likely be a week or two before we consistently see the Nylander we are used to and expect.
Honestly, it was just nice to see #29 back on the ice. His points will come eventually, but at this point seeing that him back in the blue ans white was all that mattered.
Another Atlantic Division clash awaits the Toronto Maple Leafs as they head to TD Garden on Saturday to take on the Boston Bruins in the third meeting of the season between the bitter rivals.