Toronto Maple Leafs: Nazem Kadri Nets Hat Trick as Leafs Beat Capitals

It’s story time, Toronto Maple Leafs fans!

With one game before the All-Star break and the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals coming to town, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a meeting. In the locker room, Mike Babcock addressed his players. “Ok boys, we are in a bit of a slump, so I need someone to step up and score a hat trick. Mitch?”

”Not me boss, I prefer to rack up my assists!” Mitch responded.

”Ok then…Willy?”

”Sorry old man, but I’m too busy being a detriment to the locker room and a waste of cap space!” Nylander gloated.

”Auston? John?” Mike pleaded, but Auston Matthews and John Tavares were too busy packing their bags for sunny San Jose.

“Damn!” Babcock exclaimed. “I guess there’s only one thing left to do. Summon…The Naz!”

Upon hearing these words, a slumbering Nazem Kadri emerges from his corner of the locker room with a puck in his mouth and his gear already on.

He was hungry. Hungry for goals. Hungry for victory. Hungry…for Capitals.

Anyway, the Leafs beat the Caps 6-3, let’s talk about it.

The Naz Does The Trick

For the fifth time in his career, Nazem Kadri got some hats thrown on the ice. Any hat trick is special, but this one was a great way to show how versatile Kadri can be offensively.

All three of his goals came from a different area of the ice and required a different way to put the puck in the back of the net. His first involved crashing the net and poking home a puck past the pad of Braden Holtby, using his physical nature to remain by the crease. His second goal was a gorgeous slap shot in the slot, a slapper that we don’t see out of Kadri very often. His third was from the left faceoff circle, pounding home a puck that had just ricocheted off the crossbar.

Those goals were Kadri’s 11th, 12th and 13th goals of the year, bringing him to 32 points, keeping him on pace to finish just below or equal his 55 points from last season. If he can keep up this pace, it’ll certainly be $4.5 million per year well spent for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Oh Right, Other Leafs Played Last Night

Auston Matthews decided he wanted a goal before he went off to tear up the All-Star Game, going five-hole on Holtby with a slick wrist shot, his 21st goal of the year. He’s now five goals away from his 100th career goal. Morgan Rielly had a two point night, putting him over the 50 point mark in just 49 games. That’s the fourth fewest amount of games a Leafs D-man needed to reach 50 points in franchise history.

William Nylander continued to be a waste of cap space, providing three assists but no goals, a shameful performance. Leafs Twitter trade bait Connor Brown found his was onto the scoresheet with two assists, ending his five game pointless streak. John Tavares is now 25 points from the 700 point plateau, and Mitch Marner bagged his 20th goal of the season, but with no assists he probably considered his performance a failure.

Oh, and Nikita Zaitsev scored his first goal of the season! That gives him six points and a relative Corsi of -3.5% on the season, so yeah still not worth $4.5 million per year.

That Was Better Than Therapy

The Toronto Maple Leafs gave the fans something to grasp onto before not having hockey for a week, getting a nice win over the defending Stanley Cup champions. It was therapeutic in a way, a relief to see the Leafs that began the season red-hot were still there somewhere.

The offense looked like it found its groove again, and Frederik Andersen looked stellar, stopping 41 of 44 shots. The Leafs have now hit 30 wins, and hopefully many more will be coming as the season goes full speed ahead into the All-Star break and trade deadline.