Toronto Maple Leafs: The Captain Returns and a Last Minute Take-Down

The Toronto Maple Leafs decide to finally generate scoring chances in the late third period to come out with 2 points and a 3-1 win.

Despite the Toronto Maple Leafs coming out of this game with a regulation win, this game was not close to complete success for the team.

Playing against a bottom-feeding team in the Los Angeles Kings the Leafs really struggled on special teams and failed to create any dangerous scoring chances until late in the third period.

The Leafs did not give up much in their own zone which is positive, but they did not create enough chances, especially when you consider they played a team so far below their talent level.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Kings

At 5v5 here are the notable underlying numbers (all data per natural stat trick);

56.79CF%

62.43xGF%

So overall, you can see that this was a strong game for the Leafs.  They were missing the net a lot, but they got a ton of shot attempts and generally controlled play, especially in the first period.

Three Stars of The Game

Alexander Kerfoot -First Star

Kerfoot got absolutely leveled by Jeff Carter in the first period and was out for the rest of the period, but he returned at the beginning of the second period. Later on, in the second Kerfoot did a great job getting puck possession in the neutral zone and transitioning into the offensive zone to score a beautiful goal to tie up the game.

Frederik Andersen -Second Star

Andersen played almost as perfect of a game as possible. Even with the Leafs limiting chances against well, Andersen was able to play above expected which made this game something Andersen should come out with high praise.

William Nylander -Third Star

William Nylander was noticeable throughout the game doing his usual in transition up the ice but failed to create any form of high danger scoring chances until his late goal and assist that would never have been possible without the dynamic skill he carries with him. Here is his beautiful backhand to put the Leafs up 2.

Other Notable Performances

John Tavares

Tavares looked unlike his usual self and seemed to have a difficult time holding his stick. May it be he still needs to recover from his broken finger? I for one think so. The wide-open net chance on the Leafs first powerplay of the game was something Tavares would never miss, he is still fighting through this injury.

Ilya Mikheyev

This soup-loving man is absolutely relentless on the puck, there is no time where he is opposed to getting in on the action. There were two times this game where he took the puck away and put the Leafs right back on offense.

Although despite him being excellent in areas where a player like Hyman would excel in, I think he also really struggles in areas where Hyman struggles in (finishing high-quality scoring chances). It may be safe to say the Mikheyev is the Russian, soup-loving version of Hyman.

Nic Petan

One of the major storylines coming into this game was Nic Petan being showcased on the first line for potential trading partners.

Petan recently was sent down and played a game with the Marlies scoring two goals and grabbing two assists. He is a player who has talent but needs to be placed in the proper role to succeed, tonight I think he played in an adequate role for his play style and he looked good, not spectacular, just good.

Outlook

The Toronto Maple Leafs played well at 5v5, but really struggled to score on the powerplay and got scored on by the second-worst power play in the league. This game was a boring game, almost early 2000’s-like when Martin Brodeur was in his prime, neither team was able to create much on the offensive side.

The Toronto Maple Leafs overall played well at 5v5, bad on special teams but overall deserved this win even though it was not a perfectly orchestrated win given the expectations for this team.