The Toronto Maple Leafs ended their western Canada road trip on a high note.
After a frustrating loss against Calgary on Thursday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs took down the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 4-1 last night.
Overall, it was a good game to watch.
I’ll take you through a couple of the headlines of the game if you missed it.
Third Line Meets the Scoresheet
The third line did a very good job tonight.
Ilya Mikheyev finally burst a 22-game scoring slump, and Alex Kerfoot was right there with him with a marker of his own as well as an apple to go along with it. Here are some words of wisdom from Mikheyev about finally scoring.
Ilya Mikheyev on breaking out of a 22-game scoring slump: "I long time can't score, a little nervous but now I feel my brain is good. Very important that we win and have a good trip."
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) December 15, 2019
After trying out some new lines with Pierre Engvall on Kerfoot’s wing, I can say that Engvall is looking more and more like he belongs in the NHL.
Even in a mostly-limited role, he’s been a key part of the team’s much-improved penalty kill, and he has the rare combination of speed and size when he’s on the ice.
It’s going to be difficult to pick out a role for him when the entire team is healthy again (although, I’m starting to wonder if we’ll ever see that), but I hope the Leafs can find a way to keep him on the team.
26 Minutes For Justin Holl
Another thing to note from last night, but also recent games in general. Justin Holl is looking very good in his regular role.
Consider the fact that Holl was pretty much a staple to the bench for the entirety of last season. They had him on the NHL roster, but he was held to only 11 games over the course of the entire year.
Now consider the fact that he was on the ice for upwards of 26 minutes last night and used almost exclusively against the McDavid/Draisitl line, all while keeping McDavid off of the score sheet.
Coming into this season, everybody was talking about Rielly, Barrie, and Muzzin as the guys to watch on the defensive core. But truthfully, I think Holl might be the most underrated player on the team right now.
Kapanen Top Line Experiment Isn’t Working Out
Another thing I’d like to point out is the fact that every time the Leafs try to use Kasperi Kapanen in a top six role, it falters.
He started the season alongside John Tavares and Mitch Marner and never looked comfortable. Lately he’s been playing on a line with Auston Matthews and William Nylander (who were both invisible last night, by the way) and once again, same story. Doesn’t look like he belongs there.
I personally think that the Leafs should be looking to trade Kapanen, but as long as he’s on the team, I would play him in the third line right wing spot and keep him there.
He’s looked at his best when playing the role of a speedy bottom-six winger, and they’re better off letting him play where he’s clearly the most comfortable.
Andersen Reaches a Milestone
Finally, can we get on our knees and bow down to Frederik Andersen once again?
Last night marked Andersen’s 200th NHL win after 344 games. This is great, but what if I told you that he’s the fastest European goalie to reach 200 wins and the fourth fastest overall?
Ahead of him are Jacques Plante (340), Braden Holtby (319), and Ken Dryden (309). This is some pretty damn good company.
Obviously Freddie’s workload with the Toronto Maple Leafs played a noticeable part in this feat, but he’s been incredible under that workload.
He’s been the reason behind a lot of wins lately, and it’s a breath of fresh air for a team that went for so long without a true elite starting goalie.
Coming up in the schedule the Toronto Maple Leafs will face Buffalo on Tuesday night before a back-to-back next weekend between the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings.
They’re at the point this season where they need to capitalize on every opportunity for a win and take them however you get them, so hopefully the trip back home will fare well for the boys in blue.