Toronto Maple Leafs Top 10 Highlight Reel Goals of the Decade
By Alex Hobson
6. Auston Matthews vs Montreal (October 14th 2017)
This one wouldn’t have happened without Nazem Kadri sacrificing his body.
Kadri blocks a shot in front of the net, Matthews picks up the puck, flips it in the air and chases after it.
THEN he recovers his own turnover, batting the puck out of the air, then he curls it, drags it, and boom. Top shelf.
We’ve seen that signature shot from Matthews almost too many times to count. But what made this goal so much better was the determination to keep the play moving.
The fact that he managed to bat it out of the air and roof it all in one stride is super impressive.
5. Nazem Kadri vs New York Islanders (February 28th 2013)
This game was one of my favourite regular season games to watch almost entirely due to Nazem Kadri, as he secured his first career hat trick.
If you go back and look at the highlights of this game, all three of Kadri’s goals were nice.
His first one was a toe drag, his second one was bar down, and his third one was, well..this.
He picks up the puck, carries it over to his off-wing, and then puts it through Lubomir Visnovsky’s feet before firing it off the post and in while falling down.
The 2013 season as a whole was special for Kadri, as Leaf fans got a glimpse of who exactly they wanted when they drafted him at seventh overall in 2009.
His path to the NHL up until this season was rocky, and he clearly had enough confidence by this point to pull this one off.