Toronto Maple Leafs: A House Divided Scrimmage Series

Recapping the most recent action from Toronto Maple Leafs training camp.

In advance of the Toronto Maple Leafs returning to game action, let’s take a look at the headlining event of the Leafs’ Return-To-Play training camp, the five-game scrimmage series between Team Matthews and Team Andersen.

The series was dubbed “A House Divided” in a nod to Frederik Andersen and Auston Matthews moving in together during the early lockdown stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pair lived together from late March to June when Freddie left to spend some time with a goalie coach in California before returning to Toronto.

Toronto Maple Leafs Wrap Up Camp

Before recapping the series, let’s take a look at the rosters (per the Toronto Maple Leafs official Twitter):

The division of talent for both of these squads is quite interesting, Team Matthews boasts the brunt of the Leafs offense, including their entire contingent of top-6 forwards and their more offensively-minded defensemen.

Team Andersen on the other hand, has both bottom-6 forwards groups, and the defensemen the Leafs will be relying on to play top-4 minutes in Rielly, Muzzin, Holl and, unfortunately, Ceci.

It appears to me that Sheldon Keefe’s game plan when determining these teams was to get his top forwards going against an elite-calibre goaltender and to get Freddy facing the most elite offensive talent that he possibly could, and tasking the members of his team to try and shut down one of the best offensive juggernauts in the league.

Series Recap

Game One saw Team Andersen take the early series lead, winning 6-5, with goals from Kerfoot, Gauthier, Rosen (on a penalty shot), Robertson, Petan, and Spezza. Scoring for Team Matthews was Marner, Kivihalme, Brooks and a pair from Hyman.

Game Two saw the fortunes reversed, as Team Matthews roared back into the series, winning 6-2. Nick Robertson was traded to Team Matthews before this game, Spezza and Kerfoot scored for Team Andersen. Nylander (x2), Malgin, Robertson, Matthews, and Tavares scored for the winning side.

Game Three saw Robertson return to Team Andersen, as Keefe continued to test the highly-touted prospect in all situations. Team Matthews took this game, and a series lead, with Matthews himself scoring a pair of goals, Mikheyev notching a pair, and Marner working some magic for a 5-0 win.

In Game Four, we witnessed a goalie duel, both Andersen and Campbell put on a show and kept the gates shut through regulation. A John Tavares blast in overtime ended the series with a victory for Team Matthews.

Though it was unnecessary, the team still played Game Five, but they re-shuffled the teams, and lines:

Team Blue won this final scrimmage 6-3, John Tavares opened the scoring, Ilya Mikheyev scored a hat trick, then Tavares and Marner added a pair of empty netters to secure the win.

MVPs of Toronto Maple Leafs Training Camp

In a quote after Game Two, Frederik Andersen called the series “A good way to bring some competitiveness into this training camp” and I wholeheartedly agree. From the scrimmage highlights and reporting from the assembled media, you can tell the players took it seriously.

Ilya Mikheyev was a clear standout, he’s seemed to have picked up right where he left off on John Tavares’ wing after the injury that cut his rookie season short in December. He’s set himself apart from the pack as a clear top-6 forward, poised for a great performance in the postseason.

Nylander was great as well and put together a strong performance that garnered him some MVP votes as he looks to continue his dominant performance fro the regular season.

Spezza continued his career resurgence with a quiet but effective series, as well as becoming quite the mentor to Nick Robertson, who he was lined up with on a couple of occasions.

Andersen and Campbell both improved and refined their game throughout the series. Yes, Andersen let in a ton of goals, but most of them were from the aforementioned elite forwards that populated Team Matthews. He’s taken on a level of offensive competition in this scrimmage series that Columbus (and certainly most other NHL teams) simply do not have, so he’s in good shape for the playoffs.

Game 1 of the Qualifying Round versus the Columbus Blue Jackets begins at 8 PM on August 2nd.