10 Key Takeaways From Last Night’s Toronto Maple Leafs vs Habs Game

Toronto Maple Leafs hockey is officially back after the team defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Tuesday night.

It’s been over four months since the Toronto Maple Leafs last played and boy, did I miss it.

It was definitely strange to see Scotiabank Arena empty (although the lower bowl is typically empty after every period), but after the puck dropped there was a sense of normalcy.

From October to April, and if you’re lucky June, every other night you get the ability to sit back and watch your favourite hockey team. Win or lose, the emotions of a NHL season as a Leafs fan are so much fun and unfortunately that was taken away from us on March 11.

When your team loses in the playoffs, there’s closure, but with the regular season yet to be finished and the possibility of a long playoff run to be determined, there was no closure with this Leafs season.

For the past four months, we’ve had to sit back and wait until the day finally came for the season to resume and to see whether or not this would be the year the Leafs finally make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Like every other optimistic Leafs fan, this could be the year it happens. I mean, how “Toronto Maple Leafs” would it be if the team finally won the Stanley Cup and couldn’t have a parade. It would be the funniest thing of all-time, yet the saddest thing ever.

Although we weren’t able to get into the building to watch the scrimmage, having a live Leafs game to watch was incredible. Before the game started, I couldn’t have cared less if they won or lost by 10, as long as the game was played safely.

Now that the game’s over, there were a number of positives about the Leafs first game in four months.

Below are 10 of my biggest takeaways from the scrimmage:

#1. I’ve Really Missed Wes McCauley

Everyone reading this probably already knows who Wes McCauley is, but if you don’t, he’s the most fun referee in the NHL. Just look below.

https://twitter.com/BarSouthNCelly/status/957760988878585856?s=20

Even in front of zero fans in the stands, McCauley didn’t disappoint when he announced his first penalty of the game loud and proud. It was glorious!

#2. Soup for you! 

Paired with Mitch Marner and John Tavares for most of the night, Ilya “Soup-man” Mikheyev delivered.

He left off exactly where we hoped he would with the first goal of the game.

#3. Mitch Marner Is Awesome

Marner didn’t score any points in the scrimmage but his craftiness was on full display. Even his work on the penalty kill was underrated.

#4. Are We Sure Elliotte Friedman Doesn’t Play for San Jose?

It’s not exactly Leafs roster related but shout-out to Elliote Freidman of Sportsnet for growing his beard through quarantine and for this awesome tweet by @clairepalmster.

#5. Nick Robertson Looked Good

Robertson recorded an assist and led the Leafs with a 75%  possession rating and an expected-goals rating of 86%.   That is very, very good. (stats naturalstattrick.com).

Overall, he seemed to fit in on the third line with Kasperi Kapanen and Alex Kerfoot, and there were glimpses of his all-world skill on the second-unit power-play.

#6. New Camera Angles for Broadcast

Did anyone else notice the Monday Night Football-like cameras by Sportsnet?

At first, it felt too much like a video game but by the end of the night I liked the experiment and hope they continue to try different angles throughout the playoffs.

#7. Morgan Rielly is Officially Back

After being injured for a majority of the 2019-20 season and not playing 100 percent healthy when he was in the line-up, Rielly looked like the player we remember from 2018-19.

Rielly jumped into the rush a number of times last nightand finished with the most points of any Leafs player scoring one goal and compiling two assists.

#8. Alex Kerfoot Was Leafs Best Forward

Yes, you read that right. Kerfoot scored two goals last night, but more impressively was a beast on the penalty-kill.

In 222 career games, Kerfoot has never scored a short-handed goal and although the scrimmage won’t count towards his career total, maybe the Leafs found a great new penalty-killer last night?

#9. Penalty Kill > Power-Play

Don’t expect this trend to continue but the Leafs went 0-for-3 on the Power-Play, and 6-for-6 on the Penalty Kill, while scoring two short-handed goals.

Like always, Kapanen’s speed was a main reason why the Leafs scored one of their short-handed goals but the team will need to get their power-play rolling in order to defeat Columbus.

#10. No Rust For Freddie

Frederick Andersen stopped 28 of 30 shots he faced and showed very little rust against Montreal.

There were concerns about his play heading into the bubble, but he answered any haters after last night’s game.

Overall, it wasn’t the prettiest game the Leafs have ever played but it didn’t matter. The Leafs are officially back, baby!