The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the midst of a three game series against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Toronto Maple Leafs not only won the first two games of the series, they absolutely dominated them.
First, the Leafs beat Vancouver 7-3 in a game where even the Leafs fourth line looked incredible. In the second game, the Leafs won 5-1 and were just as dominant.
Now, thanks to an unfortunate injury to the hand of Wayne Simmonds – a shot puck hit his hand and broke a bone – Rasmus Sandin will make his season debut as the Leafs go with 11 forwards and seven defenseman.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks
A previous injury to Travis Dermott led to the Leafs inserting Mikko Lehtonen into the game on Saturday, which was the first time he played in a game where he wasn’t the 7th defenseman, if I’m not mistaken.
Lehtonen was noticeable and appeared to do well, picking up two assists, one of which was pretty sweet. He was a 50% player and didn’t hurt the team, while he showed flashes of the exciting high-end potential that he possesses.
I doubt Sandin will make such an impact after not playing an NHL game for several months, if not almost a year other than what he got in the team’s single exhibition game in the preseason. Sandin remains a tantalizing talent and the fact that he and Lehtonen are not regulars at this point speaks more to the Leafs depth than the performance of these players.
With Deromott and Simmonds joining Campbell, Thornton and Robertson on the sidelines, the Leafs are getting quite banged up. It might seem like a lot, but considering none of these injuries have been to core players, I don’t think they can really complain.
The Leafs need to watch out in this game I think because the Canucks have been so bad these last two games that it would be easy to just take the win for granted and forget to show up. The Canucks are an absolute mess though, from their terrible general manager all the way down to a coach who uses Tyler Myers on the first pairing, which would be like the Leafs using Zach Bogosian on the first pairing (we’ve seen Ceci and Hainsey there, so we know the Canucks fans’ frustration at this kind of thing first hand).
The Leafs should get some credit though – Vancouver isn’t just playing poorly, the Leafs have been unreal. If they play like they have in the last two games, they won’t have any trouble with teams like Boston or Tampa, forget the Canucks.