The Toronto Maple Leafs decided to show up for the third period last night and won the game 4-2 against the Calgary Flames.
After an early goal less than a minute in by Morgan Reilly, and after leading in shots with a big margin, the Toronto Maple Leafs, perhaps, thought it was time to take a break for the rest of the first and second periods.
But after Alex Galchnyuk finally scored his first goal (in his 8th game) as a leaf and tied the game 2-2 at the end of the second period, the Leafs must have thought it was a good time to show up and play like they usually do, which is what they did in the third period. The Flames had over 60% of the shot-attempts over the first two periods, but the Leafs reversed that in the third. (Naturalstattrick.com).
The next goal came from the same line, or more precisely, it started with a William Nylander shot, turned into a John Tavares rebound, and ended with a bounce off of Flames’ defenseman Noah Hanifin’s skate and went into the net. Some might call it a lucky bounce, or an unlucky bounce, for that matter, but we’ll take it, no matter what it’s called.
Auston Matthews scored the leafs’ fourth goal, which was his 25th of the season, keeping him in first place for most goals scored this season.
Toronto Maple Leafs Second Line
Overall, if this game made anything clear about Toronto’s second line, which has consistently been Galchenyuk-Tavares-Nylander ever since Galchenyuk joined the roster, it’s that they have a lot of chemistry and talent.
They seem to always know not only where they have to be on the ice, but also where the others will be, and when they will be there. They’re really connecting as linemates and both goals coming from this line last night are proof of it. Whether it’s Tavares’ rebound or Galchenyuk’s goal, it’s evident that they work well together. And I think it’s fair to expect to see more of this line for a while, so long as they keep producing.
While most of the Toronto Maple Leafs first two periods were mediocre, the third one was definitely in their favour, which makes me wonder, how many goals could they have gotten if they had played the entire game like this?
However, another important aspect of last night’s game that allowed them to be lazy in the first two was goaltending. With both Frederik Andersen and Jack Campbell injured, the Leafs’ goaltending situation has been far from ideal. But Michael Hutchinson was great last night.
While I think the Flames’ second goal could have been stopped, I also think Hutchinson redeemed himself with some amazing saves he made later on, especially considering he’s a third-string goaltender. Overall, he only allowed two goals on 34 shots, which gives him a .919 save percentage over eight games played this season.
The Leafs and Flames will play a rematch tonight.