Toronto Maple Leafs: An Emotional Night For Leafs Nation

The Toronto Maple Leafs experienced a lot of pain in their first playoff game against the Montreal Canadians

Seeing Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares go down like that and not being able to get up was a really painful moment for the Toronto Maple Leafs team, fans, and John’s family.

All of Leafs nation is hurting after seeing that horrific scene when there was so much anticipation for this game.  At the end of the day, the main thing that matters is that John is okay. It was comforting to see John put a thumbs-up as he was going out on the stretcher.

It was reported by Leafs PR that John was discharged from the hospital and is resting at home with the support of team physicians. Tavares will be out indefinitely.

Further, it was an admirable performance for the Leafs to play as well as they did after what happened in that game at the end of the day. It shows that the players are strong.

Seeing something so dystopian go down like how it did was heart wrenching on TV, let alone in the moment where it happened. Moving forward this all has to be for John. If the Leafs are going to move forward and win this series it has to be for John.

The Game

Let’s begin with who stood out tonight for the buds.

William Nylander the lone goal scorer had a fantastic game at both ends of the ice, besides getting the third delay of the game penalty. Nylander was carrying the puck better than anyone on either team with control. He made a couple of fantastic royal road passes, one to Rielly in the second period that almost lead to a goal. And the other pass was the best chance of the game for Marner, Price making an UNBELIEVABLE save.

Morgan Rielly also had a fantastic game, not only did he save a goal but he was getting into open space creating scoring chances for himself. He also did not cause any odd-man rushes against to my knowledge which is always a plus. Rielly had one assist and 3 quality scoring chances at 5v5, he was the dynamic offensive Morgan Rielly many have grown to love.

While Auston Matthews did not score last night his line dominated at 5v5, all 3 players had over 80xGF% which is remarkable. If they continue this trend there is no way they are left off the scoreboard any longer. These players will need to really show up in this series if the Leafs want any hope of winning.

In the net, Price dominated the game throughout putting up a .972 save percentage, stopping 36 out of 37 shots. Could playoff Price be present again? Price has stolen more than a few series in his career, he is probably already a hall of fame goaltender with his successes.

While Campbell held his own pretty well stopping 30/32 total which is good news for the Leafs, appears that Campbell did not take any steps back. On the other side of the coin, there were a few players who in particular played poorly on the Leafs.

Joe Thornton was responsible for turning the puck over on both goals and that is unacceptable for a veteran like Jumbo. Thornton also had a 16.55xGF% at 5v5 which is outright terrible.

The Kerfoot-Nash-Mikheyev line was terrible at 5v5 in the minutes that they played together.  All three players played terribly at 5v5 there is no way the Leafs win without Tavares if these players are going to be a drag like this at 5v5.

Rasmus Sandin’s slow skating was taken advantage of twice on the powerplay, the most notable time leading to the game-winning goal against. I recognize Sandin is young, but skating is certainly something he could improve on. Sandin was not terrible at 5v5, but he needs to be better in general.

Against some of the Habs fast speedy players, the Sandin-Bogosian pairing is quite worrisome given neither player is fast enough. Dermott would be able to keep up with the Habs fastest players, I would be putting him back in the lineup if I were Keefe.

Ending Remarks

The Habs were able to create some very effective rush chances, and when they are at their best that is a part of their winning. Montreal is terrible on the cycle so most of their goals come off the rush as was apparent in last night’s game.

It is very nice to hear Tavares is doing well, it feels like we will forever be scarred by that scary moment. We can still share our gratitude by sharing #WinitforJT on Twitter and possibly donating to help bring opportunities to children at the John Tavares foundation. 

The next game is Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs are not done this series yet.