The Toronto Maple Leafs were without their biggest stars when they took on the Ottawa Senators for their third preseason game.
John Tavares, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Morgan Reilly, Jake Muzzin, T.J. Brodie and Jack Campbell all sat out as the Toronto Maple Leafs sought to provide ice time to some of the newcomers so they could get more opportunity to impress.
…and impress they did!
Michael Bunting scored a hat-trick, Josh Ho-Sang had three assists and Petr Mrázek recorded a shutout.
Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Ottawa Senators 0
All three of Bunting’s goals came on the powerplay. Will he be the key to turning around last season’s powerplay woes for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season?
It’s only preseason, but Michael Bunting’s four goals in two preseason games leads the NHL right now. I believe he’s cemented himself into a top six role with the Toronto Maple Leafs to start the season – if there was any doubt.
Josh Ho-Sang assisted on all three of Michael Bunting’s powerplay goals which really boosted his stock in his quest for a contract. Ho-Sang and Bunting were line mates during their time at even strength as well as on the powerplay.
The other goal scorer for the Toronto Maple Leafs was new comer, David Kämpf, and was his second goal in two preseason games. His line mates, Ondřej Kaše and Nikita Gusev, each had an assist. Kaše also scored a goal during the Leafs last preseason game against the Canadiens while Gusev’s assist was his first point of the preseason.
Petr Mrázek made 19 saves during his shutout while facing some of the Ottawa Senators better players such as Connor Brown and Tim Stützle. It was a great bounce back for Mrázek after playing the second half of Toronto’s 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a bit of a break now before playing back-to-back preseason games against the Ottawa Senators on Monday and the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. I would expect the team to trim down their roster a bit before then. Their will be some tough choices to make.