The Toronto Maple Leafs got the season off to a nice start on Wednesday with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Though it was no revenge for losing in last year’s playoffs, it was still a solid way for the Toronto Maple Leafs to begin the season.
Especially with Auston Matthews and Ilya Mikheyev out of the lineup.
Jack Campbell looked like the Vezina-worthy superstar he was last year, and he held the Leafs in for the first ten or so minutes while they got their feet wet. After that, Toronto dominated until a series of penalties in the third period made the game appear closer than it should have been.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens
Along with Campbell, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly were Toronto’s best players on the night. I also enjoyed watching Ondrej Kase for the first time as well.
Rasmus Sandin was another standout. I enjoy the way he’s so calm and slow when he’s got the puck.
Statistically, this was close to a dominant performance by the Leafs, considering they only won by a single goal. 54% puck possession, 59% of the scoring chances, and 65% of the dangerous chances. The Toronto Maple Leafs finished with an almost 60% expected-goals rating.
The score and the fact that Montreal peppered Campbell with a lot of non-dangerous shots made the game appear closer than it was. Despite the Leafs missing their best player, Montreal didn’t look like their equal, and certainly didn’t resemble the team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. (All stats naturalstattrick.com).
The Leafs have now played Montreal 18 times since the start of last season with Montreal winning just four of those games in regulation. Insanely, if you include the preseason, Toronto and Montreal have faced each other in 21 out of the last 67 games.
Morgan Rielly led the Leafs in total ice-time last night, while T.J Brodie led them in 5v5 minutes.
The Leafs pretty much got caved in when Holl and Muzzin where on the ice with a fourth line that is way, way too slow to be effective. Other than that though, the Leafs crushed it, with pretty much every other player put up solid numbers.
Of particular note: William Nylander, who scored, also posted an insane 75% CF and the Leafs outshooting Montreal 8-2 with him on the ice.
Rasmus Sandin also had a 72% Corsi and an assist on the power-play.
Overall, the Toronto Maple Leafs played a great game, and it’s extremely nice to have hockey back.