Toronto Maple Leafs Provide Severe Beat-Down of Knights

Don’t look know, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have won three games in  a row.

After beating up on the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings in games whose final score’s made them appear to be much closer than they were, the Toronto Maple Leafs straight up whupped the Las Vegas Golden Knights last night by a score of 4-0.

Jack Campbell got his first shut-out of the season (fifth of his career, third as a Leaf) and has followed up his breakout season by posting a 1.99 / .929  stat line so far.

Not too shabby.

Toronto Maple Leafs and the Las Vegas Golden Knights

The Leafs technically played the Knights last night, but with so many injuries it was more like the Leafs vs a bunch of guys nobody ever heard of.

These are the breaks you must simply take advantage of if you are to contend, and the Leafs did their job.  That is three straight games with a victory, but let’s not get too carried away as the competition has been fairly week.

Still, a win is a win and this one, like the win in Detroit, was pretty dominant.  This time around, the Leafs goalie put in an equivalent performance to the team and the final score is far more representative of the game that was played.

The Leafs started strong controlling over 70% of the play in the first period, and that was pretty much the game.   Marner scored the nicest goal of the year so far, and Matthews added one as well.

With the Leafs at home, they were able to use their (so far) insanely good shut-down line for most of the tough assignments, creating matchups that were hugely favorable to the home team.

When this happens, not only do you create a good matchup for the Matthews line, but it pretty much leaves nobody qualified to play against the Tavares/Marner line, which, fully formed with Kerfoot on the ice, had close to 90% puck-possession.

Add in some excellent goaltending and a solid night from the blue-line and you’ve got the recipe for a Stanley Cup team.  (stats naturalstattrick.com).

How the Leafs are supposed to work Justin Holl back into this lineup is beyond me, because with Liljegren and Sandin on the third pair, they are just so much more dynamic.   Travis Dermott with Rielly I am not so sure about, but that’s what trade deadlines are for, I guess.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are flying right now, and they’ll get to try Tampa tomorrow, which is by far the best team they’ve played so far.