The Toronto Maple Leafs Absolutely Destroyed the Mighty Ducks

The Toronto Maple Leafs absolutely dummied the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night to the tune of 7-0. It was a big night of celebrations.

The Toronto Maple Leafs ran their point streak up to 15 games, goaltender Ilya Samsonov had his second consecutive shutout, and Mitch Marner extended his personal point streak to 23 games on a beautiful pass to John Tavares.

There was so much more to like about Toronto’s performance.

The Leafs cruised through the game, spreading the goal scoring out between six different players, with Kerfoot being the only one to pot a pair. Conor Timmins also had the best game of his young 45 game career, recording three assists. In his previous 44 games combined, he had a total of 8 assists.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Anaheim Ducks

Among all the positives, the game ended with one question mark. With one minute and nine seconds remaining to play in the third period, there was a scrum by the Toronto Maple Leafs net. It came after David Kampf bumped Trevor Zegras, which was retaliation for the cross check Zegras delivered on the other end of the ice into Kampf’s ribs. Both players were assessed coincidental minor penalties for roughing.

Frustration in games like these is common. The actions aren’t surprising and neither of the aforementioned players did anything worth earning a second look. That’s not true for what Kevin Shattenkirk did in that same scrum.

Shattenkirk, a free free agent at season’s end and someone who could be one of Leafs upcoming trade targets, inserted himself into the back and forth between Zegras and Kampf. Shattenkirk witnessed his teammate get bumped and immediately grabbed Kampf. He very quickly grabbed the Leafs third-line center’s helmet and ripped it off. Shattenkirk tossed the helmet away and began throwing punches to Kampf’s head. For this, he was not penalized but he should serve a suspension.

Considering that the only purpose to remove an opponents helmet and then punch him is to cause injury, the referees would have had cause to assess a match penalty for “attempt to injure.” By definition that would fit, but it’s not the spirit of the rule. Shattenkirk kept his gloves on, ensuring that he didn’t hurt his own hand in the act.

This play should be reviewed by the NHL department of player safety. If not to look for punitive action toward Shattenkirk, then to see how to better protect the skaters.

The OHL took action to protect against this sort of act. In 2009, OHL commissioner David Branch instituted a new rule in response to the untimely death of a senior men’s AAA league 21-year-old player. Don Sanderson of the Whitby Dunlops died when his head struck the ice during an on-ice fight. For all players’ safety, Branch put rules in place to discourages the removal of helmets.

If the NHL were playing under OHL rules, Shattenkirk would have been handed a game misconduct (which would have seen him ejected at the end of Tuesday’s contest) and a one-game suspension. There will likely be no further discipline. However, that may have been different had Kampf been injured.

The NHL shouldn’t be reactive. The game is better when the best players in the world are healthy. The league should be doing everything possible to protect their athletes. Waiting for injuries just shouldn’t be the accepted norm.

The Maple Leafs and Ducks have already competed in both games they were scheduled against one another. They don’t cross paths again this season.