Toronto Maple Leafs Lose Even Though They Should Have Won

Coming off their victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 3-2 last night in a thriller against the Montreal Canadiens, even though the Leafs beat Montreal in every way possible except on the score sheet.

Whether by the eye test, or by the stat sheet, the Toronto Maple Leafs deserved to win last night, and it is absolutely crazy they did not. (NaturalStatTrick)

This game proves, beyond any shadow of doubt, the random nature of overtime and that goaltending can steal a team a win even though they clearly did not deserve it, as the Leafs were unable to overcome stellar goaltending from Sam Montembeault, who made 36 saves while facing a whopping 38 shots.

Despite the loss, goaltender Ilya Samsonov was outstanding in net for the Leafs, stopping 28 of 31 shots, leaving him with a record of 13-4-2 on the season.

The goal scorers for the Toronto Maple Leafs were Mark Giordano, with his third of the year, and second in as many games, and Calle Jarnkrok, with his tenth of the year.

Toronto Maple Leafs Stars Continue To Shine

Despite not scoring any goals themselves, the team was led by it’s star players once again last night, with each of Toronto’s three superstars in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander recording points in the form of assists.

While Giordano and Jarnkrok were the goal scorers it was Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner who made it all possible with their determined efforts to bring the puck into the zone and set the table for those two to capitalize.

John Tavares was again held off the score sheet, despite taking seven shots, leaving him stuck in 95th place on the all-time NHL goal scoring list with 411 career goals to date.

In good news Timothy Liljegren was able to play after being struck in the head by a puck in the team’s last game on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.

It was a scary moment for Leafs fans who witnessed the team’s best defenseman remain on the ice for several minutes before leaving the game.

Liljegren needed to be checked out by team doctor’s and clear concussion protocols before returning to action last night, looking no worse for the wear while playing over twenty minutes with Morgan Rielly on the top pair.

Liljegren and Rielly played 13 minutes together and posted an 82% Puck Possession rating and a 79% . That’s pretty good!

Looking Ahead To The Leaf’s Next Opponent 

With a record of 28-11-8 the Toronto Maple Leafs now have 64 points, leaving them in 3rd place overall behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who are now two points ahead of them after beating the team’s next opponent the New York Islanders, and the league leading Boston Bruins, who have 76 points and did not play last night.

As mentioned, the Leafs next play against the New York Islanders (23-20-5) on Monday, at the Air Canada Centre, in Toronto. The Islanders are struggling lately with a 2-5-3 record in their last ten games and it should be an easy victory for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

With a 12-0-1 record at home it is not unreasonable to expect Ilya Samsonov to get the start again as Matt Murray has struggled with inconsistency lately.

The expected starting goaltender for the Islanders will be Ilya Sorokin, who is having a Vezina caliber season for himself on a poor Islanders team that only has 51 points in 48 games this year, and are currently not in a playoff spot.

Game time is at 7:00 and can be seen on Sportsnet.