The Toronto Maple Leafs won a game against the Colorado Avalanche, on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena, that they had no business winning - but they got extremely lucky.
The Toronto Maple Leafs got off to a bad start - 32% Corsi and outshot 8-3 in the first - but managed to head to the intermission tied. Auston Matthews scored on the power-play to give the Leafs the lead, but Colorado was the better team throughout the night, with Joseph Woll easily being the Leafs best player and the main reason for victory.
Colorado finished with 57% of the expected-goals, and the Leafs won on goaltending and a lucky bounce. With the game tied at one early in the third, Brandon Carlo got the gate for tripping. During the ensuing penalty kill, the Leafs attempted the clear the puck down the ice.
However, the puck hit one of the officials and landed on Steven Lorentz’s lap. He made no mistake in burying the puck past a dumbfounded MacKenzie Blackwood.
Blackwood’s reaction showed just how surprised he was by the entire sequence. While it was certainly a soft goal, it’s one Leafs Nation will take any day of the week. So, a thought comes to mind: If the Leafs hadn’t gotten that lucky break, would they have won the game? In all likelihood, the game would have gone to overtime. There, a highly entertaining five minutes would have settled the score.
Yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs played a great game, but there’s a sliver of doubt regarding whether the Leafs would have won the game without the lucky bounce.
Toronto Maple Leafs get super lucky in win, but they'll take it!
Auston Matthews seems to have regained his Hart Trophy form over the last couple of weeks. He had a pair of goals against the Calgary Flames in his previous outing. He hit the back of the net again on Wednesday night, opening the scoring early in the second period.
But beyond Matthews’ offensive prowess, it was his defensive game that made the difference against the Avalanche. The Leafs Captain drew one of the toughest assignments in the league: Keep Nathan MacKinnon in check.
That’s precisely what Matthews did. Craig Berube managed to match up Matthews against MacKinnon all game long, neutralising the Avalanche’s top scorer. Matthews was so effective, that the commentators during the Sportsnet broadcast raved about how well Matthews had matched up against MacKinnon.
But beyond Matthews and his stellar defensive work, Joseph Woll was brilliant between the pipes. After the Leafs had gotten a couple of shaky outings in the crease, having Woll dominate the way he did was a welcome sight.
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to have solid goaltending down the stretch and heading into the NHL playoffs. Toronto must push to win the division if they are to have any sort of chance to make it past the first round. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
While winning the Atlantic Division likely means the Leafs face the Ottawa Senators in the first round, such a matchup would be more palatable to one with either the Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning.