Toronto Maple Leafs: The kids look alright
The Toronto Maple Leafs won a hard-fought game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. After the win, most of the talk surrounding the team was about the play shown by the young guys.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are battling through a bunch of injuries right now. Auston Matthews, David Kampf, and Max Domi are on injured reserve, while Max Pacioretty and Calle Jarnkrok are on long-term injured reserve, and Ryan Reaves is serving a five-game suspension. That's six players missing from the Leafs regular lineup.
Fraser Minten, Alex Steeves, and Nikita Grebenkin were recent Toronto Marlies call-ups. All three players played well against the Golden Knights, but Fraser Minten scoring his first NHL goal is the highlight. Minten played hard all night and was in the right place at the right time for an amazing pass from William Nylander to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
Alex Steeves has played hard in his two games with the Leafs this season. He's come close to scoring several times, but his possession numbers are good, and he has four hits. Grebenkin played just over 11 minutes in his NHL debut. He had a blocked shot and four hits, but none bigger than the one he laid out on Shea Theodore that turned into a scoring chance for the Leafs.
Toronto Maple Leafs blank the Vegas Golden Knights
Although it was an empty net goal, Pontus Holmberg finally got his first goal of the season. It took him 18 games to break the goose egg, but hopefully, the goals will start to come for the 25-year-old Swede. Due to injuries, Holmberg got the rare chance to center a line with Nylander and Matthew Knies.
Speaking of Matthew Knies, he had to leave the game in the second period after taking a hit to the head by Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud. Knies did not return to the game and is listed as day-to-day. Hopefully, it's not serious, and he'll return soon. He was off to a great start in his second NHL season, with eight goals and four assists for 12 points in 20 games.
(Stats from hockey-reference.com)
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On a happier note, Joseph Woll made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season. He improves his record to 4-2-0 in six games. Woll has a 2.00 GAA and a .922 SV%. He and Stolarz are giving the Leafs some solid goaltending right now. Speaking of goaltending, the Leafs played a video tribute to former goaltender Ilya Samsonov who was the backup goaltender for Vegas on Wednesday.