After having a nearly two week break from NHL action the Toronto Maple Leafs were back on the ice this past weekend and came out victorious in a pair of games.
The Toronto Maple Leafs first took on the Stanley Cup contending Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night at home and then had a quick turnover where they had to go to Illinois to face the lowly Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
The club walked away from the weekend with four points, scoring 11 goals from eight different skaters, including a pair from the defense on Sunday night.
The two victories, along with a Panthers loss on Saturday night had them leapfrogging Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division while still having a game in hand.
Toronto Maple Leafs Weekend Sees Depth Scoring Come Alive
In a surprising decision coming out of the break, Craig Berube elected to reunite Bobby McMann with Max Domi and Nicholas Robertson on the third line which meant Pontus Holmberg was promoted to the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander.
The 2018 sixth round selection came into the weekend with just two goals on the year, but he more than doubled that by leading the team with a trio of tallies in the contests. While it is nice to see Holmberg put some pucks in the net and it will hopefully help him gain some confidence, the goals need to be taken into context. He shot the puck past a goalie on none of the goals and only one of them came off his stick into the net.
During a scramble in front of the Hurricanes net on Saturday night, Jordan Staal attempted to clear the puck and shot it off his own goalie into the net and Holmberg was credited with the marker. Later in the game with the net empty, Nylander gave up a free to shoot at the open cage, instead he pass the puck to his fellow countryman for the goal. Sunday night, again with the net empty, Nylander threw the puck over to Holmberg which banked off of his skate and into the net. Analyst Mike Johnson even commented "Holmberg another goal he didn't shoot into the net, but he'll take it".
Nicholas Robertson Gets Challenged by Alex Steeves
The American Hockey League's leading scorer Alex Steeves was recalled for the weekend games and not only showed he should remain with the club, but potentially get a significant upgrade in ice-time. The undrafted Notre Dame product has had some small opportunities over the last four seasons, but typically gets thrown on the fourth line to play with the likes of David Kämpf or Ryan Reaves. This season, after leading the way with 29-goals in 40 games with the Marlies he got his second call-up.
Steeves was again assigned to play alongside Kämpf, while also getting Steven Lorentz to skate with. The Saint Paul, Minnesota native chipped in early in the first period by staying out late and finding himself with John Tavares. After a hard forecheck that caused the turn over while his linemates were changing he found himself along at the top of the circle and one-timed a pass from the former captain for his first career goal.
Later in the game, Steeves started a nice passing sequence from himself to Lorentz who fed the puck to Kämpf for his fourth goal of the season. Steeves showed what happens when you have a skilled player with forechecking skills on the fourth line, something they have been lacking from Connor Dewar and Ryan Reaves.
Steeves was showing management what he could bring to a line-up and potentially fill a spot currently held by Nicholas Robertson if the team uses him as a trade chip at the deadline.
With even more doubt leading towards where Robertson fits in the line-up with Steeves game on Saturday night, Robertson responded in a big way on Sunday against the Blackhawks. The former second round pick was able to snap a nine game pointless and goalless streaks by burying a pair of Max Domi passes. One came as a one-time shot on the powerplay and the other was a redirection shot off the rush.
Robertson who has been struggling to put up offence this year suddenly has hit double digits in goals as he now sits at ten.
Ryan Reaves destined for waivers
With back-to-back contests over the weekend, you would have expected Berube to make some line-up changes for Sunday night, but thankfully the only switch was Joseph Woll in for Anthony Stolarz. The fear was that Ryan Reaves and/or Philippe Myers were going into the game on Sunday; and had Steeves not had a big night on Saturday, I think Reaves finds himself in. Both players are big bodies which make them desirable for some styles of hockey, but with not much hockey sense in either they are liabilities on the ice so to see them scratched for both games was good.
Leaving them off the game sheet should be a telling decision that Reaves days are numbered and waivers seems like a legit possibility over the next week with Calle Järnkrok looking like he is returning soon.