Maple Leafs Win Twice In Ten Minutes, Close Out Preseason 2-1-1

You know I had to reverse the title from Saturday, right? The Toronto Maple Leafs had a much better showing on Wednesday night, dominating their “A” game in Toronto while also picking up a victory in their B game against Ottawa, officially double dipping the Senators to close out their preseason.

Highlights

If Saturday left a bit of a bad taste in your mouth for the “A” squad, this was redemption and then some. While a Tim Stutzle goal that saw him walk Darren Raddysh gave a little moment of nervousness early in the first period.

From there, though, Toronto lived life in the fast line. Jake McCabe went to the net to clean up a rebound of what initially began as his own chance a little over a minute later. With a minute left in the opening frame, a chip out by Gavin McKenna sent William Nylander and John Tavares on an odd-man rush, with the former selling a shot before slipping the puck to the latter to take the lead.

The Leafs continued their pressure into the next frame and beyond. Jack Roslovic cleaned up another rebound on the powerplay less than five minutes into the second, and the team added two more from slightly unexpected places. First it was Zack MacEwen crashing the net and tipping home an Easton Cowan pass, and two minutes after that, Morgan Rielly wrapped up a fantastic bit of zone time with a wrister from the hash marks.

In the third, the Senators had a couple of last-ditch chances early on that could’ve sent momentum the other way, but Sergei Bobrovsky was up to the task of locking the door. With fourteen minutes left, Auston Matthews ripped home a vintage bar-down wrist shot to end Leevi Merilainen’s night in the Ottawa net, and any thought of pushback. The last couple of minutes of the game got a little silly following a late hit from Michael Pezzetta but ultimately, the clock was able to wind down.

Over in Ottawa, I joked about guys who scored in the last B game having “hot streaks” to protect, and apparently Henrik Rybinski listened. While it wasn’t ruled a goal initially, he roofed a wrist shot past Linus Ullmark on a second-period powerplay that was eventually credited to him. Much like the McCabe response in the A game, the Senators were quick to tie the game up, this time with Dylan Cozens (again, joked about in the preview) staying hot with a heavy snapper past Anthony Stolarz.

The rest of the scoring in this game came in the final ten minutes of the third period. Once again, we got a quick back and forth – first Steven Lorentz redirected a Marshall Rifai shot to give Toronto a lead, but a nifty backhand from Hoyt Stanley brought the game all square just 41 seconds later. Ryan Tverberg put the Leafs up for good with a little over four minutes remaining, ripping a wrister from the hash marks off a great pass from Jacob Quillan, and Teddy Blueger added an empty netter to close the deal in the final seconds.

Numbers Game

Come regular season, this area will feature the fine work at Hockey Stat Cards, and maybe some of my own stuff if it’s a night where I’ve been tracking along. For the preseason, we’ll use the heatmaps from the also fantastic Natural Stat Trick.

The “A” game wasn’t just a dominant response for a squad that struggled on the shot count against Montreal, but one of their most lopsided efforts in a long time. Outshooting their opponents 35-14 marked just the third time – preseason, regular season, or playoffs – that they’ve doubled an opponent on shots on goal since the start of 2024/25. Toronto carried roughly 70% of the attempts and expected goals at 5v5, and particularly dominated the paint.

The “B” game was significantly more even. The first period was a toss up, the second was dominated by the Senators, and the third controlled by the Leafs as they made their last push to pull away. Ultimately, the Leafs had a decent shot quality edge at 5-v5, but no one’s bragging about a game that see the two teams combine for about 2.5 xG at 5v5. Hardly the most exciting bag of scoring chances you’ll find out there, to say the least – especially since Toronto by and large waited until the end to take their best looks.

Notes

• Again, we’re mostly going to focus on the “A” game for now, but a big shoutout to Landon Sim, who dropped the gloves twice – but especially for his second skirmish with Nick Cousins. After getting a greasy shot behind the net, he took matters into his own hands and made him second guess the decision. Most people who have read my work over the years know I’m not into token tough guys, but I can enjoy a player who works their way up and has that edge. I don’t know that Sim gets there, but he keeps making me hope that there’s enough in his play for it to happen eventually.
• My goodness, was it ever nice to see that sixth Matthews goal. There weren’t as many isolated “moments” with him as Saturday, but he was still very good, and seeing that trademark wrister/snapper again after having it practically disappear last year was a very welcome sign of what will hopefully be things to come.
• I’ve seen enough – Gavin McKenna’s star potential is a matter of when, not if. A second night where he was dictating the pace rather than the other way around, and he got an assist and another drawn penalty for his trouble. I don’t know that he’s one of those instant high-production forwards out of the gate, largely because the Leafs don’t need to force him into that spot, but the talent is for real.
• That whole McKenna-Tavares-Nylander line was dominant tonight, out-attempting the Senators 16-2, outshooting them 9-1, and outscoring them 2-0. A huge response following a mixed bag against the Habs.
• Nick Paul dropped out of the first game after about a period of action. A shame, because he looked noticeable in a positive way. Jim Hiller said after the game: “We’ll know more tomorrow. I don’t think it’s too serious, I talked to him after, but we’ll know a little bit more tomorrow.”. Nick Blankenburg also missed some time in the B game after a hit from Sammy Blais, but returned for the third.
• Kind of counter to the first point, the intermission in the “A” game spent a chunk of time committed to talking about how the Leafs seemed tougher and more likely to respond to hits based on the four preseason games. I don’t know that I buy that just yet. There’s a big gap between players on the outside looking in dropping the gloves to prove their value to the team, and an actual identity, and nearly every fight we’ve seen in these games has come from a player that projects to land on the Marlies. It can be nice to see them from guys at an individual level, but it’s not telling of team anything until it happens with regulars in meaningful games.
• Morgan Rielly looked very good in his return from illness tonight – the Leafs leveraged him and Darren Raddysh as a stacked offensive pair today and while it didn’t look pretty for the latter on Ottawa’s goal, it helped greatly with moving the puck north.
• I mentioned Zack MacEwen surprising with a decent effort on Saturday. He’s been rewarded with a goal now. You gotta hope that second year on his deal helps him clear waivers, because while I don’t really see a spot for him on the NHL depth chart, he’ll make a heck of a Marlie.
• The regular season begins on Tuesday as the Leafs take on Montreal.