The Toronto Maple Leafs lost their season opener to the Montreal Canadiens in a nailbiter, leaving them with some early lessons learned and in need of a quick turnaround ahead of a mid-week back-to-back.
Preface: This is a back-dated recap due to severe schedule conflicts during the opening week of the season, so it’ll be a little shorter and less speculative of the road ahead since, well, we’ve been able to look into the proverbial future. It’s mostly here to complete the Leafs schedule page.
The Rundown
There was a lot of reason to be excited when William Nylander opened up the season’s scoring just 48 seconds into the first period, spinning around at the blue line before rippinng one of his trademark wrist shots. That excitement, sadly, was popped pretty quickly, as Josh Anderson tied the game ten minutes later with a baseball swing off a rebound in front. From this point on, the Leafs never had the lead again.
Zachary Bolduc gave Montreal their first lead of the game five minutes into the second period. Mike Matheson activated off the point to pick up a loose puck on the wall, setting up Bolduc to find open space in front and bury a knuckling one-timer. Alex Carrier extended the Habs’ lead to two with seven minutes remaining in regulation, firing an innocent looking wrist shot that eluded a screened Sergei Bobrovsky. Nylander halved the the lead two mintues later with a spectacular effort, but his second goal of the game was also the last the Leafs would score.
Notes
- Kirill Marchenko dazzled in this game, showing the value of being fresh out of water and playing free. He sliced through all three zones with ease and created all sorts of opportunities, arguably deserving more than the single assist he came out with.
- William Nylander didn’t find himself as a top performer despites scoring all of Toronto’s goals. His line struggled heavily in controlling play, and he was one of two Leafs on for all three goals against, so the outcome isn’t terribly shocking.
- A tough first night for Gavin McKenna, who made a few interesting plays with the puck but saw himself looking inside the wrong goal twice with nothing earned in return. They can’t all be Auston Matthews-like debuts, I suppose.
- Josh Anderson really has a thing for twisting the knife against Toronto, doesn’t he?
- Nevertheless, this a game Toronto probably takes if Jakub Dobes isn’t stellar in goal. Not dominant, but good enough to have flipped the other way in the right circumstance.
Up Next
The Maple Leafs have a very quick turnaround after this game, taking on the New York Islanders in their first Amazon Prime game of the year tomorrow night. The joys of being the Centre of the Universe – opening up with a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday seems absurd on the face, but when you’re a market this big, the broadcasters want as much as they can get out of you right away.
Numbers Game
| Top Performers | Bottom Performers | Top Opponents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kirill Marchenko (2.39) 0G, 1A, 4 SOG, +1, 76% xG | 1. Darren Raddysh (-2.43) 0G, 0A, 3 SOG, -2, 51% xG | 1. Josh Anderson (3.63) 1G, 1A, 3 SOG, +2, 68% xG |
| 2. Easton Cowan (2.25) 0G, 1A, 1 SOG, +1, 92% xG | 2. Gavin McKenna (-1.54) 0G, 0A, 1 SOG, -2, 42% xG | 2. Mike Matheson (2.77) 0G, 1A, 3 SOG, 65% xG |
| 3. John Tavares (1.38) 0G, 1A, 4 SOG, 58% xG | 3. Nick Paul (-0.87) 0G, 0A, 0 SOG, -1, 21% xG | 3. Alexandre Carrier (2.09) 1G, 1A, 3 SOG, +1, 45% xG |
| Shots On Goal | 28-24 TOR | Faceoffs | 21 for 53 |
| 5v5 Shot Attempts | 40-39 MTL | Hits | 28-23 MTL |
| 5v5 Expected Goals | 1.96-1.53 TOR | Blocked Shots | 14-11 TOR |
| Best Period (xG) | 5v5: 3rd (77%) All: 2nd (55%) | Powerplay | 0 for 3 (4 shots) |
| Worst Period (xG) | 5v5: 1st (44%) All: 1st (42%) | Penalty Kill | 2 for 2 (3 shots) |
Table 1: Game Score via Dom, HockeyStatCards reccomended for full-game results
Table 2: Derived from NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick
Heatmap: via Natural Stat Trick
