Leafs Postgame: Jaws Of Life (3-1 Toronto)
If Monday night was supposed to be confirmation of a torch-passing, the San Jose Sharks will have to wait. A back-and-forth affair ended up being much lower scoring than any of us expected, and on the backs of their two franchise faces, the Toronto Maple Leafs skated away with a 3-1 victory in front of the home crowd.
The Rundown
On a night where the Maple Leafs had recalled two Calder Cup-winning Toronto Marlies, it made sense that the first goal would be scored by a Calder Cup-winning Toronto Marlie. One problem – it was a 2018 Marlie, and he was on the other side of the ice. With six minutes left in the first period, Mason Marchment opened the scoring for San Jose, having been left wide open in the slot to catch a Tyler Toffoli lob and walk it past Sergei Bobrovsky.
Toronto struggled to generate a response for a while, even failing to convert on a rare extended 5-on-3. Opportunities started to flow in the second period, but Yaroslav Askarov looked impossible to beat. Suddenly, with the Sharks taking a too-many-men penalty in the final minute of the period, the Leafs had another chance to build momentum, and they needed just seven seconds to do so. A behind-the-net pass from Kirill Marchenko off the faceoff found an open Auston Matthews, tying the game with 11 seconds remaining in the middle frame.
The powerplay struck once more in the third period. With Luca Cagnoni in the box, Gavin McKenna corralled a pass from Matthews and weaved his way to the front of the net, burying his third of the season. Nick Paul added an empty netter with 40 seconds remaining, icing the game.
Notes
- Sergei Bobrovsky is no longer in danger of breaking the Toskala Streak we were talking about on Saturday. A sublime performance that gets the 38-year-old his first home win.
- After a quiet night on Saturday, Auston Matthews immediately picks up his momentum and gets back on the scoreboard with another important goal. Just as interesting, though, is this was a night here he was placed on Clamps duty against Macklin Celebrini, playing roughly 11 of his 14 minutes against the young phenom and keeping him off the stat sheet.
- Gavin McKenna made a Big Game Play (TM) to score what was ultimately the winning goal, living up to an opportunity that isn’t a given for an 18 year old rookie. “He’s not shy of the moment at all.” said Matthews about McKenna after the game. “You give him a little bit of time and space, like he had there, he’s going to make something happen”
- What a run this has been for the penalty kill, going perfect once again and improving to an absurd 24 for 25 on the season. Will it last forever? Probably not – Toronto sits mid-pack in unblocked attempts per 60 with a man short but matches it with a 0.976 save percentage, allowing one goal on 8.66 expected goals. That probably gives sooner than later. But they’ve had a few nights where they’ve kept opponents to under a shot per PK and that’s the more impressive stat to me.
- Jim Hiller promised less bus-parking after Buffalo, and certainly, toronto were less aggressive about it last night. The third wasn’t the most exciting hockey I’ve ever seen in my life, but they still had moments where they pushed for the last goal even after the McKenna tally.
- Nice to see Nick Paul get rewarded with the empty netter. I feel like a lot of the bottom-six guys are riding off the success of the penalty kill and Toronto’s natural inclination to cheer on the depth guy, but he’s been the best and most versatile of the players they added in that vein this year.
Up Next
The Maple Leafs are immediately back at it tomorrow, taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets. You know what this means – trade discourse!! Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m, but we’ll be here to talk about it before that.
Numbers Game
| Top Performers | Bottom Performers | Top Opponents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sergei Bobrovsky (2.41) 30 Saves, 1 GA on 3.41 xG | 1. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (-2.43) 0G, 0A, 1 SOG, -1, 26% xG | 1. Mason Marchment (2.19) 1G, 0A, 4 SOG, 78% xG |
| 2. Auston Matthews (2.04) 1G, 2A, 3 SOG, 29% xG | 2. Jake McCabe (-1.76) 0G, 0A, 1 SOG, 33% xG | 2. Michael Kesselring (1.85) 0G, 0A, 2 SOG, +1, 65% xG |
| 3. Kirll Marchenko (1.27) 0G, 1A, 2 SOG, 32% xG | 3. Troy Stecher (-1.29) 0G, 0A, 1 SOG, -1, 39% xG | 3. Tyler Toffoli (1.83) 0G, 1A, 2 SOG, 77% xG |
| Shots On Goal | 32-31 TOR | Faceoffs | 32 for 63 |
| 5v5 Shot Attempts | 47-46 SJ | Hits | 19-15 SJ |
| 5v5 Expected Goals | 2.8 – 1.96 SJ | Blocked Shots | 15-9 TOR |
| Best Period (xG) | 5v5: 1st (48%) All: 3rd (60%) | Powerplay | 2 for 5 (5 shots) |
| Worst Period (xG) | 5v5: 3rd (33%) All: 2nd (46%) | Penalty Kill | 4 for 4 (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
