Leafs Postgame: Depth Finally Breaks Through In Dramatic Win Over Rangers (5-4 Toronto)
The Toronto Maple Leafs had a flair for the dramatic on Thursday night, winning a thiller against the New York Rangers with just seconds to spare in regulation. It wasn’t always easy, and the goals came from places they haven’t up to this point in the year, but they got the job done.
The Rundown
The Maple Leafs needed just 96 seconds to get on the scoreboard in this one, with a reset followed by a stretch pass from Jake McCabe springing Easton Cowan for an open break between two New York defencemen. He didn’t drive the net, but took just as many steps as he needed to beat Dylan Garand. The Rangers responded quickly with an equalizer, but at the midway mark of the period, in came… Teddy Blueger?!? After nearly a month of dormancy, the fourth line found their offensive jets, with an offensive drive by Zack MacEwen causing commotion and putting Blueger in a spot to trickle one into the back of the net.
Two goals within four minutes in the second period put Toronto on their toes – an Oliver Bjorkstrand rebound tied the game six and a half minutes in, and a whip from Adam Fox on the point tipped off Ty Kartye and past Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Rangers the lead. But the fourth line struck for Toronto again – this time with Brandon Duhaime potting his own rebound off of another MacEwen setup. Self-rebounds remained en vogue for Toronto’s lone powerplay goal near the end of the period, as Krill Marchenko poked home a loose puck that he initiated to give the Leafs another lead.
Alexis Lafreniere put the Rangers back equal with four and a half minutes remaining, and it felt likely that the game would head to overtime. But a late push by the Leafs swung momentum in their favour, and while making the most of a delayed penalty call against the Rangers, Troy Stecher did his best 2011 Phil Kessel impression and became the unlikely hero of this game with a last-minute snapshot, putting the blue and white ahead with 28 seconds to go in regulation. They were able to hold on for the remainder to pick up their third straight victory.
Notes
- Honeslty, good on the fourth line. I gave them a hard time in the game preview and on social media for being unproductive in their minutes, and not wanting them to play an “absence of hockey” style. They were proactive and assertive today and even if there was a little fortune involved, they won their minutes on process just as much as the results. The best solution to a problem is when players who leave a gear on the table are able to find it and add it. Hopefully this is the start of something for them.
- Troy Stecher has had a real up and down year, with some games where he truly felt like a depth defenceman out of his element, so it’s nice to see these last two games pay off for him, between the big minutes against Columbus and tonight’s game winner. You could see how excited the bench was for him specifically – it felt like watching a big minor or junior hockey goal.
- Gavin McKenna had another “minute slash” night – not as dramatically as he did against Buffalo, but his 10:44 played was his second-lowest thus far this year. Obviously, there are fewer concerns about that when the Leafs win and there are more obvious signs of struggle for the player. Not his best night, with tough decision making on the 2-2 goal and an absolute whipping on the shot counter. These games will happen as he gets adjusted, it’s not the ned of the world.
- I’m really happy Vinni Lettieri got a chance to show his stuff after what he provided the Leafs organization at the minor league level last year, but this isn’t working right now. Maybe he can prove himself with one more shot, but he’s feeling more and more like an AAAA guy.
- Adam Fox’s 7.39 game score is the highest I’ve seen for or against the Leafs all year by a good margin, and the Rangers still managed to lose. There’s a lot of times where he feels like the most “Tungsten O’Doyle” player in the league. Tonight was one of them.
- Easton Cowan just can’t miss right now, eh? His breakaway was exactly what the Leafs needed to set an early tone – really, it’s incredible how well they lined up with the game preview’s notes on the whole – and that sits him with 11 points in his first 12 games. He had 29 all of last year, and it’s not like he wans’t given opportunities to play with real line mates for extended stretches last year. Great to see.
- The TSN broadcast crew really is the best of the bunch that get the chance to call the games on TV (or, I guess with the advent of so many games that are streaming-exclusive, “broadcast with video” would be the better term). They lived up to the moment tonight, with genuine enthusiasm for the games that Toronto doesn’t usually get to show on their owner’s broadcast network, paradoxically.
Up Next
The Maple Leafs hit the road for a week-long, west coast road trip starting with… oh boy, the Edmonton Oilers. Connor McDavid is currently having arguably the hottest start in the history of the league, so the Leafs are going to need to have a plan for taking on that buzzsaw. Puckdrop is at 7:00 p.m. and you’ll be able to get all your pre-game info on here come Saturday morning.
Numbers Game
| Top Performers | Bottom Performers | Top Opponents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brandon Duhaime (4.83) 1G, 2A, 2 SOG, +2, 84% xG | 1. Sergei Bobrovsky (-1.75) 23 Saves, 4 GA on 2.25 xG | 1. Adam Fox (7.39) 0G, 4A, 0 SOG, +4, 63% xG |
| 2. Teddy Blueger (3.34) 1G, 1A, 1 SOG, +1, 81% xG | 2. Nick Blankenberg (-1.44) 0G, 0A, 0 SOG, -1, 50% xG | 2. Vladislav Gavrikov (4.23) 0G, 1A, 1 SOG, +3, 57% xG |
| 3. Zack MacEwen (2.97) 0G, 2A, 2 SOG, +2, 80% xG | 3. Vinni Lettieri (-1.19) 0G, 0A, 0 SOG, -1, 2% xG | 3. Oliver Bjorkstrand (2.11) 1G, 0A, 2 SOG, +1, 80% xG |
| Shots On Goal | 35-25 TOR | Faceoffs | 35 for 71 |
| 5v5 Shot Attempts | 55-53 TOR | Hits | 34-19 NYR |
| 5v5 Expected Goals | 2.55-1.98 TOR | Blocked Shots | 16-6 TOR |
| Best Period (xG) | 5v5: 1st (61%) All: 2nd (61%) | Powerplay | 1 for 2 (4 shots) |
| Worst Period (xG) | 5v5: 2nd (53%) All: 3rd (49%) | Penalty Kill | 1 for 1 (1 shot) |
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
