The Toronto Maple Leafs wrapped up their West Coast road trip on Saturday night, taking home a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks that simultaneously felt like easy work and more of a challenge than it needed to be.
The Rundown
It took less than a minute and a half for the Maple Leafs to make their mark on the scoresheet in this one, as a won puck battle by Nick Paul and a couple of unfortunate touches by the Canucks sent William Nylander flying to bury his tenth goal of the season. The Canucks would respond at the midway point of the period, howeever, when a deep stretch pass by Filip Hronek skimmed through Toronto’s penalty kill until and set Brock Boeser off for his own break, where he made no mistake dancing around Anthony Stolarz.
The Leafs regained their lead early in the second period when Auston Matthews scored a very similar tight-angle one-timer to the one he tied up their last game against Seattle with, capping off a give-and-go with Jack Roslovic. The blue and white made it 3-1 a few minutes later when Zack MacEwen, stading on the point for reasons unknown, turned around and wired a slapshot and watched in as much shock as all of us as it double-rebounded its way into the back of the Vancouver net.
Toronto, from here, started to play lead-protect for a bit, not quite to the same extreme as the Buffalo game from a few weeks ago that raised a lot of eyebrows, but with a definite sense of caution, both in terms of the play choices and roster deployment. The Canucks started to snowball opportunities, and with ten minutes remaining in regulation, Max Sasson made the Leafs pay for sitting back by banging home a rebound to clip the gap in half.
The final few minutes of the game saw Toronto trying to push a little more, realizing that sitting back wasn’t working for them. With a little under two minutes left and the Vancouver net empty, Anthony Stolarz got cheeky and tried for the goalie goal. It didn’t work, but it bounced off Vancouver’s defenders in a way that sent Nylander and Teddy Blueger on a rush, with the latter icing the game for the Leafs.
Notes
- I don’t like this sitting back game at all. Yes, I know the Leafs are banged up. Yes, I know it’s the last game of a road trip. No, I don’t thik it’s a good idea to “play to not lose”. I don’t like that Nick Paul and Colton Sissons are playing as much as Auston Matthews in a close third period, even when considering special teams. I don’t like that Gavin McKenna, in the midst of a pretty good game, isn’t getting an opportunity to either go get them a dagger goal or learn how to play these tighter situations a bit more so he can be trusted in the future. The Leafs will not find success until they find a way to play assertive hockey. This was far from that, and it’s a big part of why a agme against a team with a record in the 200’s felt tense.
- Dakota Joshua had an excellent return game, which goes to show you that sometimes it’s hard to translate AHL play to NHL play. He felt unspectacular in his conditoning stint with the Marlies, but was physical and willing to shoot the puck a bunch tonight. Something to be said about playing at the pace you’re used to.
- In theory, this should be Anthony Stolarz’s net until he gives them a reason otherwise. Another solid performance tonight. Does the team have the guts to start leaning towards him, both from the sense of risking his injuries and risking frustratoins on those associated with Sergei Bobrovsky or assocaited with the decision to sign him? I don’t know, but I think the “best goalie at this moment” contest is skewed to the guy who played tonight.
- Stolarz, by the way, is Top-10 on the team in assists and points per game. An awesome fun stat through six games and three asissts, but also not great for the depth guys. The fun one to watch is him and Jake McCabe – both have three assists, each including one tonight, but Stolarz has nine games in hand.
- These west coast games are known for their travelling & transplant Toronto fans, but tonight felt more lospided noise-wise than ususal. Maybe Canucks fans are so committed to the tank this year that they can’t be bothered to cheer against the Leafs. Or more than likely, a lot of season ticket holders cashed out tonight and didn’t care who got their seats.
- I’m nodding off as I write this. A long weekend no doubt, but still jealous of the Vancouverites who are just starting their nights on the town a couple hours after the game. We’ll never see eye to eye on this 4PM/7PM start thing. I remain jealous, most of them remain frustrated, it’s an odd mix.
- The PK is starting to come down to earth, at least statistically. That’s four games in a row that it’s given up a goal. Under the hood it’s sitll a solid, top-half kill, but it was never going to hold a generational save percentage forever.
Up Next
The Maple Leafs get a few days off before returning to Scotiabank Arena for a six-game honestand, beginning with hosting the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday. Puck drop for that game (and every other game in this homestand) will be at 7:00 p.m.
Numbers Game
| Top Performers | Bottom Performers | Top Opponents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2.44) 0 G, 0A, 0 SOG, +1, 88% xG | 1. Easton Cowan (-1.55) 0G, 0A, 1 SOG, 26% xG | 1. Max Sasson (1.83) 1G, 0A, 2 SOG, 64% xG |
| 2. Zack MacEwen (2.18) 1G, 0A, 3 SOG, +1, 99% xG | 2. Jake McCabe (-1.13) 0G, 1A, 0 SOG, +1, 32% xG | 2. Brendan Gallagher (1.49) 0G, 1A, 3 SOG, 65% xG |
| 3. Morgan Rielly (2.00) 0G, 1A, 2 SOG, +1, 63% xG | 3. Vinni Lettieri (-1.09) 0G, 0A, 1 SOG, 40% xG | 3. Paul Cotter (0.97) 0G, 0A, 0 SOG, 64% xG |
| Shots On Goal | 28-28 TIE | Faceoffs | 33 for 54 |
| 5v5 Shot Attempts | 47-43 VAN | Hits | 31-26 TOR |
| 5v5 Expected Goals | 2.74 – 1.72 TOR | Blocked Shots | 21-13 TOR |
| Best Period (xG) | 5v5: 2nd (95%) All: 2nd (88%) | Powerplay | 0 for 2 (4 shots) |
| Worst Period (xG) | 5v5: 1st (27%) All: 1st (43%) | Penalty Kill | 1 for 4 (8 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
