The first period of Saturday night’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes was exactly what you’d expect from a game between a team that has been one of the league’s best defensive teams for several years and a team that has recently won games by playing solid defensive hockey. It was a tight check. Neither team allowed the other much room to maneuver. According to Naturalstastrick.com, there were eight High-Danger Scoring opportunities in the quarter, with five for Toronto and three for Carolina.
That went out the window during the second period. Both sides appeared to abandon defensive play and instead exchange mistakes, takeaways, rushes, breakaways, and goals. In the final two sessions and overtime, the two teams combined for 33 High-Danger Scoring Chances, 17 for the Hurricanes and 16 for the Maple Leafs. The game concluded with the shot knotted at 40-40. I can’t recall the last time I saw a game with both teams taking 40 shots.
The Good
After neither team scored in the opening 24 minutes of the game, the Maple Leafs scored three goals in the second period at 7:16. Breakaway goals from John Tavares and William Nylander were followed by a goal when Tavares botched a breakaway effort and found a trailing Nick Robertson. Robertson scored in his first game back after missing six games due to a healthy scratch.
Early in the third period, after the Hurricanes had pulled within one, David Kampf scored on another breakaway to put the Maple Leafs ahead 4-2.
For more than half the game, it appeared that Ilya Samsonov would be untouchable. He made three important saves in the first period to keep the game scoreless, and then a pair more big saves early in the second period before the Toronto skaters swung the game in their favor.
The Bad
The Maple Leafs were unable to do something they have been quite successful at in previous games: protecting the league by shutting down the opposition. After gaining a 3-0 lead, they conceded two goals in the second half of the first quarter, allowing the Hurricane to get within one.
Then, after leading 4-2 early in the third period, they allowed Carolina to tie the game in regulation and then win it in a shootout.
Special teams eventually decided the game. Carolina went 2 for 5 on the power play, while Toronto went 0 for 4, including a missed 4-on-3 opportunity in overtime.
After being invincible for the first 33 minutes of the game, Samsonov conceded four goals on 22 shots in the final 32 minutes of regulation and overtime. Samsonov’s goals were all good in my opinion. They were more the product of poor play by the skaters ahead of him.
The Ugly
We know that last-minute goals are deadly. What about last-second goals?
With 2.7 seconds left in the second period, Seth Jarvis scored on a rebound of a Jake Guentzel shot, giving the Maple Leafs a two-goal lead after a successful penalty kill.
After giving up a six-on-four goal with 1:32 left in regulation when Kampf was serving a two-minute hooking penalty and Carolina’s goalkeeper was on the bench, it appeared like the Maple Leafs would be able to withstand the Hurricanes’ late-game onslaught and win. However, with 5.8 seconds remaining in regulation, Sebastion Aho scored his second goal in 1:26 minutes, tying the game and sending it to overtime.
I suppose it was only fitting that Guentzel scored the game-winning goal on his final shot of the night.
What’s next?
The Maple Leafs’ next game is a rematch against the Flyers at Philadelphia. This is my second visit to the City of Brotherly Love in less than a week. After Toronto defeated the Flyers 6-2 last Thursday, this could be a nice game to dress Ryan Reaves. While this Flyers team is not the Broad Street Bullies of the late twentieth century, I am confident they will be out for retribution and blood on Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs travel to Washington on Wednesday night to face a Capitals squad that is fighting for its playoff life. The Capitals are only one point short of a playoff berth in the East. This will be Washington’s first home game following an eight-day West Coast road trip that included stops in five cities. I’m sure both sides were a little tired after that game.
The Maple Leafs will next play their second round of back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, they face the always-tough Edmonton Oilers before traveling to Carolina for a rematch with the Hurricanes on Sunday.
Hopefully, Mitch Marner will return to the Toronto Maple Leafs sometime next week. Since Marner’s debut with the Maple Leafs, Toronto has been only one game above.500 when he is not present. According to Statmuse.com, the Maple Leafs have a 15-14-5 record without Marner in the lineup.
