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Game #63 Review: Toronto Maple Leafs 4 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins 0 – Maple Leafs Hot Stove

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4 years ago

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Just what the doctor ordered.

Your game in ten:

1.  The Toronto Maple Leafs desperately needed to start this game with some urgency. They did just that. All four lines competed well, and while they didn’t generate too many high-danger chances, they looked like an entirely different team compared to Tuesday night. Denis Malgin was flying out there with Tavares and Nylander, and the reunited Engvall-Kerfoot-Kapanen line looked just as quick.

This period looked like two good teams facing off, and while the Leafs didn’t come out of the opening 20 minutes with a lead, it was tough to be disappointed with their play. Scoring the first goal of this game seemed awfully important. The Leafs faced their first test of adversity when Malgin was called for a foot-on-foot tripping penalty with just over two minutes to play.

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The Penguins power play looked incredibly dangerous but, thankfully, Frederik Andersen was up for the challenge. Patric Hornqvist wreaked havoc in-front while both Crosby and Malkin were putting on a show. Kasperi Kapanen may have saved a goal by tying up Crosby’s stick in the slot, and Andersen needed to make some big stops, but the Leafs managed to find a way to keep the game scoreless going into the intermission. After the blowout on Tuesday, killing Malgin’s penalty sure felt like a big moment in this game.

2.  Once again, the Leafs started the period with plenty of urgency. Toronto was clearly outplaying Pittsburgh heading into the first commercial break and the team was finally generating more medium-to-high danger scoring chances. Tavares, Matthews, and Marner all had fairly decent chances while Crosby was playing entire shifts in his own zone. While the game was still scoreless, Toronto’s strong play had Mike Sullivan changing up his forward lines.

Toronto’s hard work finally paid off when play resumed, as Tavares won an offensive-zone face and Muzzin blasted a point shot in the back of the net just a few seconds later. They didn’t let their foot off of the gas pedal, either, as more offensive zone time led a Marcus Pettersson holding penalty on Tyson Barrie just over a minute later. The power play had a big chance to expand Toronto’s momentum, and just seven seconds in, Brandon Tanev shot the puck over the glass to give the Leafs an extended 5-on-3 opportunity. 2-0 Leafs. 

Three minutes after the 2-0 goal, Kerfoot sprung Kapanen on a breakaway with a gorgeous stretch pass and the Finnish speedster took full advantage. As an encore, Kapanen soon stood up for Sandin against Hornqvist, then dropped the gloves when Jared McCann challenged him to a fight. While the fight won’t get many hits on YouTube, it spoke to the intensity that the Leafs were playing with. Up 3-0 after two, it was a nearly perfect 40 minutes for the team in blue.

3.  Two weeks ago, the Leafs played outstanding in the opening 40 minutes against Florida, only to look like an entirely different team in the third. The Leafs needed to show that they could keep their attention to detail for an entire game. Zach Hyman helped to take the pressure off by extending the lead to four just four minutes into the frame. After Matthews won an offensive-zone faceoff, Hyman went to his office in front of the net and outworked Justin Schultz, leading to his 19th goal of the season.

Three of Toronto’s four goals tonight immediately followed an offensive-zone face-off win. By holding the Penguins to just two shots in the third, the Leafs proved that they could keep their focus and determination for an entire 60 minutes.

4.  I hated Sheldon Keefe’s forward lines on Tuesday night. John Tavares was busy with one of the league’s toughest matchups, and the Leafs couldn’t have possibly expected much of any secondary scoring with Frederik Gauthier on one line and Clifford and Timashov on another. Playing two fourth lines is never a great idea, and other than when the Matthews line was on the ice, it felt like the Leafs were bound to be outplayed.

Keefe changed up the lineup tonight, going back to the Engvall-Kerfoot-Kapanen line that I’ve been calling for. Kerfoot looked much more comfortable back at center, which is where I prefer him, as he doesn’t quite have the speed to be overly dangerous on the rush or forecheck and he’s far more of a playmaker than a shooter. Engvall’s speed and long reach generated an early takeaway.  This line looked like a defensively-responsible unit that would be a pain in the ass to play against.

The fourth line won plenty of battles, and Malgin had the jump in his step that you’d expect from a player who went from playing eight minutes per night to playing on a line with Tavares and Nylander. Malgin’s screen in-front contributed to Toronto’s first goal, and I didn’t notice a huge drop-off on that line with him on the right-side instead of Kerfoot. The Leafs desperately needed more out of their bottom-six and boy did this lineup look much better tonight.

5.  Sheldon Keefe went back to Frederik Andersen after a 5-2 loss, even though half of the fan base was calling for Jack Campbell. I thought this was a no-brainer, and Andersen’s play tonight sure backed that up. Andersen was hung out to dry on Tuesday — partly due to poor defense, and partly due to Sidney Crosby being Sidney Crosby. Yes, the last goal was on him, but the game was pretty much over at that point.

I love Jack Campbell and I’m thrilled that he’s started off his Leafs career with a few wins. However, let’s not forget that he had a .900 save percentage prior to the trade to the Leafs, while Frederik Andersen has been the backbone of this team for the previous three seasons. Everyone and their grandmother knows what Andersen is capable of, and if I’m betting on a goalie, I’m betting on him.

I’m tired of the painfully stupid goaltending analysis that I see on Twitter after the Leafs allow their fair share of goals. You can’t look at a one-game sample of save percentage and get a perfectly accurate picture of how a goalie played. The Leafs could have given up three penalty shots against Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, and if Andersen let in just one of them, people would complain about his resulting .667 save percentage. Yes, he’s had some struggles this year, but that doesn’t mean you have to resort to the, “I don’t care if there were seven 5-on-0 chances and six tap-ins, I just want saves!” argument over a single game. While we also shouldn’t pretend that every goal against had a 0% chance of being saved, we need to be comfortable with assessing the quality of the scoring chances against rather than just pointing to a one-game sample of save percentage and complaining.

There’s a lot of people who owe Freddy an apology right about now. He certainly wasn’t the only reason they won tonight, but he made key saves on Pittsburgh’s late power-play opportunity in the first, where a goal really would have changed the momentum heading into the intermission.

6.  Nearly two years ago, I wrote an article suggesting that the Leafs should buy-low on Jared McCann. The talented forward made the NHL at 19, had already been traded once, and he wasn’t getting much of an opportunity in Florida. He was just about to turn 22, but it didn’t feel like he was all that young, as he had already been around the league for a few years.

I thought it was fitting that Denis Malgin made his Leafs debut against McCann, as he also made the NHL as a teenager, only to end up playing limited minutes in Florida. While he’s in the middle of his fourth NHL season, he’s a year younger than Pierre Engvall and Adam Brooks. While I’m not quite as high on Malgin as I was on McCann (mainly due to McCann’s ability to go to the net and win puck battles), I like the idea of taking advantage of “prospect fatigue”. Malgin wasn’t a superstar tonight, but he may have helped to convince Keefe to put Kerfoot back on the third line. I’d put him back there on Saturday night.

7.  There isn’t an “A” on Jake Muzzin‘s jersey, but there should be. After the veteran defenseman was vocal about Toronto’s compete level following Tuesday’s loss, he certainly led by example tonight. His opening goal got the Leafs started on the right foot and he made a quick outlet pass prior to Kapanen’s goal. He picked up another secondary assist on Hyman’s third-period goal and was effective in a challenging shutdown role all night.

Another player who stood out tonight was Rasmus Sandin, who looked like a seasoned veteran against one of the NHL’s best teams. His first pass consistently gets the Leafs moving in the right direction and he did not shy away in numerous physical battles with a heavy power forward in Hornqvist. His partner, Tyson Barrie, was sharp tonight as well.

8.  Special teams were a big focus heading into this game, as the Penguins scored three powerplay goals on four attempts on Tuesday night. Keefe mentioned that it was time to fill in special teams on the “bingo card” for the team’s struggles of late, so I was interested to see how the team would respond.

They responded by only taking one penalty, and it was the new addition who was the guilty party. It wasn’t even a stick infraction. It’s not like the refs were missing calls left, right, and center. While the Penguins power play did look terrifying on their one chance, Toronto’s best penalty killer was their goalie, and the Leafs also took full advantage of their 5-on-3 chance to keep their momentum going.

9.  Bob McKenzie mentioned on the broadcast tonight that the Leafs have been receiving calls about Tyson Barrie, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the season. McKenzie stated that the Leafs aren’t selling but would consider trading Barrie if they could get another good defenseman in return. He also mentioned that they might be able to get a package of picks or prospects for Barrie, then flip those pieces as part of a deal for a player with term.

This type of deal is easier said than done, but it doesn’t look like the Leafs have the cap room to re-sign Barrie and it would tough to see him walk out the door for nothing. If they can get someone like Damon Severson — who could play next to Rielly or Sandin for years to come — I’m certainly interested. Barrie needs to be given sheltered minutes and with two rookies in the picture right now, I think Keefe wanted a more defensive-defenceman in the lineup in Marincin to help matchup against Malkin. At the very least, I’m glad that the Leafs are looking into being creative while focusing on players with term.

10.  This was the signature win of the Leafs season. Before the game, I identified the seven teams in the league that I consider to be the easiest matchups: Detroit, Ottawa, New Jersey, Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Minnesota. I looked up the Leafs record against those teams and found that they were 13-0.

It goes without saying that every team has a worse record against contenders, but it feels like the Leafs had taken this to an extreme this year. I also identified the seven teams in the league that I consider to be the toughest matchups: Tampa Bay, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, St.Louis, Dallas, and Colorado. The Leafs were 4-9-1 against these teams heading into tonight — and many of the wins they didn’t deserve. They were outshot 37-27 in their win against Colorado and the Avalanche didn’t have Landeskog and Rantanen that night. They beat Boston in overtime after being outshot 46-29 and won against St.Louis when Binnington had an off night.

You can certainly nitpick this exercise — and maybe I was too kind to Chicago (who they are 0-2 against) — but you’ll still be in tough to find many signature wins from the Leafs schedule. The 8-7 win against Carolina comes to mind, but they were horrible for half of that game and blew a huge lead. After having their competitiveness, maturity, and intensity questioned on Tuesday night, the Leafs responded by dominating an elite hockey team and playing a full 60 minutes. That’s a signature win in my books.

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempt Locations

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Game Highlights: Leafs 4 vs. Penguins 0

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Need to Know: Bruins at Maple Leafs | Game 3 | Boston Bruins – NHL.com

Published

6 hours ago

 on

April 24, 2024

By


Familiar Territory

James van Riemsdyk has played his fair share of playoff contests here in Toronto – but all of them have come in blue and white. On Wednesday night, he would be on the other side for the first time if he indeed makes his Bruins postseason debut, which appeared to be a strong possibility based on the Black & Gold’s morning skate.

“It’s always special to play in this building,” said van Riemsdyk, who played in 20 postseason games with Toronto, including nine at Scotiabank Arena. “In this rivalry, it’s always a lot of fun. This time of year is always amazing, no matter where you’re at – if you’re at a 500-seat arena or a rink with all the tradition and history like this. It’s always fun and always a great opportunity to get in there.”

van Riemsdyk was a healthy scratch for the first two games of this series, following a trend across the second half of the regular season, during which he sat out several games.

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“Playoff time of year is always the best time of year,” said van Riemsdyk, who has 20 goals and 31 points in 71 career playoff games between Philadelphia and Toronto. “Obviously, in this rivalry, it’s always a lot of fun – two fun buildings to play in. You cherish every opportunity you get.

“This time of year, you learn that along the way, it’s all about the team. Whatever the team’s asking you to do, that’s always got to be your mindset and approach…you stay at it every day and just take it one day at a time.”

Montgomery said that if van Riemsdyk does re-enter the lineup, he’ll be looking for the veteran winger to help the Bruins’ offensive game. He also complimented van Riemsdyk’s professionalism throughout a trying second half.

“I guess getting his stick on more pucks,” Montgomery said on what he wants to see from van Riemsdyk. “We’ve talked about it a lot of times internally. Him and [Kevin] Shattenkirk have been great. They’re true pros. Every day come to work, come to get better. It’s not an easy situation, but he’s been great.”

van Riemsdyk concurred with his coach’s sentiments about helping Boston’s offensive attack, saying that he’ll be aiming to be around the net as much as possible.

“I think you’ve got to stay true to who you are as a player and play with good details and manage the game well and play to your strengths as a player,” he said. “This time of year, being around the net is always an important trait. You see all the goals being scored, it’s all within 5-10 feet of the net. That’s an area that I pride myself on, so going to be doing my best to get there and have an impact there.”

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NHL teams, take note: Alexandar Georgiev is proof that anything can happen in the playoffs

Published

17 hours ago

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April 24, 2024

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It’s hard to say when, exactly, Alexandar Georgiev truly began to win some hearts and change some minds on Tuesday night.

Maybe it was in the back half of the second period; that was when the Colorado Avalanche, for the first time in their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets, actually managed to hold a lead for more than, oh, two minutes or thereabouts. Maybe it was when the Avs walked into the locker room up 4-2 with 20 minutes to play.

Maybe it was midway through the third, when a series of saves by the Avalanche’s beleaguered starting goaltender helped preserve their two-goal buffer. Maybe it was when the buzzer sounded after their 5-2 win. Maybe it didn’t happen until the Avs made it into their locker room at Canada Life Centre, tied 1-1 with the Jets and headed for Denver.

At some point, though, it should’ve happened. If you were watching, you should’ve realized that Colorado — after a 7-6 Game 1 loss that had us all talking not just about all those goals, but at least one of the guys who’d allowed them — had squared things up, thanks in part to … well, that same guy.

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Georgiev, indeed, was the story of Game 2, stopping 28 of 30 shots, improving as the game progressed and providing a lesson on how quickly things can change in the playoffs — series to series, game to game, period to period, moment to moment. The narrative doesn’t always hold. Facts don’t always cooperate. Alexandar Georgiev, for one night and counting, was not a problem for the Colorado Avalanche. He was, in direct opposition to the way he played in Game 1, a solution. How could we view him as anything else?

He had a few big-moment saves, and most of them came midway through the third period with his team up 4-2. There he was with 12:44 remaining, stopping a puck that had awkwardly rolled off Nino Niederreiter’s stick; two missed posts by the Avs at the other end had helped spring Niederreiter for a breakaway. Game 1 Georgiev doesn’t make that save.

There he was, stopping Nikolaj Ehlers from the circle a few minutes later. There wasn’t an Avs defender within five feet, and there was nothing awkward about the puck Ehlers fired at his shoulder. Game 1 Georgiev gets scored on twice.

(That one might’ve been poetic justice. It was Ehlers who’d put the first puck of the night on Georgiev — a chip from center ice that he stopped, and that the crowd in Winnipeg greeted with the ol’ mock cheer. Whoops.)

By the end of it all, Georgiev had stared down Connor Hellebuyck and won, saving nearly 0.5 goals more than expected according to Natural Stat Trick, giving the Avalanche precisely what they needed and looking almost nothing like the guy we’d seen a couple days before. Conventional wisdom coming into this series was twofold: That the Avs have firepower, high-end talent and an overall edge — slight as it may be — on Winnipeg, and that Georgiev is shaky enough to nuke the whole thing.

That wasn’t without merit, either. Georgiev’s .897 save percentage in the regular season was six percentage points below the league average, and he hadn’t broken even in expected goals allowed (minus-0.21). He’d been even worse down the stretch, putting up an .856 save percentage in his final eight appearances, and worse still in Game 1, allowing seven goals on 23 shots and more than five goals more than expected. That’s not bad; that’s an oil spill. Writing him off would’ve been understandable. Writing off Jared Bednar for rolling him out there in Game 2 would’ve been understandable. Writing the Avs off — for all of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar’s greatness — would’ve been understandable.

It just wouldn’t have been correct.

The fact that this all went down now, four days into a two-month ordeal, is a gift — because the postseason thus far has been short on surprises, almost as a rule. The Rangers and Oilers are overwhelming the Capitals and Kings. The Hurricanes are halfway done with the Islanders. The Canucks are struggling with the Predators. Panthers–Lightning is tight, but one team is clearly better than the other. Bruins–Maple Leafs is a close matchup featuring psychic baggage that we don’t have time to unpack. In Golden Knights–Stars, Mark Stone came back and scored a huge goal.

None of that should shock you. None of that should make you blink.

Georgiev being good enough for Colorado, though? After what we saw in Game 1? Strange, surprising and completely true. For now.

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"Laugh it off": Evander Kane says Oilers won’t take the bait against Kings | Offside

Published

1 day ago

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April 23, 2024

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The LA Kings tried every trick in the book to get the Edmonton Oilers off their game last night.

Hacks after the whistle, punches to the face, and interference with line changes were just some of the things that the Oilers had to endure, and throughout it all, there was not an ounce of retaliation.

All that badgering by the Kings resulted in at least two penalties against them and fuelled a red-hot Oilers power play that made them pay with three goals on four chances. That was by design for Edmonton, who knew that LA was going to try to pester them as much as they could.

That may have worked on past Oilers teams, but not this one.

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“We’ve been in a series now for the third year in a row with these guys,” Kane said after practice this morning. “We know them, they know us… it’s one of those things where maybe it makes it a little easier to kind of laugh it off, walk away, or take a shot.

“That type of stuff isn’t gonna affect us.”

Once upon a time, this type of play would get under the Oilers’ skin and result in retaliatory penalties. Yet, with a few hard-knock lessons handed down to them in the past few seasons, it seems like the team is as determined as ever to cut the extracurriculars and focus on getting revenge on the scoreboard.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest-tenured player on this Oilers team, had to keep his emotions in check with Kings defender Vladislav Gavrikov, who punched him in the face early in the game. The easy reaction would be to punch back, but the veteran Nugen-Hopkins took his licks and wound up scoring later in the game.

“It’s going to be physical, the emotions are high, and there’s probably going to be some stuff after the whistle,” Nugent-Hopkins told reporters this morning. “I think it’s important to stay poised out there and not retaliate and just play through the whistles and let the other stuff just kind of happen.”

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch also noticed his team’s discipline. Playoff hockey is full of emotion, and keeping those in check to focus on the larger goal is difficult. He was happy with how his team set the tone.

“It’s not necessarily easy to do,” Knoblauch said. “You get punched in the face and sometimes the referees feel it’s enough to call a penalty, sometimes it’s not… You just have to take them, and sometimes, you get rewarded with the power play.

“I liked our guy’s response and we want to be sticking up for each other, we want to have that pack mentality, but it’s really important that we’re not the ones taking that extra penalty.”

There is no doubt that the Kings will continue to poke and prod at the Oilers as the series continues. Keeping those retaliations in check will only get more difficult, but if the team can continue to succeed on the scoreboard, it could get easier.

 

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