LEAFS STAR ON OPENING NIGHT
High expectations in Toronto get further boost following rout of Jets on the road
OK, Mike Babcock, good luck keeping the lid on fan expectations for the next few days at least.
After the coach preached cautious optimism through the summer after the Maple Leafs acquired Patrick Marleau, made moves on defence and had no significant health or contract issues, Toronto stormed out of the gate and beat the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 on Wednesday night in front of a shocked crowd at Bell MTS Place.
They did it despite eight penalties — some whistled under stricter league guidelines, all killed off — and were led by goaltender Frederik Anderson. 2By the time Winnipeg scored on its 34th shot, Toronto was up by six and on its way to its best seasonopening goal total in almost 30 years.
Four Toronto penalties were called before the end of the first period.
“It was a good night for ourselves, a lot of guys got off (with goals),” Babcock said.
“You score early, you don’t have to worry (about pressure building).”
Auston Matthews didn’t get four goals as he did a year earlier in his NHL debut, but he did have a three-point night. Marleau score a pair in his Leafs debut. Nazem Kadri had the thrill of scoring the first goal of the NHL season, and James van Riemsdyk had a three-point night. Rookie Andreas Borgman even recorded an assist.
But back to Andersen and the overworked Leafs penalty kill.
“You know how hockey is,” Babcock said. “They score on one of those early power plays, they get confidence, we lose some and the game could be different.”
Andersen’s body language spoke volumes about his confidence.
“We settled in after the first 10 minutes, in a tough building to play in,” Andersen said. “You know there will be a lot of small things called, like Leo Komarov’s visor (violation), but hopefully we figure that out soon.”
Until Mark Scheifele beat him with eight minutes to play, Andersen looked ready to become the first Leafs goalie to open the season with a road shutout since Ed Belfour in Pittsburgh in 2002. Coincidentally, Belfour is the last Leafs goalie to win 30 games in consecutive years, a good possibility for the Dane this season. Among those Andersen blanked were Leafs nemesis Patrik Laine, who had five goals in the teams’ two previous meetings, and countryman Nikolaj Ehlers, who signed a seven-year US$42-million deal earlier in the day.
“I think we did a good job of not letting (Laine and the dangerous Dustin Byfuglien) too many opportunities,” Andersen said. “Now we’re getting to know Laine’s shot more and try and take it away.”
The Leafs, getting a rough reception from fans ready for the Jets to experience their own growth spurt, gave up 17 shots in the first. That was largely on Morgan Rielly and Connor Brown getting called for high-sticking, with a minor also called on Komarov for equipment violation.
But with the Jets short-handed for the first time, Kadri banged in a rebound from van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak.
The line then added another goal at even strength, with Bozak’s second effort on a faceoff against the tough Scheifele getting the puck to van Riemsdyk for a one-timer.
Before anyone thought the kid snipers were going to take
You know how hockey is. They score on one of those early power plays, they get confidence, we lose some and the game could be different.
the night off, Matthews dropped a pass to Jake Gardiner on a delayed penalty and William Nylander finished the play off, shooting one into an open net.
After Winnipeg flubbed its fourth and fifth power plays to start the middle period — the fifth power play on a ridiculous too many men penalty that featured six Leafs skating below the hash marks before it was detected — Marleau swooped in to beat Steve Mason. That was his first as a Leaf after 508 goals in San Jose, covering nearly 20 years.
“That was pretty darn close to how you’d want to see (the first game) go,” Marleau said. “The guys played great tonight, Freddy held us in and we got some goals.”
Matthews and Mitch Marner assisted on his first goal.
“You could see they were hungry out there, not only in games but in practice,” Marleau said. “You can feed off that, for sure.”
Marleau’s second of the night to start the third saw Mason lifted after five goals on 20 shots for Connor Hellebuyck.
When newcomers Marleau, Ron Hainsey and Andreas Borgman stepped on the ice, they made it 966 players to have appeared for the Leafs, St. Patricks and Arenas, spanning 100 years.
Coach Paul Maurice thought his Jets were ready for their close-up. “They’re looking forward to this,” Maurice said before the game. “They’ve practised a lot, it’s been five weeks of camp. There’s still plenty to do.”
The Leafs need some work, too, defensively and with discipline, but for this night, they could laugh off their mistakes.