HOME OPENER.
‘THINGS WE CAN IMPROVE ON’
Despite watching his team win 7-2 in Winnipeg to kick off the season, Mike Babcock wants improvements in Saturday’s home opener against the New York Rangers.
The Maple Leafs coach reeled off Toronto’s eight penalties Wednesday night against the Jets, a docket that ranged from too many men on the ice and an equipment violation (Leo Komarov’s askew visor) to four high-sticking calls.
“Stay out of the box, that will really help us with goals-against and then just (a) commitment to doing things right,” Babcock’s wish list read after practice Friday. “As a group, we have been through enough. We know how to do it right, we’ve just got to do it right.”
Goaltender Frederik Andersen helped Toronto survive a rocky opening that saw three straight Leaf penalties. Then Toronto’s high-octane offence kicked into gear.
Veteran winger Patrick Marleau scored his first two goals as a Leaf with singles from Auston Mat- thews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri.
The young guns now get to showcase their skills before a home crowd filled with expectations after a breakthrough 2016-17 season that saw the Leafs (40-27-15) improve by 29 points over the previous year and take the first-place Washington Capitals to six games in a tight firstround playoff series.
For defenceman Morgan Rielly, the home opener is a chance to “get better defensively.” “There are things we can improve on for sure,” he said. “We had a good meeting today, talked about New York and what they bring to the table so we’re going to be ready.”
The Rangers lost their home opener 4-2 on Thursday to Colorado despite outshooting the Avalanche 39-26.
There was plenty of talk Friday about the early wave of offence in the league with hat tricks from Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Chicago’s Brandon Saad.
“You l ook around the league, there’s lots of speed and lots of skill,” said Rielly.
“I think it’s great for the league, it makes it very exciting,” he added. But not for defencemen. “Not fun,” said Rielly. Matthews is loving it, however. “Guys are coming in and they’re ready to play and they’re making an impact for their team,” said Matthews, who did just that last season when he scored 41 goals and won rookie of the year honours. “You see it on pretty much every team now, they’ve got a guy that’s pretty young, that is coming in, and he’s not just being a role player, he’s playing a big part on that team.
“Fortunately for us, we’ve got six or seven of those guys that can pretty much play anywhere and make an impact every night in different ways. You can see the league kind of trending to some younger guys, some younger talent. It’s definitely fun to be a part of.”
For the 38-year-old Marleau, Saturday’s curtain-raiser follows 19 home openers in San Jose.
“It’s going to be a great atmosphere to go into. They usually all are, but now it’s a little bit different for me with the new club and everything.”