So much for suppressed expectations
Hype meter hits red-line in Toronto after Leafs strafe the Jets to kick off campaign
WINNIPEG — OK, Mike Babcock, good luck keeping the lid on fan expectations now.
The Toronto Maple Leafs decimated the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 in one of the most impressive season openers in memory. It took the Jets and their highly touted offence 34 shots on goal and eight failed power plays to finally beat Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen, by which time the combined Leaf assault of young guns and old muskets had put six in.
Auston Matthews didn’t get four goals as he did a year earlier in his debut, but had a three-point night. Nazem Kadri had the thrill of scoring the first goal of the NHL season, starting James van Riemsdyk’s three-point night. Patrick Marleau had two goals in his first night as a Leaf with rookie Andreas Borgman recording an assist.
Andersen looked ready to become the first Leaf goalie to open the season with a road shutout since Ed Belfour in Pittsburgh in 2002 — coincidentally, the last Leaf goalie to win 30 in consecutive years, a good possibility for Andersen. Among those he blanked were Leaf nemesis Patrik Laine, who had five goals in the teams’ two previous meetings, and fellow Dane Nikolaj Ehlers, who signed a seven-year, US$42-million deal earlier in the day. Mark Scheifele and Mathieu Perreault struck back for the Jets late in the third.
Babcock, the Leafs’ head coach, had been trying to temper the public’s belief Toronto is headed for another big season and a longer playoff run. But they’ve added new parts and, at least until they take on the New York Rangers at home Saturday, imaginations could run wild.
The Leafs, getting a rough reception at Bell MTS Place from fans ready for the Jets to experience their own growth spurt, gave up 17 shots in the first period. That was largely on Morgan Rielly and Connor Brown getting called for high-sticking with a minor also called on Leo Komarov for equipment violation. Babcock had warned him about proper use of a visor in camp, but Komarov and his coach were incredulous at the rarely called penalty.
With the Jets short-handed for the first time, Kadri banged in a rebound from van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak, who then set up another at even strength, getting it to van Riemsdyk for a one-timer off the faceoff. Before anyone thought the kid snipers were going to take the night off, Matthews dropped to Jake Gardiner on a delayed penalty and William Nylander finished it off into an open net. That put a hockey sock into the home crowd’s voice box.
After Winnipeg flubbed its fourth and fifth power plays to start the middle period, Marleau swooped in to beat Steve Mason. That was his first as a Leaf after 508 goals in San Jose, covering nearly 20 years. Matthews and Mitch Marner assisted. 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 Borgman stepped on the ice, they made it 966 players to have appeared for the Leafs, St. Patricks and Arenas, spanning 100 years.
The positioning and body language of Andersen spoke volumes in the first as he coolly stared down Laine and a couple of breakaways.
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. They won’t get those kinds of (long and detailed) practices very often, but they’re ready to go.”
He did express concern that defence would be an ongoing process with his younger players used to playing uptempo hockey.
“They come into the NHL (from various amateur, minor pro or European leagues) and there’s not the attention to it or the cost to it,” said Maurice. “You can make a mistake in other leagues and other people clean up for you, but here, if you don’t do your job, you’ve got a real problem. It takes you a while to learn that job.”