Kicking things off with a win
Marleau makes most of his Leafs debut; Matthews gets three points
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 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 like he did to open the season last year, but he did have a threepoint night, while Patrick Marleau scored a pair in his Leafs debut. Nazem Kadri had the thrill of scoring the first goal of the whole National Hockey League season, James van Riemsdyk had a three- point night, and rookie Andreas Borgman recorded 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 the Dane. Among those he blanked, Leaf nemesis Patrik Laine who had five goals in their two previous meetings, and countryman Nikolaj Ehlers, who signed a seven-year US $42 million deal earlier in the day. Mark Scheifele and Mathieu Perreault had the Jets goals that came late in the third.
Coach Babcock 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 on 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 16 shots late 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, but lost the argument.
With the Jets short-handed for the first time, Kadri banged in a rebound from van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak, who then added another at even strength, Bozak’s second effort on a faceoff against the tough Scheifele, getting it to van Riemsdyk for a one-timer. 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 off into an open net. That put a hockey sock into the home crowd’s voice box.
After Winnipeg flubbed their fourth and fifth power play to start the middle period, the second call a ridiculous six Leafs below the hashmarks before it was detected — Marleau swooped in to beat Steve Mason. That was his first as a Leaf after 508 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 cooly stared down Laine and a couple of breakaways.
Jets’ head coach Paul Maurice thought his team was 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 up-temp 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. 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.
“So as you get stronger in that and as a group they mature, all of these good young players on both these teams, they aren’t going to score less, but as their games round out, they become pros.”