Simmonds’ scoring touch helps to douse the Flames
Wayne Simmonds is pretty good on the power play. He’s confirmed that seven games into his first season with the Maple Leafs.
The veteran forward bagged one of the Leafs’ two deflection goals in Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Flames in Calgary. The marker, with the man advantage, was also the 500th point of his career.
“That was big, but it felt a lot better that we got the two points,” Simmonds said after the Leafs’ seventh game in 12 days, an afternoon start after flying west on Saturday. They’ll meet again Tuesday night.
Simmonds’ goal hit a Flames defender before ricocheting into the net, something that has happened a lot to Calgary in the early going. The Leafs took full advantage, improving to 5-2-0.
Simmonds joined the Leafs as a free agent on a one-year deal. After 13 seasons of wear on his 32-year-old body, he continues to prove his value as a physical
force and net presence on the power play. His goal was the Leafs’ ninth with the man advantage, second to Colorado.
Since the 2011-12 season, Simmonds has 100 power-play goals. Only Alex Ovechkin (162) and Steven Stamkos (106) have more.
Matthews better: Auston Matthews returned to the Leafs lineup and said a hand injury was the reason he missed Friday’s game against the Oilers in Toronto. “I felt fine,” said Matthews. “I felt I made good progress.” He clearly wasn’t himself, however. Matthews didn’t register a shot on net through two periods, before a deflection goal in the third that stood up as the game winner. It was his first career goal against Calgary. He now has at least one against every NHL team.
No-goal rush: Leafs third-line winger Ilya Mikheyev had two solid scoring chances in the first period, but failed to connect and remains without a goal through seven games. But he doesn’t appear to be in any danger of losing ice time. Despite the lack of scoring, the stats suggest he’s one of the more dangerous players in the NHL off the rush. His eight rush chances rank fourth leaguewide, while his 24 controlled zone entries rank 40th. Three of those rush chances have come with the Leafs short-handed. Mikheyev also recorded seven zone exits Sunday, all on the penalty kill and second on the team to Mitch Marner’s nine.
Tribute protocol: Leafs defenceman T.J. Brodie, a key freeagent signing, played his first game against his former teammates. The Flames put together a video tribute, unfortunately without fans in the stands. “Yeah, when I’m looking back at this after I retire, I can tell the grandkids about the masks and no fans,” said Brodie, who spent 10 seasons in Calgary. “It was special. I owe a lot to the people of Calgary, to the organization and to my teammates. To be honest, I didn’t know what to do (during the video tribute) … There were no fans, so I didn’t know if I should wave or what I should do.”