Andersen saves the day for win
The Maple Leafs are first to 10 victories after sweeping three from struggling Canucks
It was not perfect. Far from it. It may go down in the annals of Maple Leafs victories as the worst one yet.
But such is life at the top of the NHL, winning games maybe you deserved to lose.
The Leafs took two periods off, let goalie Frederik Andersen handle the Canucks on his own, then woke up in the third period to steal a 3-1 win over Vancouver on Monday night at Scotiabank Arena.
“It was an ugly one for sure,” said star centre Auston Matthews. “I think Freddie really stole the game. He was our best player by far and just kept us in it. We really didn’t have any business being in that game, but we just stayed with it and got the two points and that’s all that matters.”
Matthews and Alex Kerfoot scored 11 seconds apart to break open a 1-1 game in the third period and give the Leafs a clean sweep of a three-game homestand against a Canucks squad that is fraying at the edges after a terrible start to the season.
“It’s frustrating,” said forward Elias Pettersson, the Canucks’ lone scorer. “We played a great game. We created a lot of scoring chances. We didn’t give the time and space they had in the first two games. Yeah, it’s frustrating.”
Morgan Rielly opened the scoring for the Leafs. á Streaking Auston: For Matthews it was his eighth straight game with a goal, and officially a personal best seven-game goal streak. (He missed a game early in that stretch.) It was assisted by Mitch Marner, who now has points in eight straight. Rasmus Sandin, playing his first game of the year, was also credited with an assist on the play. More relieved was Kerfoot, who’d had an uneven night and gone 10 games without scoring. The Leafs became the first team with 10 wins this season. Their last regulation loss was against Edmonton on Jan. 20. They are 7-0-1 since. á Steady Freddie: Andersen was the best Leaf, facing an onslaught of Vancouver shooters and left to his own devices against an opponent that had been battered, bruised and was playing for pride. He faced 32 shots. “Feel focused, feel like I’m moving well, tracking the puck well,” said Andersen. “Small things. Made adjustments throughout the season. Guys are helping me out and keeping things simple and that’s going to help me down the road.” á 11/7 doesn’t add up: The Leafs dressed 11 forwards and seven defenceman with Wayne Simmonds (broken wrist) sidelined. Also, Alexander Barabanov came in for Nic Petan. That meant juxtaposed lines all night. It was a decision coach Sheldon Keefe regretted, with Vancouver being far more in sync for the first two periods. “It didn’t take long before I could tell I just didn’t like the way the game was going, could tell Vancouver was playing a much different type of game, and 11-andseven was not going to be overly good for us,” said Keefe. “I’m glad we found our way through that, but I certainly was regretting my decision once the game got going.” á The bright side: Usually when a coach struggles to find something positive to say about his team, it’s because they lost. Outside of Andersen’s goaltending, Keefe found only one: “I liked the fact that our guys found their way through it. I didn’t like how we played. I don’t like that it took us so long to adapt. But I did like that we stuck with it.” á Enter Sandin: With injuries come opportunities, and Sandin got into his first game of the year. The stakes and expectations were fairly low for a player who has big upside but hadn’t played in 11 months. Sandin played five minutes over seven shifts, but did assist on the winner. Matthews won the draw back to Sandin, who fed Marner, who fed Matthews for a one-timer. “Mitch just came up to me and just said: ‘Look for me,’ so that’s what I did,” said Sandin. “He did the rest with Auston, so it wasn’t too hard.”