Stars reunite on the power play
Marner, Nylander and Tavares all score with man advantage in win over Ducks
The idea was to break up the Maple Leafs’ big guns and have Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander spread over three lines.
That part worked only so-so. But when they got together on the power play, they were unstoppable.
Marner, Nylander and Tavares each scored with the man advantage and Matthews had two assists as Toronto won the special teams portion of the night.
Then Matthews worked his magic in the shootout and the Leafs beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in a game played without fans Wednesday night at the Scotiabank Arena.
“We were really good on special teams, and I think we were really good too (at even strength),” Matthews said. “We created a lot of chances. Their goalie (John Gibson) played well. But, all in all, a pretty solid game.”
It was the ninth win in 12 games for the Leafs, and the fourth win in a row at home, though their last home game was a while ago (Jan. 5). And it also saved the Leafs from the embarrassment of having blown another 3-1 lead.
“I thought we did a lot of good things, but we found ourselves 3-3 going into overtime in a game we felt we outplayed them and dominated,” Matthews said. “It’s little things, lucky bounces. It doesn’t matter, though. We’ve got to play until that final whistle. It took a little extra time in going to a shootout, but it’s good we’re walking away with the two points.”
Jason Spezza and Matthews both scored in the shootout, with Matthews getting credit for the winner, with Trevor Zegras scoring on Anaheim’s first attempt.
It was also a bit of a redemption game for Jack Campbell, who had allowed 18 goals in his last four starts (2-1-1). He wasn’t that busy, and couldn’t be blamed for the goal he allowed in the first period when Pierre Engvall and Jason Spezza connected on an own goal.
The upshot? Marner is on a fourgame scoring streak that includes goals short-handed, at even strength and on the power play. Nylander, who had a goal and an assist, has points in three straight games. But Matthews has gone three games without a goal, tied for his longest drought of the season.
Defenceman Timothy Liljegren suffered a head injury in the first period and did not return.
New lines: The game was expected to be a referendum on the new forward groups, with Matthews, Marner and Nylander on different lines. The idea had the backing of Matthews. the team’s biggest star.
“We’re exploring different options, different combinations, seeing what works or if guys match with each other,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of depth, a lot of really good players to actually play with. It’s a smart thing to explore at this point of the season.”
It perhaps speaks to the Leafs’ depth — and where they are in the standings at the halfway point — that they have the privilege of experimenting like this. Down the road, with injuries and COVID, who knows what the lines might look like? So the idea involved some long-term thinking.
And there was also the idea, an old Scotty Bowman idea, of creating adversity with a team when things are going well. It’s a reminder that Keefe controls the lines, and the minutes, and the players who get them will be the ones who earn them. That said, even Keefe gave himself some wiggle room depending on the situation, like whether it’s an offensive-zone or defensivezone faceoff. And when he needed offence, he double-shifted Matthews and Nylander.
“I really liked the flexibility, the ability to move things around,” the coach said. “That worked out the way I planned it in terms of getting Nylander extra shifts, and getting Matthews extra shifts. In terms of the chemistry of the group the flow, it’s going to take some time. We can’t assess that after one game.”
It looked in the first period that it might be a long night for the Leafs, stymied by Gibson early and with Anaheim scoring first on a weird own-goal by Toronto. Engvall retrieved a loose puck in the crease with Campbell out of position, but he appeared to rush a clearing attempt and shot it into Spezza’s skate a foot away. The puck rebounded into the net.
“They were trying to make a smart play by getting it out of the crease,” Campbell said, “and it unfortunately went in.”
Leafs lead: The dam finally broke for the Leafs on separate power plays. Marner’s one-timer on a feed from Rielly — and who knew Marner had a one-timer? — tied the game at 17:18. Then Nylander’s quick release on a feed from Tavares gave the Leafs the lead. They came on the Leafs’ 12th and 17th shots on goal in the first period. The Ducks managed just five shots.
The dominance continued through the second, with Leafs leading 3-2 but outshooting Anaheim 31-11. Tavares scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal. Keefe called a timeout after that goal to give his big guns the final 1:08 of the 5-on-4. They didn’t score, and when Jacob Silfverberg came out of the box, he joined an Anaheim rush and scored on a 3-on-1.
“I’ll own that one,” Keefe said. “Our power play was feeling it, so I thought call a time out, give our guys a breather and let them go back out for what was left … And they overdid it at the end. You have to get a line change That’s something the second unit is accustomed to doing. And I failed to point that out to that group. That group is not used to being out there at the end of a power play.”