EVAN CHEN (9) | STAFF REPORTER
On November 11, the Leafs (8-5-1) were playing a highly anticipated game against the streaking Vancouver Canucks (10-3-1). The Canucks were surprisingly off to a good start, despite missing the playoffs last year. The Leafs on the other hand were on a bit of a cold streak. They had just lost a big game against the Ottawa Senators 6-3 and had just barely squeaked by the Calgary Flames and were looking to bounce back. The Leafs won the game 5-2 against a good team, and grabbed the 2 points to put them up in the standings.
Prior to the game, Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe made some interesting lineup adjustments. He took out defenseman Simon Benoit and forward Ryan Reaves, and put in defenseman John Klingberg and young winger Bobby McMann, who made his season debut in this game. Besides this, the Leafs chose to start Ilya Samsonov, a struggling goalie. Even though Samsonov came off a career best, he has struggled early this season.
The Leafs played this game exactly how fans wanted them to. Fans had been complaining for years about the lack of toughness the Leafs had, many thought that the new signee Ryan Reaves was the answer, however, Reaves has been extremely disappointing this season, with 0 points and a -9 plus/minus rating. Ironically, the Leafs played the toughest without Reaves in the lineup.
It started when center David Kampf got absolutely crushed by Vancouver winger Dakota Joshua, a 40 year old defenseman. Mark Giordano was the one who stood up for his teammate, immediately jumping on Joshua and starting a fight between the two. Giordano ended up getting an instigator penalty which put the Canucks on the power play. The Canucks ended up scoring on the power play, and the Leafs are down early.
The Leafs would then tie the game 8 minutes and 37 seconds in, with a goal from rookie Matthew Knies, with assists from the two biggest new Leafs players, Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi. Then, roughly 5 minutes later, the Leafs would get another instigator penalty after Max Domi retaliated a big hit laid on Nick Robertson.
The Canucks would end up scoring yet another power play goal, putting them up 2-1 at the end of the 1st period. In the 2nd period, William Nylander extended his beginning of the season point streak to a franchise record of 15 games, with a banked in goal. Noah Gregor would also score later on in the period, with assists from Morgan Rielly and Bobby McMann. Then in the 3rd period, the Leafs would extend their 3-2 lead off an early goal by Nick Robertson.
Robertson, who started the season in the minors, wound up being called up after an injury, and has started the season with 4 points in 4 games. David Kampf would score the last goal for the Leafs, breaking a 35 game goal drought for Kampf. Noah Gregor and Bobby McMann got the assists for the goal.
Overall, this game was probably the best game the Leafs have played this season. A bunch of issues that appeared in previous games were addressed. Lack of toughness, rough goaltending from Samsonov, and depth scoring, were all glaring issues the Leafs started the season with. The toughness was finally shown in two veteran players stepping up and fighting bigger, heavier guys. Samsonov played his best game to date, he looked great, and ended with a 0.939 save percentage.
The game showed a lots of profoundness, with a goal from every single line as well as the fourth line finally scoring again. Some struggling players also bounced back this game; Samsonov, Domi, Gregor, Bertuzzi, and Kampf all had fantastic games after starting the season a bit cold. Noah Gregor ended up as the first star of the game, with a goal and an assist, with the second star being Samsonov, and Giordano as the third. The Leafs will travel to Sweden for the NHL’s Global Series, where they’ll play the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota Wild.
