SALT LAKE CITY — Whew.
They needed this one, even if they didn’t wholly deserve it.
For a Monday night in Salt Lake City, the stakes felt unusually high for the sagging, road-weary Toronto Maple Leafs.
Heading into their inaugural game at Delta Center, the Leafs had dropped three straight, blown a couple leads, slipped out of first place, and distracted the fan base by propositioning their best player with a trade.
Worse: Their process hasn’t been tight for a couple weeks. Mistakes have crept in. Speed is giving their defence issues. And their razor-sharp goaltenders have begun to look human.
Head coach Craig Berube held an intense team meeting Sunday, following Saturday’s 7-4 outclassing in Denver. Multiple players spoke up. Captain Auston Matthews said they’d reached look-in-the-mirror time.
“The really bad games have a good way of being the biggest learning experiences,” thoughtful goaltender Joseph Woll said, following Monday’s slump-snuffing, nail-biting 4-3 shootout win over Utah HC.
“The most important thing is to stay into our structure, not panicking, and regardless of what the situation is, just playing our way.”
Observers who stayed up to watch the second period, however, should be forgiven for wondering just how much the Leafs had learned from this concerning stretch of mediocre hockey.
Having mounted a commanding 3-0 lead on the road on the strength of a couple power-play goals and a Simon Benoit point shot that got reviewed for a potential high stick, Toronto got caved in.
They surrendered two goals in 49 seconds. Berube called what was supposed to be a calming timeout. Then Utah knotted the game 3-3 three minutes later.
Uh oh.
At even-strength, the high-danger chances were 10-3 Utah, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
Delta Center was rocking as the wildcard-hungry locals sensed a comeback and the Hockey Club tilted the ice towards Woll’s crease.
“Really loud,” Woll said. “Like, surprisingly loud for a first-year organization. It was awesome. It was one of the cooler environments I’ve played in. So, props to Utah.”
The next red lamp would signal the narrative.
“Third was kind of a war out there,” Calle Järnkrok said.
Despite feeling under siege late, and getting stretched out by a speedier attack, Woll held the fort nicely and Toronto survived long enough to reach the skills competition.
“Right now, we’re fighting through some adversity, and guys came through in the third. Did a good job,” said Berube, emphasizing the positive.
“We did what we had to do.”
Benoit stressed the importance of flying home Tuesday with two more points in the bank, no matter how indecisively they were obtained.
“We want to finish first in our division. So, for me, just as long as we win, I don’t care about the rest,” said Benoit, happy to reunite with his baby girl.
“Guys are missing their families. We did a long road trip with a change of time zones, and then we lost an hour, we gained an hour. Not sure. So, obviously it affects us. But we knew that we needed to finish strong, which we did. Mitchy with a big goal there.”
That would be Mitch Marner, whom you may recall from this weekend’s headlines.
Yes, when a critical bonus point hung in the balance, it was Marner who iced the win with a nifty shootout move and a triggering of hockey hugs and fist-bumps packed with relief.
“That’s what he does,” Berube said. “Comes through.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Benoit beginning his fight with Michael Kesselring with a flying jump-punch is some Mortal Kombat stuff. It was all the talk of the Leafs’ room post-game, as the boys were sharing photos and replays.
“That Superman move is kinda crazy. Fun to watch, though,” Järnkork says.
“I think I spaced out, I was so taken aback by it,” Woll chuckles. “That was a legit Superman punch. He can chuck ’em.”
Kesselring didn’t see it coming.
“That was a little interesting. But whatever. It’s a fight, right?” the Utahan says. “You sign up for it. You know something’s coming, so it’s all good.”
Benoit tried the same move last season against Erik Gudbranson, but it failed to make an impact on a much taller opponent. He was sticking up for Bobby McMann on Monday.
“I felt I had an opening there, and I just took it,” says Benoit, who will check the photo later. “The boys having been telling me about it, but I haven’t looked yet.”
• The Leafs are barely scraping by without Chris Tanev, going 3-2-1 with an overtime win and a shootout win since a suspected shoulder injury sidelined the D-man. They’ve been outscored 24-21.
“He’s battling through this,” Berube says. “He’s not where he wants to be, and we got to be careful with his situation. It’s unfortunate because we do miss him. He’s a big part of our team, but at the same time we want to do what’s best for the player — and the player has to do what’s best for himself.”
Tanev continues to practise, but there is no timeline for his return.
• Benoit scored his first goal in 408 days — and that was an empty-netter.
“Feels good,” Benoit said. “It’s been a long time since I scored on a goalie.”
And Järnkrok — who got scratched Saturday and joined the season late due to sports hernia surgery — scored his first in 429 days.
“I probably need a couple games to get back to myself,” Järnkrok says. “Felt great for one-and-a-half periods today, and then I got tired. Hopefully I can play for a little longer next game, and then keep getting better from there.”
Järnkrok got the call over Nick Robertson and a look on the top six and second power-play unit for the first time this season.
Robertson had lasted two months without being a scratch, during which he’d been playing his most consistent hockey as an NHLer.
“Nothing that Robbie did wrong,” Berube explains. “He’s worked hard, and he’s played some good hockey for us, but I gotta make decisions. They’re hard decisions.”
• If you’re searching for the free Wi-Fi network at Utah’s Delta Center — which is located at the corner of Karl Malone Drive and John Stockton Drive — you’ll find your connection under “JordanPushedOff.”
Brilliant.
• Forget Toronto minor hockey. Linemates Max Domi and Scott Laughton go back even further.
“We learned to skate together,” Laughton smiles. “He was three. I was four. We were doing C-cuts and everything like that, edges. So, we’ve known each other for quite some time. He would get called up to our Marlies team when I played there. It’s nice to have that comfortability with someone.”
