TORONTO — Mark Giordano chucked his mitts and pounced.
The oldest player in the NHL didn’t stop to consider the three inches, four pounds, and 13 years Dakota Joshua had on him.
Giordano simply saw his teammate, David Kämpf, laid out flat by a hard, open-ice hit that may or may not have been high and knew what needed to be done.
So, the 40-year-old raking near minimum wage started punching the younger, bigger man in the name of sticking up for a teammate.
Precisely the type of old-school response that endears a Toronto Maple Leaf to this city.
“I get fired up out there sometimes,” Giordano explained, following the Leafs’ 5-2 beatdown of the previously streaking Vancouver Canucks. “You don’t just want to be the guy who barks all the time. So, tonight it was just one of those situations: you see your teammate down on the ice, big hit.
“And that Joshua, I mean, he’s a big boy. So, I went over there, and I was like, ‘Oh, boy, here we go.’ It was good to get into one. I haven’t been in one in a while. It got me going, too.
“Sometimes you need something like that to get yourself going. A couple shifts where you don’t feel energy, and then I got right into the game after that. Even though I sat for about an hour after that, I felt like I had energy all night.”
Some prices are worth paying.
Yes, the Canucks’ deadly power-play scored on Giordano’s instigator penalty, just as it would later as Max Domi served an instigator of his own.
But Giordano’s emotion sparked his teammates and propelled an often-sleepy Scotiabank Arena to its feet, the thousands bursting into “GI-O!” chants without the Jumbotron instructing them to.
“It felt great. Ever since I got traded here from Seattle, it’s been nothing but good support for me. So, appreciate that and just continue to try and work hard every shift. I think fans in Toronto appreciate that,” Giordano said.
The defenceman’s coach, Sheldon Keefe — a man only three years older — called it banked karma. For inside Maple Leafs headquarters, there has been embarrassment and admonishment for instances when teammates have not had each other’s backs.
Some penalties are worth taking.
“When you’re a competitor, you’re a competitor. He loves the game. He loves his teammates. And he loves competing. That’s really it,” Keefe said. “That’s what the game called for in that moment. He’s a special guy. He’s given us absolutely everything that he has, and tonight’s a great example of that.”
A hockey game broke out at the fights, too.
And Saturday was a great example of so many things beginning to go right for the Maple Leafs:
• On the touchy topic of having one another’s back, Domi immediately fought Ian Cole after the veteran D-man laid out Nick Robertson so hard the winger needed four or five stitches to repair his torn ear.
“He has that feistiness in him,” Robertson said of his centreman. “For him to stand up for me there is great to see.”
• Starting goalie Ilya Samsonov — last seen getting chased from his crease Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning — delivered a steady 31-save performance, outduelling the red-hot Thatcher Demko, recording his first win since Oct. 14, and limiting SBA visitors to fewer than four goals for the first time all season.
Buoyed by a hardworking defensive effort by the skaters in front of him, Samsonov did not allow an even-strength goal and was awarded the team’s player-of-the-game belt by William Nylander for his efforts.
“Looked like he is playing with a ton of confidence,” Giordano said. “It was great.”
• Nylander himself did his usual highlight-reel thing, extending his point streak to 15 games with a crafty, hardworking tuck around the crease.
• The fourth line enjoyed its best night of the year, with Noah Gregor and Kämpf each scoring goals and callup Bobby McMann chipping in with a pair of assists.
The sudden success of the much-maligned bottom line coincided with Keefe’s first healthy-scratching of Ryan Reaves (minus-11).
“We want to give him the night and give him a chance to clear his head a bit,” Keefe said. “Whether the goals are your fault or not it just piles up as you’re pulling pucks out of your net so that can be a challenge for sure. So, it’s on him to clear his head.”
We don’t see how Reaves gets back in soon based on how the line performed with McMann in his place.
• Even defenceman John Klingberg, who sat Friday, rebounded with a sturdy 19 minutes and a plus-one effort, earning praise from Keefe.
And to think, all these positive developments occurred against the best team in Canada, on what was supposed to be the sluggish half of a back-to-back.
“I thought this was a perfect way, the perfect opponent for us to finish this home stand,” Keefe said. “I love the way the guys responded.”
Starting with Giordano’s response to Joshua, instigator infraction be damned.
“It’s more important that we’re showing other teams that you’re not gonna get away with things like that,” said Giordano, tipping his cap to Domi as well.
“We got to continue to step up and do those things. I think it goes a long way over the course of a season.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Giordano became the oldest player (40 years, 39 days) in Maple Leafs history to record a fighting major when he instigated his scrap with Joshua — a response to Joshua’s crushing hit on Kämpf.
The Leafs’ previous oldest pugilist was Tim Horton (40 years, 20 days) in 1970.
• Vancouver rolled into town with a ridiculous 16.1 team shooting percentage, far and away the most efficient in the league. (The second-best shooting percentage belongs to the Kings at 12.6; the best shooting percentage in 2022-23 belonged to the Oilers at 11.8.)
The Canucks’ PDO (i.e., hockey’s “puck luck” measurement) also tops the NHL at 107.8. Last year’s PDO champs, the Boston Bruins, finished with 103.
“It seems like everything they shoot is going in the net,” Keefe said pre-game.
Added Calle Järnkrok: “Everything is going their way right now.”
On Saturday, some regression took place.
• Canucks coach Rick Tocchet was out repping his pal Wayne Gretzky’s new/old signature wood Northland hockey stick during morning skate.
A three-pack of the sticks sell for just $99, as Gretzky and Northland partnered to offer a more affordable equipment option for families on a budget.
• Domi (four-game point streak, emotional fight) and Tyler Bertuzzi (three points in three games) just wrapped their best week as Maple Leafs, and it’s not particularly close.
Hey, Keefe said all they needed was time.
• The Maple Leafs took their fifth(!) too-many-men penalty and are now tied for the NHL lead in bench minors.
Since Keefe took the reins back in November of 2019, Toronto has the second-most too-many-men infractions in the league (36).
