The Toronto Maple Leafs’ big boys were all over the scoresheet in their first game back after the All-Star Game and their in-season vacation. And truth be told, the only one who didn’t register a point may have actually turned in the best game.
Captain John Tavares bagged a pair while Mitch Marner — the Leafs’ lone representative at the ASG last weekend in South Florida — had two first-class first assists on those goals.
Morgan Rielly also had a brilliant helper and Ilya Samsonov pitched a shutout as Toronto, playing for the first time since Feb. 1, went into Nationwide Arena and downed the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 on Friday night.
The only Leaf who didn’t pick up a point, William Nylander, was all over the ice. The Swede created, but not quite finished, a number of chances as Toronto made sure to start its first game back after the break — and fourth without injured gunner Auston Matthews — strong. The Leafs outshot Columbus 14-6 in the first period and held an 8-0 advantage in high-danger Corsi attempts during the opening 20.
It was a great sign for a Leaf team that wanted to show it was laser-focused as it jumped back into action.
First off, as noted, Matthews is out of the lineup with a knee injury and though all indications are he may be back sooner rather than later, you love to see guys step up in No. 34’s absence. Also, Toronto’s attention to detail had slipped a bit just before their break, as they gave up five or more goals in two of three contests ahead of the pause.
As it happens, the Leafs’ first five games coming out of the All-Star break are against bottom-feeders. They have a return date at home with last-place Columbus on Saturday night, then face the Connor Bedard-hunting Chicago Blackhawks twice in their next three games with a contest against the Montreal Canadiens sandwiched in between.
That’s all well and good on paper, but there’s always a danger of those scheduled wins turning into frustrating L’s versus teams you know you need points against.
Why are those points so important? Because the Tampa Bay Lightning team the Buds are basically locked into seeing in the 2-3 matchup in the Atlantic Division playoffs. And even if Game 7 at Scotiabank Arena didn’t do the Leafs any favours last time out, you bet your blue-and-white butt they want that home-ice advantage again in the inevitable return matchup versus Tampa.
Toronto is also starting a stretch where Samsonov will be the go-to guy in net while Matt Murray sits on the injured reserve with an ankle ailment. What better way to kick that off than by Samsonov pitching a shutout versus the Jackets, who were very much in this game deep into the third period. After Tavares opened the scoring just over five minutes into the affair, Toronto didn’t find the net again until Pierre Engvall finished off a beautiful three-way passing play 7:49 into the final frame.
In fact, it was just moments after that, with Toronto up 2-0, that Vladislav Gavrikov took a feed from Kent Johnson and wired a one-timer that Samsonov shot to his left to thwart, getting his blocker in the way of the drive and preventing the Jackets from climbing right back into the contest. Then, 49 seconds after Engvall tallied, Tavares whipped home his second of the night to turn out the lights on the home side.
Samsonov made 30 saves — half of them in the middle frame — to collect his third whitewash and third road victory of the year.
Part of the reason the affair stayed so close for so long was because Nylander just couldn’t quite bury a few golden opportunities. He tried to slip one through Joonas Korpisalo‘s five-hole in the first period, but the Finn got a pad down to stop him.
The most impressive sequence from No. 88, however, came very early in the second when he ripped through the neutral zone on the back check to knock the puck away from Jackets captain Boone Jenner. Moments later, the puck landed on the stick of Columbus defenceman Erik Gudbranson just inside the Jackets blue line. Nylander immediately stripped him of it, tore toward Korpisalo and fired a shot just high and just off the mark.
There’s no denying it; the man who currently leads the Leafs in goals looks like a more complete player this year, the kind of guy who’s dialled into what needs to be done in every corner of the ice.
At the other end of the experience spectrum, Alex Steeves made his season debut in this game. He nearly scored his first NHL goal in his fourth career game when he was set up by Pontus Holmberg in the first, only to see Korpisalo make a great pad save on the one-timer.
On Saturday, another Leaf figures to play his first game of the year when Joseph Woll — one of the American Hockey League’s best puckstoppers — is expected to step into the crease.
To get where they want to be, Toronto needs contributions from all these players. But as the win in Columbus highlighted, they sure know what to expect from the lead horses right now.
