TORONTO – Things are starting to feel a little more normal again, aren’t they?
Auston Matthews is pounding pucks past helpless padded men, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ $44.5-million power play is cashing in, and — for the first time in the Sheldon Keefe era — the Boston Bruins rolled into town.
Yes, a buzzing barn, a rekindled rival the Leafs hadn’t faced in nearly two full years, and the stars came out to dance on a Saturday night.
The Maple Leafs pushed their win streak to five with a 5-2 come-from-behind victory over their nemesis in what was arguably the home side’s most engaged and most entertaining effort of this young campaign.
Not unlike Thursday’s win over Tampa Bay, the Leafs dug themselves a hole early. But unlike that night, their response was swift and dangerous.
With Jake Muzzin in the box for a delay-of-game penalty, Taylor Hall — Boston’s new net-front power-play man — tipped a Patrice Bergeron shot in tight to get the Bruins on the scoreboard before the nine-minute mark.
John Tavares struck back for the Leafs and tied the contest not four minutes later by driving the net himself and getting a piece of a Mitch Marner shot as the net got knocked off its moorings.
Period 2 belonged to Matthews and the Leafs’ much-maligned power play.
Within a four-minute span, Matthews found gold twice on the man-advantage, the sniper and the 5-on-4 unit coming alive at once.
First, Matthews took a feed from Mitch Marner on a speedy entry and flipped a backhander past Linus Ullmark in tight.
Then he blasted a one-timer short-side off a point pass from Morgan Rielly, registering his third consecutive multi-point night.
Tavares joined Matthews in the Two-Goal Night Club early in the third, rendering a late goal by David Pastrnak moot.
The Maple Leafs are playing their best hockey, led by their best players, benefiting from their biggest crowd (19,077) of the year.
Rolling in the regular-season — feels normal again.
This is what the formula looks like when the main ingredients are fresh.
Toronto will go for a sixth consecutive victory Monday when the L.A. Kings arrive in town.
Fox’s Fast 5
• Keefe says the onus is on Justin Holl to not get discouraged after being healthy-scratched for a fourth consecutive game.
“He’s in control of how he handles this,” the coach said, after speaking with the D-man Saturday morning. “We didn’t intend on him sitting this long, frankly, but that’s just the way it’s gone. The others have played well; the team has played well and had success. It’s on him to stay engaged, continue to work and make sure when his opportunity comes, he’s ready to go.”
• Michael Bunting leads all Leafs with six drawn penalties.
• Rare sighting: With the Bruins sporting their black third jerseys with the big unspoked B, the Leafs rocked home whites for the first time in a long time.
• Why did Tavares’ goal count despite being fired into a dislodged net?
Per Rule 63.7, referee Ian Walsh determined Bergeron, the defending player, caused the net to be displaced prior to the puck crossing the line and that had the net been in place, the puck would have went in.
We got ourselves a good goal #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/1oosQUcKA9
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 6, 2021
• Travis Dermott on former Erie Otters teammate Connor McDavid’s Goal of the Year frontrunner: “It was getting pushed all over the place, so the second I turned on my phone, it was right up there. Beautiful goal. When you see that, it reminds me of all the times I played with him and he burned me like that in practice.”
