Heading into the game against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Toronto Maple Leafs were 8–2–0 in their last 10 games, with four wins in their last five despite key injuries throughout the lineup. The Toronto Maple Leafs were coming off a strong win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa on Saturday night, and looked to continue the strong play that has reinvented the culture in Toronto against the Blackhawks.
Let’s take a look a look at the storylines coming out of the 4–1 win against the Blackhawks.
Back in black
When Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies returned to the line-up, part of me was concerned that the Maple Leafs would step off the gas and defer to the top line to produce. After all, we saw this over and over again during the Sheldon Keefe era.
Auston Matthews had two assists in the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, his first game back after being off for almost one month. In last night’s game against the Blackhawks, the captain opened the scoring in the last five minutes of the first with a filthy pass from William Nylander:
With three points in the last two games, Matthews picked up right where he left off. But that is not the only player.
Mathew Knies also looked no worse for wear returning from injury. Knies picked up a goal and an assist against the Lightning, as well as an empty net goal in last night’s game against the Blackhawks to match Matthews’ three points over the last two games.
Knies continued to be a dominant physical force on the ice, finishing with three hits on the night, and used his body to protect the puck in the offensive zone, notably on this play in the first period when he drove to the net in tight:
You could say that Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies are back in the black (literally, as the Maple Leafs wore their black alternative jerseys), but also because the first line of Knies – Matthews – Nylander is clicking and producing like money in the bank.
All aboard the Stolarzship Enterprise
If you told me at the beginning of the year that by December the Maple Leafs would be fifth in the league in save percentage, with Anthony Stolarz being in the top five goaltenders for save percentage and goals against average, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Stolarz was exceptional in last night’s game against the Blackhawks, showing his poise and sound positioning on this save on Ilya Mikheyev:
During the second period, when the Maple Leafs got too comfortable with the lead, their defensive game started to slip. The Maple Leafs at one point were hemmed in their own zone for over a minute and a half, and the Blackhawks had a five-on-three power play during the second period. However, Stolarz held the fort down making several big saves to keep the Blackhawks scoreless going into the third, including robbing Ryan Donato:
Stolarz made 27 saves in last night’s win against the Blackhawks, holding Connor Bedard pointless. Stolarz’s performance puts him third in both save percentage with .924 and in goals against average with 2.23. Stolarz is signed for another year after this season for $2.5M AAV, which looks to be General Manager Brad Treliving’s best off-season move (and an absolute steal), next to the Chris Tanev signing.
Minten is on a mission
Fraser Minten looks more confident with each passing game he plays. Coming into last night’s game, Minten had one goal and two assists for three points over four games. This is good production out of a young 20-year-old centre that has played third minutes.
In last night’s game against the Blackhawks, Minten looked like he took another step forward. Defensively, Minten was laying the body and finished the night with five hits, one behind the team lead of six by Steven Lorentz. He also finished the night with 50% on the face-off dot.
Offensively, Minten scored 20 seconds after the Blackhawks scored to return the two-goal lead with a laser beam of a shot:
It is a not-so-well-known secret that the Maple Leafs need a third-line centre. Recently, the Maple Leafs were in rumours about acquiring former Maple Leaf Nazem Kadri. Whether it makes sense to bring back Kadri or not, Minten is on a mission to demonstrate to management that they should look at him as the solution.
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The Maple Leafs are first in the division with 32 points, one point ahead of the Florida Panthers with a game in hand. The Maple Leafs have a busy week ahead with four games this week, including a back-to-back with travel on Friday and Saturday. With the Maple Leafs becoming healthy again, let’s hope they continue their strong play and create further separation in the standings.
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