Heading into the third game of the season, the Leafs were coming off an ugly 6–3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Head coach Craig Berube reportedly met with the team to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
However, there was an even bigger story heading into the afternoon rematch against the Red Wings. With Steven Lorentz leaving the last game with an upper-body injury, the lines were shuffled yet again. This resulted in the 20-year-old Easton Cowan making his NHL debut on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
Let’s take a look at the key takeaways from yesterday afternoon’s 3–2 loss.
The cowboy makes his NHL debut
In prior training camps, Easton Cowan has impressed with this offensive skillset. However, it was his defence that needed work. In this past preseason, we saw a different Cowan, a Cowan who was much more defensively responsible, and used his body to protect the puck and retrieve it. This earned him considerable praise from Craig Berube, and he made the roster out of camp.
Easton Cowan made his NHL debut in yesterday’s 3–2 loss to the Red Wings, and he looked like he slotted in on the first line like a glove. Just minutes into the game, the first line had a pop. Cowan was blocking shots, laying the body and had several offensive zone chances with Matthews within the first two shifts of the game.
In the preseason, Cowan played primarily on the third and fourth lines, almost as a test by Berube. Cowan was able to not only break up plays and read the game well defensively, but we could also see his creative passing all night. After yesterday’s performance, Cowan likely earned another game.
Bobby McMannia
Bobby McMann is in the final year of his two-year $1.35M AAV contract he signed in 2022, and he’s playing like it. McMann was all over the ice in the offensive zone and was one of the Leafs’ best forwards. McMann was rewarded for his efforts with an assist on Knies’ goal to bring the game within one:
The effort from McMann on that goal is the reason why he needs to have a bounce-back season this year. Despite scoring 20 goals last season, McMann was quiet in last year’s playoffs, finishing with just three assists in 13 games. McMann has one goal and one assist in the first three games thus far.
McMann, in a way, is the Knies of the second line: Big, uses his body, and is skilled with the puck. If McMann can play with the level of intensity we have seen him play with in these first three games, then he will no doubt live up to that role.
Bottom-six production
If you told me that Calle Jarnkrok would lead the Leafs in scoring to start the year, I would’ve thought that Matthews was injured. Jarnkrok only played 19 games last year for the Leafs as a result of an injury. He is also entering the final year of a four-year x $2.1M AAV contract.
Jarnkrok scored the game-tying goal on a beautiful no-look pass from Knies for his third goal in three games:
So far this year, the Leafs’ bottom-six has been producing. Jarnkrok has three goals, Nicolas Roy has one goal, and Lorentz has two assists. This is exactly the production you want to see from the bottom-six. Craig Berube has to love the chemistry of the lower part of his lineup to start the year.
On to the next
It was a frustrating loss to the Red Wings yesterday. Especially clawing back to tie the game, only to lose in the final minute. However, anyone who watched the game saw that it was the Leafs who controlled the game. The Leafs outshot the Red Wings 40–15 and dominated the Red Wings in the faceoff dot 62.3% to 37.7%. They also had puck possession for most of the night.
The Leafs play again tomorrow in Toronto against the Nashville Predators. I think it’s more important that the Leafs play the “right” way than win an early-season game that they didn’t deserve to win.
But what do you think of how the Leafs did? Leave a comment down below!
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