The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a 5–4 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres to snap a three-game losing streak. However, heading into last night’s game against the Calgary Flames, the Leafs encountered more injuries. Calle Jarnkrok was a healthy scratch, and William Nylander was a game-time decision.
The Leafs have faced considerable criticism to start the year, with some wondering whether they are starting to feel the absence of Mitch Marner. Nevertheless, the Leafs were looking to build upon the decent effort of the last few games.
Let’s take a look at the key takeaways from last night’s 4–3 win against the Calgary Flames.
A Knies performance
Matthew Knies had a phenomenal game last night. Knies has been on the second line with Matias Maccelli and centred by John Tavares the last few games. While some would take this as a demotion, it’s probably more to get the first line clicking.
Knies had a strong forecheck game in all three zones and caused havoc for the Flames’ defenders. Knies scored the 2–2 goal with 34 seconds left in the second period:
The play started with Knies on the forecheck, pressuring the Flames to make a quick decision with the puck. William Nylander sealed off the wall and got the puck to Knies, who outlasted Dustin Wolf for the goal.
Knies scored again on an early third-period power play and got an assist on Max Domi’s 4–3 goal. He is showing not only why he deserves his six-year, $7.75M AAV contract, but also that he is a budding star and a future leader of the team.
Maximum effort
As with last season, Max Domi has had a bad start to the season. Coming into last night’s game, Domi had one goal and zero assists in the first nine. Domi has the reputation of being a “pass first” player, but as he showed last night, he has a wicked shot.
Domi’s first goal of the night deflects off Wolf and in to tie the game 1–1:
His second goal was a result of a bit of chaos between Knies and Domi, who collided with each other. Fortunately, John Tavares knocked the puck to Knies, who then chipped it to Domi, and Domi wired the puck for the game-winning goal:
Domi now has three goals on the season, which is five back from his total from last season. Domi has seemingly received the message from Craig Berube this year and has been shooting the puck more often. Good things happen when you shoot the puck.
Power play finally scores
Heading into last night’s game, the Leafs were at 13% on the power play, ranking 28th in the league. When looking at net power play percentage, which factors in goals against while on the power play, the Leafs rank 32nd with 4.4%.
For the first three power plays, the Leafs had good movement and were able to maintain possession in Calgary’s zone. This movement was limited to the top part of Calgary’s zone, with the Flames forcing everything to the outside. The Leafs kept trying to get shots to the net; however, they were unable to get bodies in front of the net or create deflections.
On the fourth power play, the Leafs applied pressure after the face-off. In the ensuing chaos in front of Wolf, Knies was able to score the Leafs’ fourth power play goal of the year:
It seems every season the Leafs’ power play is abysmal. However, this drop-off usually occurs in March, not in October. The power play came through last night. However, power play coach Marc Savard and the Leafs need to figure out how to make the power play work consistently.
On to the next
The Leafs play next on Wednesday in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. The Leafs overall played a good game, the type of game we saw a lot last season–hard forechecking, dump-and-chase (and actually chase), and trying to get pucks through to the net. The Leafs hope to continue this play and add to the two-game win streak tomorrow night.
