Leafs set franchise record with Thursday night victory
As the Toronto Maple Leafs dropped game one of the eighty-two game regular season last night in Montreal, the Leafs were on a mission to bounce back in front of their home crowd on Thursday night. Head coach Sheldon Keefe made it clear that Wednesday's loss to the Canadians was unacceptable, and the organization is expected to be better moving forward.
The Leafs got off to the quick lead in the first period with the help of John Tavares potting his first of the season just seven minutes in. Tavares' goal was the first power-play goal of the season for the Leafs after failing to produce on four occurrences Wednesday in Montreal. The Leafs lead was short-lived, as the Capitals would respond quickly with a pair of goals of their own coming off the sticks of Nic Dowd (9:57) and Marcus Johansson (13:52) just under four minutes later.
A major storyline of tonight's matchup comes through Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov. Tonight marked not only his first game in the Maple Leaf uniform but was also a revenge game against his former team, the Washington Capitals. The two goals allowed by Samsonov were weak and he looked shaky at times. After this, Samsonov was lights out the rest of the way for the Maple Leafs where he certainly looked to have settled down.
Heading into the second, newly acquired Maple Leaf Calle Jarnkrok tied the game with his first goal as a Maple Leaf just under four minutes into the second period. The goal came from a slick cross-ice feed from Alexander Kerfoot that completely shifted the momentum. Transitioning to the third, the Leafs were stopped in their tracks with a familiar feat ahead of them. Like Wednesday night in Montreal, the game was tied at two heading into the third period. Luckily, tonight's result would be different.
Just under seven minutes into the third period, who else but Auston Matthews would break the tie. Matthews knotted his first of the season and now sits one goal shy of Maple Leafs legend Mats Sundin for goals scored at home in Scotiabank Arena.
The Leafs struggled to stay out of the box, giving the Capitals five power plays, three of which came after the Leafs had regained the lead in the third period. Led by Tavares' dominant play through two games and the fourth line's physicality, the Leafs were able to avoid back-to-back losses to open up the season.
Ironically, with the win tonight, the Maple Leafs would set a franchise record by winning their lucky number seven(th) straight home opener:
2016-17 (4-1 win against Boston Bruins)
2017-18 (8-5 win against New York Rangers)
2018-19 (3-2 win against Montreal Canadians)
2019-20 (5-3 win against the Ottawa Senators)
2020-21 (5-4 win against the Montreal Canadians)
2021-22 (2-1 win against the Montreal Canadians)
**2022-23 (3-2 win against the Washington Capitals).
The Maple Leafs looked much better tonight and got to work as soon as the puck dropped, outshooting Washington 22-11 in the first period. Playing with this level of consistency and intensity throughout all four lines for a full sixty minutes will only benefit the Leafs down the road.
