Newly-acquired Leaf awarded the Leafs Championship belt on his first night in Toronto
It's been a whirlwind couple of days for former St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly. There are plenty of mixed emotions when a guy is traded - especially a team's CAPTAIN. However, following the trade that sent O'Reilly and teammate Noel Acciari to Toronto, the two newest Leafs wasted no time in getting to Toronto to meet their new teammates and make their Leafs' debuts.
O'Reilly and Acciari both played significant minutes for the Leafs last night in their win over the Montreal Canadiens, with O'Reilly skating 16:12 in his first game in a Leafs sweater, while Acciari skated 14:22, which is a LOT of minutes for a 4th liner. O'Reilly also notched the first assist of what should be many as a Leaf, putting one shot on goal, going 12/14 in the faceoff dot and landing 2 hits. Acciari looked engaged as well, landing 5 hits in the contest and directing 5 pucks on net. While he had 2 golden opportunities, he finished the night without a point but both players made one heck of a good first impression.
Following the game, O'Reilly was even awarded the Leafs Championship belt, given out to the player who earns MVP of the night. As if going 85.7% in the faceoff dot and notching an assist wasn't impressive enough, O'Reilly made several astute defensive plays, showing his excellent hockey IQ and breaking up several plays before they had a chance to become high-danger chances. These are the things that really help a team win come playoff time and it's good to know that it's not lost on the Leafs just how impactful a guy like O'Reilly can be in all 3 zones.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 19 | 293 ANSWERS Newly-acquired Leaf awarded the Leafs Championship belt on his first night in Toronto How excited are you for the Ryan O'Reilly era in Toronto? | ||
| Extremely excited! | 115 | 39.2 % |
| Pretty excited | 87 | 29.7 % |
| I'll get excited when they win a round | 84 | 28.7 % |
| Not excited at all | 7 | 2.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
