Nick Robertson had arguably his best game of the season last night, despite what the scoresheet says
After a 4-0 win last night against the up-and-coming Dallas Stars, the Maple Leafs had some major storylines through goaltender Matt Murray's stellar play and Mitch Marner extending his point streak to twenty. One under-the-radar performance belonged to forward Nick Robertson.
Although Robertson didn't record a point in 10:44 of ice time, his contribution was immense away from the scoresheet. In the post-game stat card posted by hockeystatcards.com, Robertson was second in individual expected goals (xG) behind Auston Matthews, tied for second in shot attempts (5), and was third in individual scoring chances with 3.
This was Robertson's second-highest game score of the season. The first came against his first matchup of the season, also against the Stars, when he scored two goals, including the overtime winner. While Robertson scored twice in the first game, including the OT winner, last night's game from start to end might have been the better of the two games for Robertson, who continues to work his way towards securing a full-time roster spot. He was only a point or two away from everyone really taking notice.
After watching his play last night, Robertson was all over the ice looking for ways to contribute to the Leafs' lead throughout the game. He had a GOLDEN opportunity in the 3rd period to extend the Leafs' lead - unfortunately for the 21-year-old, Stars' netminder Jake Oettinger just happened to be in the right position and even though he didn't see the puck, he was able to make the save. With family in the building and the opportunity to beat his older brother, Robertson was impactful yet again.
Robertson has only racked up five points in fourteen games this season. He'll need to find ways to generate offense if he wants to play in the top six. But even when he's not putting up points, he's showcasing his ability to create space and apply pressure on the opposing defense, which is probably what has kept Robertson in the lineup over Wayne Simmonds and Denis Malgin.
Understandably, coming in and out of the lineup may make it more difficult to find consistent footing, but hopefully with his recent success, he can start putting pucks in the back of the net, which I'm sure would help calm the nerves and allow him to just focus on playing the game he loves and finding success organically, without having to force anything or cheat on offense a bit to try to stay in the lineup.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 7 | 187 ANSWERS Nick Robertson had arguably his best game of the season last night, despite what the scoresheet says Was last night's win in Dallas Nick Robertson's best game as a Leaf? | ||
| Yes, he was great | 73 | 39 % |
| No, his first game against Dallas was better | 114 | 61 % |
| List of polls | ||
