What better way to get back in the first-place hunt for the Maple Leafs than beat a top-ranked team?
Taking out the dynamic Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers at home was the ideal way to bust a three-game losing streak and start a Western Canadian trip on the right foot.
But the 4-3 win was a very narrow escape. Our takeaways:
SHARP EYES IN THE SKY
With the home crowd going crazy at apparently erasing a three-goal Maple Leafs lead, a calm Craig Berube called a timeout at Toronto’s bench to let video coaches Sam Kim and Jordan Bean get a good look at John Klingberg crossing the blue line just before Connor McDavid brought the puck in on the 6-on-5 and delivered a nifty cross-ice feed to Leon Draisaitl.
That’s 12 successful challenges in a row that the press box duo have provided Berube and predecessor Sheldon Keefe. Their review resulted in McDavid denied a single point in the match.
But the Leafs still almost gummed it up when they couldn’t produce an empty net goal with control of the puck in the neutral zone, leading to another late Oilers flurry that Joseph Woll withstood.
JOE THE PRO
Many Leafs gave Woll a hearty hug after the game as he got a glove on Corey Perry’s tying attempt at the buzzer. It would’ve been automatically reviewed for expired time had it got through, but it put the exclamation mark on his 45 saves, 17 in the second period when the Leafs backed off a bit after taking a 3-0 lead.
Woll had stared down a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins short-handed breakaway in the first period just before Matthew Knies’ power-play marker and as mentioned, none of McDavid’s nine shots on net beat him. Woll also stopped seven of eight mostly bullet drives from the feared release of Evan Bouchard.
Even though Anthony Stolarz is ready to be activated any day — he was the National Hockey League’s save percentage leader when exiting a few weeks ago for minor knee surgery — Woll has secured the top job for now.
“We got another big game out of him,” winger Mitch Marner told Hockey Night in Canada. “I was fired up for him, just massive saves. Without him, who knows what that game is like?”
SPOTLIGHT ON THE BLUE LINE
Berube’s carefully crafted pre-game plan for his defence, re-uniting shutdown pair Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev, with McCabe back on his familiar left side and the coach’s vote of confidence in Morgan Rielly, were scrapped when Oliver Ekman-Larsson didn’t come back after the first period.
The coach said OEL was day-to-day without detailing his injury. At times, the five remaining blueliners looked gassed trying to keep up with the Oilers, especially when McDavid, Draisaitl and Zach Hyman were rolling. But McCabe found the energy to track down a breaking McDavid late in the game and legally body him off of the puck.
Rielly, who came into the game a team-worst minus 18, had a badly needed assist on Bobby McMann’s goal, Toronto’s second on the power play. Rielly was also in good position to sweep a dangerous puck from the crease area early in the game, though on when Hyman made it 4-3.
The Leafs got a rugged game out of Conor Timmins, who came back in the lineup in tandem with Simon Benoit. Pending OEL’s health, the Leafs can use Philippe Myers on Tuesday in Calgary, but having not taken the still tender Jani Hakanpaa on the trip, a Marlie call-up might be needed.
STRAIGHT LINES
As Berube hoped, the return of Knies (shoulder) and John Tavares (leg) gave the Leafs three scoring line threats. Knies, Auston Matthews and Marner were in on a couple of goals. There were six quick passes on the breakout in the opening minute of the final period, finishing with Marner’s nifty rush through the Oiler pickets for a five-hole goal.
William Nylander scored the opener with Tavares back as his centre and McMann banged in a rebound, both man advantage goals coming from the net front presence Berube has demanded.
Pontus Holmberg, relieved of being mis-cast as a second line centre, aided a determined fourth line shift with David Kampf and Steven Lorentz to take precious seconds off of the clock in the final minutes.
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