In beating the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night, the Maple Leafs won their third game in a row after losing their season opener.
Our takeaways from the 6-2 Toronto win at Scotiabank Arena:
THAT MATTHEWS MAGIC
You knew that the zero beside captain Auston Matthews’ name in the goal column, and point column for that matter, wasn’t going to last forever.
Not to worry, the feeling was through three games, as Matthews continued to get his looks. He had a team-high 15 shots on goal and consistently was around the opposition’s net.
Against the Kings, Matthews went to the shot that he should patent, the one that comes off a quick release and is pin-point accurate. It came at 8:49 of the first period after Bobby McMann had given Toronto a 1-0 lead, as Matthews fanned on a shot, reloaded and beat goalie David Rittich to the short side.
“You want to contribute every night, and it’s not going to go in every night,” Matthews said. “It’s good to see one fall and it’s a little bit of a weight lifted off your shoulders a bit.”
Matthews also had two assists. Of the Leafs forwards who have played in all four games, only Nick Robertson does not have a point.
The Leafs’ big three all were contributors, as Mitch Marner had three assists and William Nylander scored a goal and assisted on another.
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Max Domi, Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists each.
We’ll see now if Matthews’ first goal leads to an onslaught of production from one of the most-feared shooters in the game. Given his history, no one should be surprised if it does.
MCMANN EXCELS
A week after he was a healthy scratch in the season opener, McMann scored two goals to put him at three in three games.
There was some nice offensive chemistry on a line with Domi and Nylander, a factor that was evident when Nylander sent McMann in alone for the latter’s second goal of the game.
After thrusting himself into the Leafs conversation last year and earning a contract along the way, McMann is really just on the cusp of what kind of impact he can make in the National Hockey League.
Under Craig Berube’s coaching philosophy — play hard, play simple, be smart — the 6-foot-2, 215-pound McMann has a great opportunity to thrive. He has the speed, finish and brains to put it all together.
“He’s a power forward,” Berube said. “That’s how he should think the game, night in and night out, is being a power forward with his skating and his size.
“He doesn’t have to complicate the game. Go in straight lines, bang bodies and get to the net and score goals.”
McMann was playing with lots of confidence last season before a knee injury in April put him on the sideline.
Notably, McMann was able to put his benching for the opener aside. If Max Pacorietty, who was a healthy scratch on Wednesday, draws back in for the home game against the New York Rangers on Saturday, there’s almost no chance it will be McMann who comes out.
“Just trusting that it’s part of the process and it’s part of the game,” McMann said of his mindset after he was scratched last week. “There’s guys that are playing well, there’s a lot of good players on this team, and maybe some guys fit better at certain scenarios than others. It was just knowing that my opportunity would come.”
NOT GREAT BUT IT WORKS
Good teams won’t always have great nights, but still can find a way to make enough fall into place and emerge with the victory.
That’s how it went with the Leafs on Wednesday, but it’s not a concern by any stretch. In fact, there should be encouragement that a team can win and manage to head into the night with two points when there were bumps throughout the game.
For the Leafs, it was during five-on-five play. Toronto was outshot 30-17 and the Kings had 60 attempts to the Leafs’ 27.
Shoddy Kings goaltending on the part of Rittich, who was pulled in favour of Pheonix Copley after allowing four goals on 14 shots, aided Toronto.
Berube referred to the Leafs’ sloppiness, which resulted in him calling a timeout after Kevin Fiala’s goal cut the Toronto lead to 5-2 with 11 minutes to play. Berube gave the Leafs an earful.
“I thought our special teams were excellent,” Berube said. “Goalie was really good.”
Mental note there: Berube didn’t say the same about the team’s effort as a whole.
Not only did the Leafs score twice on the power play — their first power-play goal ended an 0-for-11 drought to start the season — they killed off four minors.
Anthony Stolarz, in another solid outing, made 32 saves.
As for defenceman Timothy Liljegren, he wasn’t great in his season debut, taking a minor penalty and generally being outplayed at five-on-five. If Berube goes back to Conor Timmins against the Rangers, it should not come as a surprise.
Victories aren’t always going to be tied up nicely with a bow. For the Leafs, Wednesday was one of those nights.
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