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The Toronto Maple Leafs are undefeated through three games under Mike Babcock.

Preseason is presason, but three efforts from the Leafs where they’ve outshot, outpossessed, and outscored their opponent isn’t nothing. It’s close to nothing, but it’s not nothing.

What’s preseason for if not unbridled optimism?


Notes

  • Gardiner, arguably the Leafs‘ best player tonight, was obviously instrumental in both goals and looked regular-season ready. Let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come for the start of his season because it’s almost always been a case of slow starts followed by late improvements for Gardiner throughout his young career. He’s got to hit the ground running this season.
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  • Not much has changed in the world of Mark Fraser. Besides his obvious mobility limitations, his stick is where plays go to die. He was fighting it all game and at one point got turned inside out by Zack Kassian. At another point, behind the Leaf net, Fraser lost the puck in his feet briefly before firing a simple D-to-D pass knee high at Travis Dermott, who did well knock it down out of the air, settle it down, and get it moving up ice.
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  • Speaking of Dermott, he was impressive in this game, especially early on. He didn’t have the ideal playing partner in Fraser and spent some time in his own zone, but he was poised with the puck, made some good decisions, and was strong in his battles along the boards. In the second period, Dermott orchestrated a nice powerplay entry, gathering speed, gaining the zone, and laying it off to Brad Boyes, who nearly slipped one through Fuacle’s legs. From the rookie tournament onward, it’s been an encouraging audition for Dermott to rest his hat on before he heads back to Erie.
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  • PTO watch: Thought Boyes did himself a favour tonight with a good 200-foot effort, a couple of chances, four shots on goal, and a nice assist on the game winner. Still lots left to be decided once the rosters are pared down.
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  • There was some early tentativeness from Mitch Marner (to be expected), and there was the shift in the first that involved Nylander and Marner lacking some awareness in the defensive zone, leading to the Habs’ opening goal, but both had good moments in this game, with Nylander’s extra year of development shining through.
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  • Thought the second half of the second period in particular was awesome from Nylander. He showed relentless puck pursuit to cause disruption on the forecheck, leading to a drawn penalty half way through the period. Then, late in the second period and deep into his shift, Nylander found some extra gas in the tank to pounce on a loose puck in the neutral zone and finish off a nice back and forth with Gardiner.
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  • In the first, he also rocketed a beautiful slap pass to an unready Josh Leivo, similar to the pass on the Parenteau goal last night. Nylander blows your mind at least once a period. The “once he’s ready, wait a bit longer” approach probably means Nylander starts on the Marlies, but it’s not hard to picture him proving he’s too far above that league and giving management little choice before long.

  • Soshnikov worked hard at both ends, showed some good speed, and could’ve had a couple tonight if he found his finishing touch. After Nylander set up Leivo and he couldn’t handle the pass, the puck eventually worked its way into an open-net opportunity that Soshnikov failed to lift over Carey Price’s pad. Marner also found Soshnikov on the powerplay with a nice backhand saucer on the tape, but Soshnikov missed high. Chances were there.
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  • There was a Matt Frattin sighting five minutes into the second period. He picked up the puck and gathered speed in his own zone, led the rush, chipped it deep, bodied a guy off, and protected puck. The play didn’t develop further, but he finished a check strong before peeling for a change. Frattin’s a good skater with a powerful base, and still has the occasional moment that has you wondering why we can’t see shifts like that from him more often. At this point, though, the clock has all but run out.
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  • Encouraging showing tonight from the post-Chris Gibson Marlies’ goaltending tandem in Antoine Bibeau and Garret Sparks. Bibeau had no chance on McCarron’s goal, and otherwise kept things really tidy in stopping 13 of 14, while Sparks again held steady in cleanup duty, stopping seven of seven.

Goals

https://vine.co/v/ePtE3PYEIwb

https://vine.co/v/ePtvHwu7IUr


All Situations Shot Attempt Chart

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Mike Babcock Post Game Presser

What do you take away from a win here on the road in a pretty good building?
Obviously a great city, a great spot to come. I thought it was an average hockey game. I thought our kids played hard. We looked like a team out of gas for sure. Any time you get to this point in training camp you are, and we played two games yesterday. We get a day off tomorrow and then we build on our program. Lots to learn. I think we’re going to have a team that can easily get better quickly. It’s lots of fun. We’ve got to figure out how we can narrow this down a little bit. We need two teams; we don’t need three teams like we have right now.

Do kids like Soshnikov make it difficult for you, at least in terms of maybe keeping him around?
I thought it was tough on the guys who played back to back. In saying all that though, I think we had some good performances. Nylander continues to do a good job. I thought he was good. Soshnikov for sure. Timashov I thought has played well. I really liked Dermott and Nielsen tonight. The kids, I thought they played great. Gardiner, I thought he was our best player by a mile here tonight, so that was really good for us. I thought Holland, Boyes — we had some guys there I didn’t mind. It’s not an NHL game, obviously, as you know, you’re watching that and wondering who the guys are. We found a way to hang in there. We found a way to win a game in Montreal.

What have you seen from a young goalie like Antoine Bibeau? He could’ve been nervous playing in Montreal.
He sure didn’t look nervous. I thought he played pretty good. I know him pretty good just from following Anthony Mantha because they played together. So I’ve seen him play quite a bit in the past. He looks like a guy going in the right direction. Obviously, we have two veteran goalies. He needs time in the American league to grow and to get better.

Three games in two nights – Are you seeing some sort of semblance of what you want to do through camp here Mike?
No. It’s too much hockey obviously, but the day off is perfect for us; just what the doctor ordered. We practiced real hard with our veteran players here today. They’ve got a day and a half off, so good for them and hopefully we’ll recharge and get at it.

What’s your assessment of the powerplay?
I thought they were good the other night. I didn’t think we were great tonight on the powerplay, to tell you the truth. But we’re going to be good on the powerplay. I’m not too concerned about that. Jim Hiller does a real nice job of that, and we’ll be organized and we’ll be efficient there.

What’s the advantage of the four forwards on the man advantage?
Well, it all depends on who you have. If you have Markov and Subban maybe you don’t have four forwards. You just get your best players out there, right?