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The Toronto Maple Leafs dropped a 1-0 shootout decision to the Buffalo Sabres in game #2 of preseason.

Buffalo dressed a lineup with more veteran content than Toronto and it showed early: The Leafs started out poorly, outshot 11-4 in the first period, but they got the goaltending they needed, made some adjustments at the first intermission, and found their way into the game as it wore on.

As it is game two of nine in preseason, I’ll stick to some thoughts on some of the bubble players, making an exception for Matt Martin in his Leaf debut.


Player Notes

Freddie Gauthier – There are some visible signs of progress in The Goat’s game. His ability to handle the puck and make plays at top speed – which is also noticeably improved – was not something he was capable of doing a couple of camps ago. When he gets a head of steam with the puck, he’s a tough guy to slow down with his size; he had a couple of good carries through neutral ice in this game. His best sequence came early in third, when wheeled up ice to take a pass at the blueline, skated around a defenceman and put a shot on goal, followed by a hit that caused a turnover and led to another chance in front. Not proclaiming Gauthier an offensive dynamo all of a sudden, but those are positives and it would be unfair not to acknowledge them as much.

Josh Leivo – He looked like an NHL player. His skating will never be his strongest asset but he’s made strides in that area, and his ability to protect the puck and make skilled ‘touch’ plays in tight quarters — he adroitly set up The Goat late in the third for a scoring chance – are NHL-calibre. Where he fits in is not clear, but this was a strong preseason debut.

Zach Hyman – Jim Hiller was hounding his team about the need to go to the net after the preseason opener, and Hyman was a breath of fresh air in that respect. His physical game is such that he is not going take anyone’s head off but he is fearless in his willingness to drive the center lane and crash the net. He was effective killing penalties alongside The Goat. At one point in the third, he shed two checks on the sideboards and nearly connected with Carrick at the backdoor for a goal-scoring chance. It would be surprising if Mike Babcock left him out of his opening night lineup.

Justin Holl – Starting to see what Leafs brass saw in Holl when they thought him worthy of an NHL deal for the upcoming season. He is a strong skater with size and some offensive instincts, and he is a right-handed shot to boot. A couple of his rushes in this game had you wondering, “who’s that?” in a good way — impressive confidence for someone playing in his first ever NHL exhibition game. Curious to see what he can do in his second AHL season.

Kerby Rychel – Didn’t offer much in this one. There is still time to leave an impression, but he looks like a player who could use more time in AHL. In addition to adjusting to the system, he can practice during the week — given the AHL schedule — and work with Barb Underhill on his skating.

Peter Holland – Playing on his off-wing, he was good in fits and starts and his skill stood out at times in a game half-full of AHLers, but he’ll need to make a bigger impact at some point this preseason if he’s to stick around past camp.

Rinat Valiev – Still seemed to be a lack of carryover into NHL games from what we’ve seen from Valiev with the Marlies and in the rookie tournaments. He got caught in possession a few times, and lacked the assertiveness he showed against rookie tourney competition in London. Still time to reverse the early impression.

William Nylander – He wasn’t overly involved in the first two periods, but he came alive in the third period and started to take shifts over. He’ll be playing with higher skilled players soon; he sends hard passes through sticks and skates that are hard to corral for unsuspecting players. He danced Cody Franson with a great inside-out move and put his backhand over the net in the third.

Matt Martin – He was having a little difficulty adjusting to play in open ice on a line with Nylander and Hyman, but he played his role as advertised in the o-zone as a banger of bodies and net-front guy. That line had its moments. There was some evidence of why he’s never played a PK role in the NHL before: He was falling all over himself on a third period 4v5. But it’s his first game in months.

Kasimir Kaskisuo – He came into the game half way through and was calm, in control, and read the play well. He only had to make a few second efforts off of initial shots as he did a good job killing plays and controlling his rebounds. He did quite well to go two rounds in the shootout, holding his ground on first dekes and fake shots. Garret Sparks had to be good early as his team got outplayed out of the gates. While he sometimes makes more work for himself than he needs to, he battled well in stopping all 17 shots faced.


Game in Six


Jim Hiller Post Game

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Alec Brownscombe is the founder and editor of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He's published five magazines on the team entitled "The Maple Leafs Annual" with distribution in Chapters and newsstands across the country. He also co-hosted "The Battle of the Atlantic," a weekly show on TSN1200 that covered the Leafs and the NHL in-depth. Alec is a graduate of Trent University and Algonquin College with his diploma in Journalism. In 2014, he was awarded Canada's Best Hockey Blogger honours by Molson Canadian. You can contact him at alec.brownscombe@mapleleafshotstove.com.