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An outburst offensively and a good night on special teams powered the Maple Leafs to a lopsided victory over the lowly Avalanche on Thursday night.

In addition to some karmic rewards offensively after the Leafs dominated but lost their first meeting against Colorado, the shutout for Frederik Andersen felt long overdue given how consistently well he’s played over the last 25-plus games.

Your game in ten:

1) After dominating the Avalanche 32-9 in shot attempts in the first period of the teams’ first meeting on December 11, the Leafs’ failure to capitalize allowed a terrible Colorado team to find their way into the game en route to a stolen 3-1 win. Mitch Marner hitting the post on the first shift was a little foreboding, but Auston Matthews got the ball rolling with an early goal that deflated a fragile Avalanche group. I couldn’t kick a déjà vu feeling watching this game, and then I remembered why – on this same date last December, the Leafs scored seven in a pre-Christmas visit to Denver.

2) Matthews’ opening tally was a good example of what Mike Babcock often talks about in terms of Connor Brown (or Zach Hyman) creating space for the line’s primary shooter and puck carrier in Auston Matthews; Brown ran a pick on Francois Beauchemin and swatted Beauchemin’s stick knowing that Matthews would pull up to shoot. After scoring one of his own on the powerplay, Brown set Matthews up all alone in front later in the first period following some good work down low, but Matthews ran out of space on his backhand.

3) I noted after the last time the Leafs played the Avalanche – the 52-shot game – that Semyon Varlamov was down early constantly throughout the game but the Leafs couldn’t seem to hit their spots. There was some excellent shooting from the Leafs in their offensive breakthrough tonight. Matthews’ and JVR’s were goal scorer’s goals — both used defenders as screens and got the puck off in a hurry — and Gauthier’s goal was well taken, too.

4) “The Goat’s first NHL goal” brings to mind more of a goalmouth banger than a top-shelf snipe, so it was a rather stunning first from Frederik Gauthier – a good catch and release that beat the goalie clean from the top of the circle. Gauthier blocked four shots and won 58% of his draws (although only 1 of 4 shorthanded) in 11:39 of action as well. Babcock no doubt liked that he was 6’5, 235 in the process, and was less shy about throwing his weight around.

5) After losing some games on special teams over the last couple of weeks, it was good to see the Leafs dominate those areas with two goals on five powerplay opportunities and a six-for-six night on the penalty kill. A second straight game with six penalties taken sounds like more of the poor discipline that Babcock has been admonishing of late, but given he took a bench minor himself and JVR’s trip was pulled out of thin air, it wasn’t as much of an issue as it seemed. The PK proved a real momentum builder, particularly in the second, when the Leafs gave up just three shots on three penalty kills including a five on three. Colorado’s powerplay is the worst in the league, but the Leafs didn’t make it look that way last time out.

6) Mitch Marner collected a pair of assists on the Gauthier and Kadri goals, but his most important play of the game was his backcheck at the end of the first period. After a turnover by JVR high in the offensive zone created a 3-on-2 going the other way, Marner was alert to the threat and got enough of Matt Duchene’s stick/the puck to prevent a sure goal just before the buzzer. A 3-1 goal there might’ve changed the complexion of the game heading into the second.

7) Nikita Zaitsev quietly collected two assists in this game and is now up to four points during his current three-game points streak. With 14 in 32, he’s second among rookie defencemen in points per game among those with 20 or more games played this season, behind only Zach Werenski.

8) Thought this was worth putting out there: Nazem Kadri’s two goals tonight take him up to 13 in 32 games, good enough for ninth in the NHL among centermen. Drop Rickard Rakell from the NHL.com list — he has been playing LW with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry – and Kadri’s up to eighth in goal scoring among NHL centermen. It’s also worth noting that Leon Draisaitl has spent some time on Connor McDavid’s wing as well.

9) William Nylander played just 4:40 of the first 40 minutes – only 3:12 at even strength — which was second last to only Matt Martin after the second period. Babcock made up for it a little bit with six minutes of ice time in the third, but Nylander finished up with just over 10 minutes overall. He looked good early, so it felt unfair. There are a few mitigating circumstances; there was a lot of penalty killing time, and Babcock liked what he was getting out of his top three lines. We’ll have to see if Babcock finds some more ice for him tomorrow. When the Leafs went up 3-1 inside 26 minutes against Edmonton in the first game of a back-to-back at the end of November, Babcock limited Nylander to just 12:18 time on ice. He led all forwards the next night in Calgary with 19:30 TOI (granted, the Leafs were chasing the game after conceding a goal on the first shift).

10) Mike Babcock pointed out after the game that the last five-game segment was the Leafs’ best in terms of scoring chance generation. A visit to Arizona tomorrow should provide a chance to keep the offensive momentum rolling entering the Christmas break.


Game Highlights


All Situations Shot Attempts


Post-Game: Mike Babcock