The Maple Leafs have received hard-working, organized efforts out of their B squads in the last two back-to-back sets against Buffalo and Montreal.
Despite falling behind early, the Leafs largely owned the first 40 minutes of this game and built a lead that a goal-starved Canadiens side couldn’t come back from despite a third-period push by Montreal’s more NHL regular-heavy lineup.
The Leafs have now won four in a row since dropping the opening two games of preseason against Ottawa.
Some quick thoughts on the Leafs‘ 4-2 win:
– After his early penalty, Dominic Moore played a good game, winning his battles along the walls, extending cycles, driving the net, and showing his veteran savvy on the penalty kill. It seems to me that much of the discussion — driven by the media’s search for a storyline in a camp without many unknowns — has gotten ahead of itself in terms of suggesting Miro Aaltonen has the edge over the established vet in Moore. Knowing Moore’s body of work – he’s closing in on 1,000 games, he scored 11 goals last year, he’s logged significant PK minutes into his late 30s, and he’s good on the dot – it would require Aaltonen significantly outperforming him throughout preseason to jar Moore loose of his spot for opening night. Giving Aaltonen a good hard look makes sense; he came over from the KHL in search of a legitimate opportunity, he’s acquitted himself well in preseason, and he will be among the first to call if he’s not on the NHL roster to start the year. But my money’s still on Moore filling the fourth-line center spot on opening night.
– This was one hell of a shift by Travis Dermott:
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– It’s interesting that the coaching staff has been taking some looks at Dermott on the right side in preseason. It’s hard to say if Connor Carrick should be worried about it or not. Carrick is likely going to be the opening night bottom pair right D, partially because it seems unlikely to me that Babcock would use five lefties to start the year. To Carrick’s credit, he has taken full advantage of his power play opportunities this preseason (scoring a goal tonight and nearly assisting on another, on top of his apple against Buffalo on Kapanen’s goal). That said, he’s not getting PP time when the season starts and he’s left something to be desired at even strength; the speed of the game still looks a bit fast for him at times and he has to battle the size disadvantage against bigger forwards. He’s likely done enough from a body-of-work standpoint to be in the lineup against Winnipeg (and none of his competition at the moment, notwithstanding Justin Holl, shoots right), but I wonder how secure his spot is now with the push coming from below.
– One element the Leafs do not have much of on their blue line at the moment is a bit of nastiness and physicality. Andreas Borgman is certainly showing he can bring that element to the ice this preseason; the temperature turned up at various points in the game tonight and he clearly relishes that type of environment. While Andrew Shaw turned him inside out at one point, he bounced back with a good blast from the point for his goal and went on a few forays in the offensive zone to go along with the physical play. He looks like he could use some seasoning defensively down in the AHL, but there’s plenty to like here.
– It seems that the Rosen (thought this was his quietest game so far, but it’s been a solid preseason from him), Dermott, Marincin and Borgman battle is going to take some more time to play out here. Babcock mentioned a ten-game timeframe to start the regular season where the team will still be determining what is what; early regular season performances will bring more clarity in terms of separating the wheat from the chaff and how the team is going to sort out its special teams personnel in particular.
– There are several forwards in the system right now who are making a push but you can’t picture a spot opening up for anytime soon. For all the talk about the injury bug making up for last year’s good fortune, the quality depth should assuage some of those concerns, at least up front. Andreas Johnsson is one such example; there’s no chance he’s on the roster on opening night, although you wouldn’t know it watching him play this preseason. He’s a crafty, intelligent player who doesn’t look intimidated by this level of competition. He’ll skate himself in and out of danger – he does leave himself vulnerable at times; he took a hard hit in a bad spot along the end boards tonight – and we’ve seen his power play abilities at the AHL level carry over into preseason. If he can add a half-step to his skating, he would be capable of really knocking the door down for a spot.
While he won’t be available for a call-up from the Marlies this year, it was pretty impressive also to see a 19-year-old Carl Grundstrom shouldering Max Pacioretty off the puck, drawing a penalty in the process. The Leafs found one here.
– It was a good response by Curtis McElhinney after two early goals against. Neither goal was his fault, and he battled really well throughout, particularly as the Canadiens made their late push.
– Eric Fehr, fighting to stick around as an extra forward on the NHL roster, did himself some favours tonight. He’s probably best used as a winger at this stage, but he’s a big body, he’s skating well this preseason, he’s an effective penalty killer, and he still looks like he has a little game left in him overall.
– Josh Leivo and Connor Brown were the Leafs’ best wingers in this game from start to finish. It’s hard to fathom a player doing as much as Leivo has to prove himself worthy and still not making the opening-day lineup, but it looks like he’s the #13.
