The Maple Leafs got enough timely scoring and saves from Anthony Stolarz (33) to overcome a mediocre effort in the Big Apple on Friday night.
Your game in 10:
1. The game started as promisingly as it could’ve for the Maple Leafs, as the top line got to work right away after the opening faceoff with a one-time look for Auston Matthews in the high slot (fanned) followed by some cycle pressure, leading to a tripping penalty by Mika Zibanejad on Matthews along the wall inside 20 seconds. From there, following a sloppy top unit shift, the second unit continued to be a bright spot for the Leafs.
The 1-1 tying goal against the Blackhawks (also scored early in a period) followed a similar theme: the Leafs‘ second power-play unit was hungrier than the PK — something the top unit should take a few notes on — and won puck battles, leading to a puck recovery and a goal set up by Max Domi.
With Vincent Trocheck in possession, Nick Robertson recovered the puck by digging in with a strong stick lift from behind to keep the play alive in the offensive zone. From there, Morgan Rielly switched the zone to Domi, who identified that Oliver Ekman-Larsson was free and clear in the slot, with the Rangers’ JT Miller out to lunch on the play. Domi’s saucer pass and OEL’s one-timer were perfectly executed to make it 1-0 with the ice still fresh.
2. The top line had a handful of good chances to make it a two-goal lead for the Leafs before the Rangers tied it with the Matthews line on the ice. They broke on an odd-man rush where Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner couldn’t quite connect. Not long after, Matthews picked up a puck off the end boards and tried his wraparound power move, nearly leading to Marner banging one in from in front. Off a dump-in a few shifts later, Matthews picked up a bounce off a Ranger skate and broke in for a chance in tight on Igor Shesterkin, who gloved the backhand effort.
On the following offensive-zone faceoff, Matthews lost the draw cleanly, and the Rangers executed a simple flip out into the neutral zone, leading to a 3v2. Mika Zibanejad beat Matthews down the ice and nearly set up Miller in the slot, but Simon Benoit made a nice last-ditch shot block. The rebound came back to the point, and Matthew Knies was caught flat-footed as Will Borgen got his head up with a ton of time and space. Zibanejad got himself lost and rounded the net while the Leafs scrambled, and Borgen and Zibanejad executed a nice shot-for-tip that gave Anthony Stolarz no chance whatsoever.
Lost faceoffs were a theme for Toronto all period, as they won just seven of 22 in the opening 20 minutes. Chasing the puck off the draw so often played its part in the 27-10 shot attempt advantage for the Rangers at five-on-five.
3. Another fast start to a period in the middle frame restored the Leafs’ lead. The top line spent some time applying pressure in the offensive zone, and when the Rangers cleared, a tired K’Andre Miller was guilty of a really lazy change with the long change.
Jake McCabe‘s heads-up stretch pass found William Nylander for a breakaway, and while he didn’t get a clean move off with Uho Vaakanainen racing off the bench to disrupt him, the puck lingered in the crease behind Shesterkin, who ended up knocking it over the goal line. John Tavares followed up on it, although he didn’t appear to touch the puck at any point. It was quickly and correctly ruled a good goal after an NHL review.
The second-line duo continued to apply pressure after scoring the goal. Tavares stripped a puck loose on the forecheck before Nylander danced around and nearly set up Tavares for a redirect in tight that Shesterkin kicked out. The passing lane was opened by Pontus Holmberg battling at the front of the net and irritating Ryan Lidngren, who took an interference penalty on Holmberg for Holmberg’s 21st drawn penalty of the season (2.06 per 60 is top five in the league, among players with a minimum of 30 games played).
Matthews hit the iron on a nice down-low pop-out play off the goal line on the subsequent PP, as he continues to struggle to find a way to beat an NHL goalie and/or the goal post in the month of February.
4. The Leafs recorded just six unblocked shot attempts at five-on-five in both the first and second periods, although the grade-A scoring chances were more even. For most of the night, this looked like a more desperate, less talented Rangers team vs. a less urgent, more talented Leafs team.
A slightly better second period from the Leafs ended in a dodgy fashion. The top line failed to get a puck in deep at the end of their shift as the D went to change, leading to a chance in transition for Jonny Brodzinski that he rang off the bar.
When the Leafs transitioned back onto offense, an extremely soft penalty call on Tavares at the front of the net in the offensive zone meant the Leafs would start the third period down a man. The Leafs had gotten two really solid kills to this point in the night — just one shot on goal for the Rangers between the two opportunities — but it set up their most critical kill so far to start the third.
5. It was another good kill for the Leafs at an important time in the game. As the top forward unit, throughout the game, Kampf and Marner showed the reliability that they’ve displayed over the years when the team’s PK has been at its best. Marner made a particularly nice stick lift on a bumper play by the Rangers, and the Leafs were sure with their clearances. They were able to complete three changes in just over a minute. Shifted to the right side with Tanev out, McCabe filled Tanev’s shoes with a painful shot block, and Stolarz made a few saves on shots from distance.
Tavares drew a call the other way right after the kill by driving out from behind the net, at which point a message was sent from the coaching staff to the top unit. It was no longer five forwards, as Morgan Rielly returned to the top unit, with Marner shifted down low instead of running it from up top. We barely got a look at it, though, as they continued to be sloppy with the puck and show little urgency about winning it back. The unit was deservedly pulled at the 50-second mark.
6. The response from the second unit wasn’t what you wanted to see this time, although it didn’t have anything to do with effort. Nick Robertson immediately turned it over high in the zone while trying to make a short pass back to OEL at the line. The Leafs might’ve recovered okay for a 2v2 situation, but Robertson also didn’t stay on his feet afterward, allowing Will Cuylle to escape free and clear to take a pass from Zibanejad and bury a shorthanded goal in alone on Stolarz.
Needless to say, just as the second unit has some momentum, trust, and perhaps some genuine competition building, this was not how Robertson would’ve drawn up the response to the early top-unit pull. They also nearly got scored on immediately after the center-ice faceoff but were bailed out by Trocheck’s shot going bar down and out.
7. Just 2.5 minutes later, after two good saves by Stolarz — one a glove stop on Panarin in the slot — kept this game from totally swinging against them, the Leafs continued with their timely, opportunistic scoring.
Mitch Marner made an athletic play to jump and seal the wall on Igor Shesterkin’s rim out of a Leafs dump-in, leading to a turnover down low that Matthews and Knies turned into a goal in a flash.
Knies’ 22nd of the season gave Toronto three goals on just 13 shots. The top line did not have its best stuff by any means in this game, but they got the goal back that they conceded earlier in the night with the third-period game-winner, and they earned the penalty that led to the 1-0 goal, so they did just enough to come out on the right side of it tonight results-wise.
8. The Leafs spent most of the rest of the game defending without the puck and were under siege a few times without giving up too many grade-A looks. They did enough to limit things defensively to stop short of saying Anthony Stolarz downright stole the win, but he was their best player.
Expected goals were 4.073 for the Rangers, so Stolarz was credited with over two goals saved above expected. The Leafs needed one more PK to escape this game in the second half of the third after a Nylander high-sticking penalty, and he made two strong saves in tight on jam plays by the Rangers to keep the lead intact.
A stat that speaks to Stolarz’s consistency this season: He has only had one instance where he’s posted back-to-back games below .900, and the team still collected three of four points in those two games (vs. WPG and BOS).
9. Philippe Myers stepped in for his first game since before the 4 Nations break and was effective in this game. He actually ended up leading the team in five-on-five ice time at 17:39 (18:28 total), partly because he took shifts with Rielly once OEL left the game late on. He finished as a plus-two with a couple of shot blocks, kept it simple and relatively clean with the puck, and made a few solid, physical defensive plays — one in the third period stood out where he stood up a hard-charging Zibanejad and killed the rush amid a tough shift for the third line (which was outshot 7-0 at 5v5).
A few minutes later in the third, after Rielly struggled to settle a bobbling puck, the Rangers created a bit of a net-front 2v1, and Myers cut out a pass that might’ve saved a tying goal. During the top line’s long own-zone sequence with six minutes left, he blocked a shot and boxed out well to keep the sightlines clear for Stolarz as the Leafs survived the pressure.
As for Ryan Reaves‘ return, 9:02 wasn’t much to go on (as expected), and there was no Rempe fight, but the fourth line was the only Toronto line not to lose the shot attempt battle at five-on-five. There were a few times (including after the aforementioned own-zone shift for the top line later in the third) when they were able to tilt the ice back in the Leafs’ direction after sustained Ranger pressure. In a game where the Leafs didn’t have much of a forecheck or cycle game going, they did at least provide that element for the team at times.
10. Three missed long-distance shots at the empty net in a one-goal game feel a little extra anxiety-inducing when the team can’t seem to win a key faceoff all night, but the Leafs survived it to keep their perfect record when leading a game in the third period intact.
This was something in the neighbourhood of a C+ or a B- effort from the Leafs, but they’re now 6-1 in their last seven without a non-empty-net goal from Matthews (and Nylander had a five-game drought before tonight). As good teams do, they’re finding ways and banking points, and they now enter the weekend back on top of the Atlantic Division.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts
