After winning their home opener, the Maple Leafs carried the same lineup into this game on the road.
In Detroit, it was a different story. Not only did the Red Wings lose their home opener, but they got crushed to the point where they were booed off the ice (it doesn’t only happen in Toronto, folks!), and head coach Todd McLellan called out the team on the first night of their season.
“The players will say, ‘They probably have already said to you, ‘We can fix this.’ …When? It’s time. Some of them have been doing it for years. It’s time.”
The Red Wings needed to respond and ultimately did just that.
First Period
The Red Wings came out with some pace and created a collection of chances early. Chris Tanev was lackadaisical with the puck rounding his net, leading to a turnover on the forecheck and a decent look. On the next shift, Brandon Carlo pinched without support, leading to a 2v1 where Stolarz stood tall on two separate shots.
Right afterward, the Leafs scored. After an offensive-zone faceoff by Steven Lorentz led to a loose puck, Calle Jarnkrok and Nic Roy were aggressive and pursued it, leading to a rim that Lorentz recovered. Lorentz sent it to the point, where Chris Tanev threw it to the net, and Roy basically took it like a pass, going forehand-backhand around Talbot. Jarnkrok made sure it went in; I think it would have gone in anyway, but it’s always the right play to hammer the puck over the line, and Jarnkrok cashed it in for his second goal in two games this season.
Detroit made a push the next shift with their top line against the Leafs‘ top line. They weathered it, and the game settled in a bit more from there.
Both teams had chances. The Leafs‘ fourth line cycled and worked one to the net on their next shift. Moritz Seider fired a puck off Stolarz’s helmet off the rush. The Red Wings had a point shot bounce and hit the post before Bobby McMann couldn’t get it out, and Alex DeBrincat got a clean look in front. Matthews took a pass from Maccelli through the neutral zone and ripped one off the bar.
The Leafs found the next goal, and once again it came courtesy of the fourth line. Steven Lorentz took a hit from Ben Chiarot and was forced out of the game, so Nylander started double-shifting. Nylander got in on the forecheck with the fourth line, worked it to Rielly on the point, and Roy tipped his point shot home. Cam Talbot had no chance on the goal.
Toward the end of the period, the Leafs took a penalty, giving Detroit’s high-end power play (which finished fourth last season) a chance to equalize. The Wings generated some pretty good zone time and a few chances worked down low, but the Leafs held strong and killed it off, ultimately taking a 2-0 lead into intermission.
Second Period
In the second period, the wheels completely fell off for the Maple Leafs. Shots were 15-9 for the Wings, and shot attempts were 26-16, but both of those were extremely generous to the Leafs. The period wasn’t even close.
Multiple times, the Leafs were hemmed in their own end for over a minute, and on separate shifts, Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo got caught on two-plus-minute shifts because the team couldn’t get the puck out.
It took the Red Wings nearly half the period to break through, but once they did, the dam basically broke, and Detroit carried a 3-2 lead in the intermission when it was all said and done.
On the first goal against, Simon Benoit got caught on a long shift, had nothing left in the tank, and Roy tried passing him a puck that wasn’t close enough to him. It went to the corner, where Benoit lost the race because he was exhausted. From there, it was a quick play from DeBrincat to win the race. Patrick Kane centered the puck, and Roy, who made the errant pass, didn’t seal off the middle as Marco Kasper ripped it home.
The Leafs did create some decent moments in between, and this was (ironically) the best period from the Matthews line. Knies tipped a Maccelli shot pass against the grain that almost fooled Talbot at one point, and Maccelli also found Matthews in the slot, but Talbot closed the door. Matthews was moving really well, and his line hemmed in the Red Wings a few times, but they were the only Toronto line up to anything.
The only reason the period wasn’t worse is because of Anthony Stolarz. He made a big save right after the Wings’ first goal on Sandin-Pellika, who was in all alone. Stolarz also robbed the Wings repeatedly in the slot on one sequence. On another, when Stolarz held the puck in his glove, the Wings slashed it out and kept going. As usual, the Leafs did not respond to their goalie getting hit/hacked/slashed.
Eventually, Detroit did score again, as the Wings’ top line got in on the forecheck. Larkin won a race to the puck down low against Rielly, then used his body to shield the puck and bring it out around the net, where he tried to make a play on the puck. It hit Roy and bounced right back to him, then he passed it backdoor for an easy tap-in. Tie game.
Not even four minutes later, the Wings took the lead. They continued to cycle the Leafs down, and on another sequence with Roy on the ice — he was on for all three in the period — they worked the Leafs down low. Rielly didn’t cover Kane at the backdoor, and DeBrincat threaded a cross-ice pass that should never have been able to make it through at five-on-five hockey. It was an easy one-timer for Kane, giving Detroit the lead.
The Red Wings recorded nearly five minutes more of possession in the offensive zone than the Leafs through 40 minutes.
Third Period
It took all of one and a half games for Craig Berube to shift Nylander up with Matthews and Knies, which is how the third period started. The second shift went to Joshua-Tavares-Maccelli, and Tavares immediately drew a penalty.
The Leafs’ power play was much better than their first game — where the bar was set at getting outscored by the PK — and Matthews hit the outside of the post on a one-timer before taking a careless penalty with a one-handed high stick.
It ended up working out for the best as Max Domi tied the game. On 4v4, Rielly kick-started an odd-man rush, drove the middle of the ice, and opened up all sorts of room for Domi to simply walk in and shoot.
With the tying goal scored and the lines reworked, you’d hope it would settle things down from the Toronto perspective, but a few minutes later, OEL took a penalty as Lucas Raymond was beating him wide. The Wings’ power play went to work and restored their lead.
The Leafs used Matthews-Knies as a penalty killing duo, and much like last season, they drifted out of position constantly as the Wings seamed them until Kane found Raymond cross-ice for an easy one-timer finish.
Right after the goal, Domi took another penalty, but this time, the Leafs killed it off. After he exited the box, Domi went on a breakaway and had Talbot down, but he couldn’t lift it into the top of the net on his backhand. It was arguably the Leafs’ best chance to tie it.
The Leafs did go to a power play with five minutes left and generated some good offensive-zone possession time. The best chance came as the PP expired; Matthews walked out from the corner with some time and space, but he couldn’t beat Talbot.
The Leafs never really threatened the rest of the way. The Wings scored a couple of empty-net goals as the Leafs couldn’t dump it in and forecheck properly. All in all, it was an earned result for Detroit.
Post-Game Notes
– The shot attempts for this game ended at 57-35 at five-on-five in favour of the Red Wings. If the Leafs play like this all year, they will lose a lot of games — plain and simple. They need to control the puck more.
– Even though Calle Jarnkrok scored and Steven Lorentz basically missed the entire game, Jarnkrok only played 8:20 for the night. I thought that was weird overall, given those two factors.
– Nicolas Roy only played 10:47 despite notching a goal and an assist, but that’s what happens when you’re on for three goals against at five-on-five in a single period of hockey.
– That is now back-to-back two-point games for Morgan Rielly to start the season. He has arguably been the team’s most dangerous player through the two games, which is great for Rielly, but bad for the overall state of the Leafs. Two players at forward are paid a lot of money and need to be a lot better.
– The Rielly-Carlo pairing was out-attempted 23-11 at five-on-five, by the way. They were really good against Montreal, but as a defensive pairing, they struggled in this one.
– That was probably the worst game the Bobby McMann–John Tavares–William Nylander trio has ever played together over the past two-plus seasons. They were out-attempted 17-3 and could not get out of their zone or sustain anything offensively. Nylander’s best moments early on came with Roy and Jarnkrok.
Tavares has just three shots on net through two games and has not been much of a goal threat. His two points came via a faceoff win and an empty netter to date.
– Nick Robertson made two really good backchecks to disrupt odd-man rushes in the first period, but he finished the game with just one shot on net and did not look particularly dangerous at any point. Several players could come out of the lineup for the next game — and I suspect we’ll see changes — but Robertson is a decent candidate. He’s certainly not forcing the coaching staff’s hand, and they are giving him opportunities. He played over 13 minutes in this one.
– Toward the end of the game, Matthew Knies was in a scrum in front as Simon Edvinsson took exception to Knies digging after a covered puck. Nobody really went in there to back up Knies until it was too late, and Knies was clearly pissed at Edvinsson. Lucky for Knies, they play each other again in less than 48 hours, so we’ll see if anything carries over.
– For the team at large, we’ll see how they respond in the next game after getting completely worked in this one. We’ll learn a lot about them in the next game because this was unacceptable.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts
