The Maple Leafs overcame a slow start with a better (and resilient) final 40 minutes to take the two points on offer against the league’s worst team through 10 games.

After a sloppy first few minutes, the Flames dictated the opening stages of the game and grabbed an early lead. As has been the case too frequently in the opening 10 games, the Leafs were guilty of leaky rush defense, leading to open seams for the attacking team in Toronto’s defensive zone.

Old friend Nazem Kadri shouldn’t have been able to cleanly slice through both Easton Cowan and Dakota Joshua in the neutral zone before laying it off to Jonathan Huberdeau inside the line, and you’d like to see one of Nic Roy or Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s sticks take away the passing lane to the weakside forward, Morgan Frost, who made it 1-1 with a nice finish at the back post.

Despite the slow start — and with the assistance of a good kill around the midway point — the Leafs should’ve benefited from the Flames’ parade to the penalty box (three penalties) in the second half of the opening frame by tying the game, at a minimum. They fired 13 shot attempts but couldn’t get anything to go; the zone time, puck movement, and battle to win pucks back after the shot attempts were reasonably solid, but they couldn’t find their breakthrough. The wrinkle of Nylander at the goal line, as well as the sight of Matthews firing a few shots skating downhill, showed some promise in this game. Nylander, as a righty down low, can pass out to three left-handed shot options in Tavares, Matthews, or Knies. It’s an interesting concept, and a similar dynamic to a few years back with Mitch Marner stationed down low.

The Leafs found their breakthrough at five-on-five early in the second period. After an unconverted 2v1 chance where Nylander floated a pass to Bobby McMann, who was unable to beat Dustin Wolf in tight, the Leafs cashed in on a separate rush chance. Max Domi entered the zone with Steven Lorentz driving the net, was patient in possession, and ripped one past Wolf to tie the game.

The second period was one of the Leafs‘ best middle frames of the season (granted, it’s not saying much). In the first 10, it has been too rare a sight to see the Leafs actually attack in waves over multiple line changes, tilt the ice, and make the opposition scramble or dump pucks out repeatedly — let alone accomplish it with the long change. There was one breakaway against (thankfully, it was Ryan Lomberg) during one of the Toronto pushes, but by and large, it was encouraging to see the Leafs dictate play and put a team on its heels for notable spells of game time.

It looked like the Leafs might leave the period trailing, though, when Anthony Stolarz let in a potential back-breaker late in the period. With Domi back defending, Joel Farabee took the puck off a bounce wide around Domi and drove the net. Farabee didn’t have much real estate to do anything but jam one into Stolarz, and Stolarz let it trickle through his legs. The Leafs needed a save here.

There was a brief push from Calgary afterward, and it looked for a short spell like the back-breaker might send the Leafs into the second intermission reeling. A combination of a gift from Mikael Backlund and a nice stick lift by Nylander in the offensive zone created the opportunity for Matthew Knies to beat Wolf in alone, flipping the script instantly:

Early in the third period, the Leafs then found their breakthrough on the power play after a high-sticking penalty by Joel Hanley on Matias Maccelli led to a chaotic sequence off a blown Calgary clearance. Off the faceoff, Nylander slipped, which gave the Flames a chance to clear, but Auston Matthews made a great play to knock it down out of mid-air. After Matthews’ initial shot was stopped, Tavares stuck with it and was denied on the second and third efforts before a Flames defender fell on top of Wolf, taking the goalie out of the play. Matthews tried to jam it at the side of the net before Knies finally forced it over the line.

The Leafs had this game in a good spot while protecting their lead until a self-inflicted mistake led to a tying goal. On a routine breakout play in the defensive zone, Rielly thought partner Philippe Myers would activate and begin skating up ice for a D-to-D pass (which was the right play), but the two were not on the same page, and Rielly sent the pass without verifying. It was a gift to Samuel Honzek for his first career goal.

With overtime in the air, as if this game could’ve ended any other way, the deciding goal came off another ugly turnover. In the Flames’ end, a bizarre sequence included multiple failed clearing attempts by Calgary, leading to Domi and Knies on a mini 2v1. Domi once again didn’t even glance at the passing option and ripped one over Wolf’s shoulder to give the Leafs the victory.

Post-Game Notes

– Few — arguably no one — on the Leafs needed this kind of game and production more than Max Domi. There are extenuating circumstances — injury in camp, bumped from top-line winger to third-line center due to other injuries in the lineup, a very brief stint back on the top line (which went poorly), now the fourth-line center, some strange defensive-zone usage, etc. But Domi also hasn’t done himself many favours in the first 10 games.

That said, one area for encouragement is that Domi has upped his shot rate through 10 games (now at 22). Craig Berube’s constant harping on Domi to use his shot more — it’s underrated, as he showed tonight — finally seems to be sinking in. Remember, during his brutal 22-game goal-scoring drought to start last season, Domi fired just 27 shots on goal.

– Anthony Stolarz had arguably earned the cache to speak out as he did after the loss to Seattle based on his play last season, recent contractual commitment, generally strong play in the first five games of the season (when the Leafs leaned on him too heavily), and the physical contact he’d been taking in the crease. Since speaking out, he’s allowed 12 on 93 shots (.871). Injuries provided adversity last season for Stolarz, but this is arguably the first time an actually questionable stint of performance has cropped up in his Leaf career. It was inevitable he’d go through it at some point, and we’ll see how he responds.

– This was a beastly two-goal game from Matthew Knies, who caused Calgary headaches down low and at the net front with his size and strength on the puck. At five-on-five, the combination of John Tavares and Knies’ appetites to grind in the greasy areas has made this line the team’s most promising at the moment and the one that best exemplifies what Berube wants the identity of this team to look like.

Tavares has the line starting with the puck a lot off the draw (71% on the dot tonight), and they’re drawing deserved penalties on top of the offense they generate. Shot attempts at five-on-five for the Knies-Tavares duo are 43-25 in favour of the Leafs, and shots are 21-8 (goals are 3-1). Ideally, the chemistry builds up with McMann-Matthews-Nylander so that they can keep running this duo for the foreseeable future.

– It wasn’t to be for goal #500 tonight, but Tavares was all around it again with five shots and eight shot attempts.

– Tonight’s three shots on goal on the power play represent one-third of Auston Matthews‘ season total for SOG on the man advantage through 10 games. That obviously has to change, with more skating downhill + shooting and one-timer looks a major priority on the PP.

– He did pick up assists in the past two games, but below 10 minutes of ice time, a minus-one, and zero shots or shot attempts are exactly the type of stat lines you don’t want to see too many of from Easton Cowan if he’s going to remain at this level.

– Funny enough, one of only two Leafs outside of Cowan who didn’t record a shot on goal tonight was William Nylander, who created one (Knies’ 2-2) and was more involved/creative offensively than zero shot attempts would suggest. He has another gear, but he didn’t show too much worse-for-wear coming off his minor injury (18:49).

– 37 shots on goal — 26 at five-on-five — is the second-highest total by the Leafs so far this season, behind only their 3-2 loss to Detroit (40) in which they largely dominated the game. All six defensemen recorded at least a shot (10 total). 16 shots came in the second period alone, all recorded at five-on-five, as the team’s trouble period in the early going was much improved tonight.

Zach Payne & Alec Brownscombe contributed to this report

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Game Highlights: Maple Leafs 4 vs. Flames 3

Previous articleCraig Berube on Max Domi’s much-needed two-goal game vs. Calgary: “When he’s an engaged player, he’s a good player”
MLHS Staff
Founded in 2008, Maple Leaf Hotstove (MLHS) has grown to be the most visited independent team-focused hockey website online (Quantcast). Independently owned and operated, MLHS provides thorough and wide-ranging content, varying from news, opinion and analysis, to pre-game and long-form game reviews, and a weekly feature piece entitled "Leafs Notebook." MLHS has been cited by: ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBC News, USA Today, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, TSN, Sportsnet, Grantland, CTV News, CBSSports, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, Global News, Huffington Post, and many more.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR