The things that can happen if you just start on time. The Leafs have taken their revenge on the Ottawa Senators with a 3-1 victory on the first Hockey Night in Canada of the new season. This time, the Leafs took control of the game early, and never really let go of it. This was the kind of game that we had been waiting for the Leafs to have this year, where they assert their game and take it to their opponent.
The Leafs came out of the gate hot in this game, striking only 2:12 into the first period, as Rasmus Sandin stepped below the circle in the Ottawa zone off of a faceoff set play. Sandin snapped it to the front of the net for Wayne Simmonds, who tipped it under the pad of Anton Forsberg to open the scoring. This one was mostly Sandin, who showed off his smooth skating and slick passing abilities to open up the lane and find Simmonds. If Sandin continues to show that kind of potential, Leafs fans should feel a lot better about Morgan Rielly’s future.
The Leafs continued to control the game throughout the first period, finding twine again less than 6 minutes after Simmonds opened the scoring. Alex Kerfoot made a heads-up play to keep the puck in the Ottawa zone, which got the Senators scrambling. Michael Bunting shovelled the puck into the corner for William Nylander, who sent it in front of the net for Kerfoot, who fired it under the arm of Forsberg to double the lead.
Those early goals felt really important, because after the second goal, Forsberg seemed to find the game he had on Thursday, shutting down a bunch of Leafs chances. Mitch Marner and John Tavares seemed especially snakebitten, not finding any way to put the puck past the Sens netminder.
Ottawa finally managed to push back late in the second, and they very nearly turned the whole game around. 17 minutes into the middle frame, Nick Ritchie was called for cross-checking, sending Ottawa to their second and final power play of the game. 32 seconds in, a sweet Drake Batherson pass found Josh Norris all alone near the crease. Norris made no mistake snapping it past Campbell to get Ottawa within one. The play started with a failed clearing attempt from the corner, which got the Leafs’ defenders caught out of position and allowed Norris to sneak behind them unnoticed.
The Senators almost tied the game up, as Drake Batherson found himself in alone on Campbell after a nice stretch pass with just 6 seconds remaining. Campbell made the initial stop on Batherson, but the rebound bounced in off of the forward’s foot. The Leafs challenged for offside, and were successful, which may have saved the game for them. It was really close, but when you looked in slow motion it was clearly the right call. We can argue about the merits of offside reviews, but I’ll take that one any day.
Just under 8 minutes into the third, Michael Bunting found his way onto the scoresheet as he broke out of the Toronto zone on a 2 on 1 with Alex Kerfoot. They passed back and forth before Bunting stopped up, stepped into the middle of the ice, and snapped it past Forsberg to double the lead. It was great to see Bunting get his first as a Leaf, as he had been fantastic during the first couple games of the season. Timothy Liljegren also picked up a secondary assist on the goal as he made his season debut. Hopefully he is able to finally find a place in this lineup this year.
The Sens made a push with their net empty, but the Leafs did a good job of shutting them down. Marner and Tavares both had a couple of attempts at the empty net, but still were snakebitten and unable to get one to go. Jack Campbell stopped 20 of 21 shots to secure the win.
Bright spots:
Michael Bunting: Bunting is just one of those guys who you love to have on your team, but hate if he’s on the other team. He goes to the dirty areas of the ice, gets under the opponents’ skin, but also has enough skill to contribute to the team. It was great to see him put up his first in blue and white.
Marner and Tavares: These two have been really underwhelming in the early going of this season, highlighting just how important Auston Matthews is to this team. They seemed poised to break through tonight, and came oh so close to doing just that time and time again. Marner looked like he had a ton of confidence with the puck, making moves to try and open lanes. There were a couple of times where he set up Tavares with fantastic chances, but Tavares was unable to finish them off. Both 16 and 91 had looks at the open net, but Tavares hit the post, and Marner was blocked by Ottawa defenders. Both of them will continue to improve as the season goes on.
William Nylander: Long considered the #4 guy of the Leafs big 4, Willy Styles has been making a case that he could be #2. While playing without another star on his line, he has been on fire to start the season. He set up Kerfoot for what stood as the winning goal, and controlled possession for the entire game.
Bonus Bright spot: Alex Bishop: What a night for Alex Bishop, the University of Toronto goaltender who was brought in on a tryout contract to back up Jack Campbell as the Leafs didn’t have the cap space to call up a goalie from the AHL to fill in for the injured Petr Mrazek. Bishop didn’t get to see any action, but what an unforgettable night for him.
Down Bad:
Nick Ritchie: Ritchie has done exactly nothing for the Leafs thus far. The expectations for him shouldn’t be high at all, seeing as his only role is to be guy #3 on a line with two stars, but his lack of skating ability and scoring touch has me wondering if he should even be in this lineup, let alone playing in the top six. It will be interesting to see what the Leafs’ lines look like when healthy. I think Bunting has earned himself a spot in the top 6, and I wonder if a guy like Ondrej Kase gets the other top 6 left-wing spot over Ritchie.
Tweets of the Night:
If you didn’t start fearing the worst as soon as the Alex Bishop news was announced, are you really a Leafs fan?
Considering that it’s a groin injury, and Mrazek’s past injury problems, this is good news. Mrazek was solid in defeat Thursday night, only getting beat on some real unfortunate bounces.
You love to see a Toronto kid like Bunting finding success in his hometown. Living all of our dreams.
Overall grade: A-
This was nowhere near the best the Leafs can be, but we take a win any night, and they finally managed to start on time.
Next up: The Rangers come to town Monday at 7 PM EST.