Mar 29, 2018
Leafs hang on for win, set franchise records
The Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Florida Panthers to set a new franchise record for wins in a season with 46 as well as a team record for wins at home with their 27th in 2017-18, Kristen Shilton writes.
TORONTO – The Maple Leafs have miles to go before they accomplish the franchise’s ultimate goal of winning another Stanley Cup. But on Wednesday night, this iteration of the Leafs hit a few single-season milestones that suggest they’re inching steadily closer to making that lofty dream a reality.
In earning a 4-3 victory over a desperate Florida Panthers team, the Leafs established a franchise record for both single-season wins (46) and home victories (27). It was also an individually historic night for goaltender Frederik Andersen, who set a new single-season career-high with his 36th victory, and James van Riemsdyk, who scored the 200th goal of his NHL career.
With five games remaining in their regular season, collectively setting new benchmarks has given the Leafs something to aspire to with their postseason future all by guaranteed.
“It’s one of things where, they’re all nice to get. But we have bigger plans,” said Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “We’re just moving along and trying to get better. I think this is a good win, it gives you confidence. I thought [Mitch] Marner was a star tonight, really set the tone, came out and skated and played good. It was a good win for our team.”
The Leafs (46-24-7) will have to wait another day to punch their postseason ticket after the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in regulation late Wednesday. A Flyers loss in regulation would have given the Leafs the coveted ‘X’ beside their name for the second straight season.
To get their record-breaking win, the Leafs had to contend with a Panthers club (39-29-7) fighting to secure a wild-card spot, but that urgency just wasn’t immediately obvious out of the gate. Toronto was all over the visitors in the first period, with Marner leading the way. He got the ball rolling with a rare slap shot goal top shelf past Roberto Luongo to extend his career-long point streak to 10 games. That score also generated another historic moment of sorts for Tomas Plekanec, whose secondary assist was his first point with the Leafs since arriving 13 games ago via trade from the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 25.
Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau followed up in quick succession for the Leafs to give them a 3-0 cushion less than 14 minutes into the first period. Marleau’s goal, his second in as many games, was as much Marner’s doing as his, though, as the sophomore snuck a pass through the slot to Marleau in front of a screened Luongo, leaving Marleau with little to do but tap home his 25th of the season.
“He displays that [skill] each and every night,” said Marleau of Marner’s set up. “But the way he can move out there and hang onto pucks is something special. He’s skating hard, working hard. I think the work he’s doing to get pucks back on the forecheck and the backcheck is leading to those points he’s getting offensively.”
Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice for the Panthers by late in the second period as the ringleader of Florida’s push back, which only intensified as the game went on. Toronto had its hands full in the third period with the Panthers’ chaotic attack, earning just 31 per cent possession in that frame, but that’s when van Riemsdyk came through with the eventual game-winner, his 35th of the season.
Looking for a second-chance opportunity, van Riemsdyk stayed on top of Luongo in the crease and when a rebound came to him, he slid the puck back underneath the goaltender to give Toronto the insurance it needed.
“To hit something like that is pretty cool, but hopefully I have a lot more in me,” said van Riemsdyk. “It feels like time flies by, seems like yesterday I was getting drafted. We [all] just wanted to handle our own business here tonight in this game and that was a desperate team that came out playing well. We knew they’d be a challenge the whole game and that’s what they were.”
As he’s been so many times this season, Andersen stepped up in the biggest way when the Leafs needed him most. The goaltender was far less busy than Luongo through the game’s first half, but as the Panthers pressed, Andersen pressed back. It started with a key 5-on-3 penalty kill early in the middle frame, where Andersen made a series of stops to keep Florida from gaining any momentum, and then he shut the door late in a rock-solid 30-save performance.
But like the other single-season records, Andersen’s won’t mean as much if it isn’t a stepping stone towards some success in the postseason. Regardless of how good Toronto felt after Wednesday’s win, the most important stories have yet to be written, for Andersen and the rest of the Leafs.
“I think [the records] are pretty huge when you look at how long this team has been around,” said Marleau. “And it’s a credit to the hard work the guys have put in. But there’s a lot more hard work to go.”
TAKEAWAYS
At the centre of history
When Matthews doubled the Leafs’ lead midway through the opening period, his wrister from the high slot was his 30th of the season, making him the third Leaf this season to hit the plateau (van Reimsdyk, Nazem Kadri).
But Matthews’ milestone may have been the most impressive of the three, considering he did it in significantly fewer games (57) thanks to a series of injuries (back, concussion, shoulder) this season. His goal ended up having historical implications as well – he became the third player in Leafs history to start his career in Toronto with back-to-back 30-goal seasons, and Kadri and Matthews became the first pair of centres in franchise history to record consecutive 30-goal campaigns.
And despite missing 20 games with injuries this season, Matthews is now tied with Connor McDavid for the most even-strength goals (60) since the start of last season.
Since he returned from a 10-game injury absence last Thursday in Nashville, Matthews has been trying to re-establish his 200-foot game and return to being the dominant centreman the Leafs know him to be. In the offensive zone, Matthews has shown he hasn’t missed much of a beat – he has at least a point in all four games since coming back, but his work in the defensive zone is still shaky at times.
Babcock acknowledged earlier in the week that Matthews would still need time before he was back at 100 per cent, but the confidence he draws from continuing to play well up front will only aid him in re-establishing his overall game. Matthews finished Wednesday’s game with two shots on goal and 36 per cent possession going up against the Vincent Trochek line, proving that Florida was able to get the better of Matthews, William Nylander and Zach Hyman despite them generating an even-strength goal.
Lu’s got his number
On a night when so many of his teammates seemingly couldn’t miss, Tyler Bozak simply couldn’t buy a goal. He was robbed twice in the first period by Luongo on terrific saves. On the first, Luongo tracked the puck out of mid-air with his stick to keep it out, and on the other attempt Bozak was at point-blank range with a partially open net but the veteran netminder got his body in front just in time to corral the disc.
Bozak was also proving to be quite a playmaker in the Panthers’ end as well – his forechecking has been much stronger lately and he’s been getting the puck to his teammates to generate scoring chances on their own. On Marleau’s first-period goal, it was a screen by Bozak on Marleau that allowed Marner to get a beautiful pass to Marleau with a wide-open net to tap the puck into. And then late in the period, Bozak once again battled to a great position in front of Luongo to take a pass but the goaltender thwarted him once again.
After that opening frame, Bozak was leading all Leafs with three shots on goal. In the second period, he was forcing turnovers in the defensive zone and breaking out well, all the while still creating havoc around Luongo’s net. He did eventually get rewarded with an assist on van Riemsdyk’s third-period goal, but Bozak had plenty of opportunity all on his own to be lighting the lamp.
After the game, van Riemsdyk jokingly said Bozak said Wednesday’s game was the last time he’d let fellow linemate Connor Brown pick out his stick after all the times it failed him against Luongo. Bozak finished with four shots on goal and a team-high 74 per cent possession.
Next game
The Leafs hit the road for a meeting with the New York Islanders in Brooklyn on Friday.