Last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs did what was expected and beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2. The win pushed them back into second place in the tough Atlantic Division. Their loss earlier in the week to the Columbus Blue Jackets allowed the Tampa Bay Lightning to sneak ahead of them in the standings.
It might be a dogfight to the finish for the Maple Leafs. The trade deadline is on March 3, and there are tons of rumors. Who will come to the Maple Leafs, and who will move? Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas likes to keep things quiet, but we have to believe he’ll be going all in to win this season.
In this edition of Maple Leafs’ News & Rumors, I’ll take a look at some of the news emerging from last night’s game, as well as other news emerging from the organization. I’ll specifically look at Josh Ho-Sang and what happened to him in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Item One: Auston Matthews Back, Good as New
Auston Matthews played on Wednesday night after missing five games due to a knee injury and looked as if he hadn’t missed a stride. In the six games before his injury, he had been on a hot streak, potting five goals and an assist.
He returned with a bang, scoring a goal – the game-winner – and an assist against the Blackhawks. In 48 games this season, Matthews now has 26 goals and 55 points. He might not hit 50 goals this season, but he sure makes a difference when he suits up.
Item Two: Ilya Samsonov Has Another Winning Performance
Ilya Samsonov drew last night’s start against the Blackhawks. Although he wasn’t as successful as he was in his previous game – a 30-save shutout victory against the Blue Jackets – he still was on top of his game.
In the end, he saved 27 of 29 shots, and after allowing only a single goal in each of the first two periods, he shut the door in a quiet third period. The Maple Leafs gave him tons of offensive support, and the game was never in doubt.
Samsonov improved his record to 19-6-2 with a 2.31 goals-against-average and a .918 save percentage. He’s been solid over his last four starts, allowing two or fewer goals in three of them.
Item Three: Pretty Recent News on ex-Maple Leafs Josh Ho-Sang
During the 2022 offseason, the Toronto Marlies signed Josh Ho-Sang to a professional tryout. He impressed the organization enough that they then signed him to a one-year AHL contract. As Ho-Sang noted, he just wanted to put his head down and play hockey with no distractions.
True to his word, he had a pretty solid 2021-22 season with the Marlies, putting up 16 goals and 19 assists (for 35 points) in 47 games. His desire to change his reputation seemed to work and earned him a spot on the 2022 Canadian Olympic Men’s Hockey Team after the NHL drew out because of COVID-19 complications.
When Ho-Sang’s season ended, the Maple Leafs did not offer him a contract, so he signed with the KHL in Russia.
In Russia, he hoped to find another opportunity to revitalize his career. Unfortunately, he suffered a significant injury during his first KHL game in early September. The specific details of the injury have not been reported, but it appears from the Twitter photo that it is related to his right arm.
Ho-Sang underwent surgery in Germany, and according to Rinat Bashirov, general manager of Salavat Yulaev, the recovery time is significant. Although I dug pretty deep, I found little news about where Ho-Sang is now.
What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?
How good has William Nylander been playing? Last night he scored his 30th goal of the season to join Matthews, John Tavares, and Phil Kessel as the only Maple Leafs in the last 20 years to reach 30 goals in 55 games or fewer.
That’s a great milestone to reach for Nylander. It’s also impressive to be mentioned in the same company as Matthews, Tavares, and Kessel. By the way, his goal nine seconds into the game was the fourth-fastest game-opening goal in Maple Leafs history, which is another impressive accomplishment.
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