The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a big 4-1 win over the powerful Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday with plenty of good news for fans. Superstar center Auston Matthews broke the game open just 21 seconds in, and Toronto got a sterling performance from goaltender Jack Campbell, faced a season-high 46 Penguins shots, and stopped 45 of them.
But it was the Leafs’ ability to put a pair of disappointing recent results on their West Coast road trip behind them – and the lesson they learned from a thumping at the hands of the Calgary Flames – resulted in a terrific team effort in the Pittsburgh win.
The Penguins team Toronto beat was not a team to be messed with; the Pens came into Thursday night on a four-game win streak, and they were the top team in the feisty Metropolitan Division, with a 32-11-8 record. But right from the beginning of the game, Matthews got loose on a breakaway, and it’s almost automatic when you give him an opportunity like that, and Matthews netted his 34th goal of the season, less than a half-minute into the contest.
And from there, the Leafs bent but did not break. Yes, they leaned on Campbell to survive the push the Pens put forth, but Toronto was more dynamic on offense, with Matthews adding an assist, defenseman Morgan Rielly chipping in with an assist, and a coast-to-coast goal that was one of the best of the nine-year-NHL veteran’s career. Rielly’s goal came on the power play early in the second period, and with 1:24 left in the middle frame, center David Kampf scored his seventh goal of the year on a shorthanded marker to put the Leafs ahead 3-0. Special teams came up big for Toronto Thursday, but their confidence extended to 5-on-5 as well.
Indeed, when the Penguins got on the board into the third 3:33, there was no sense of panic among Leafs’ players. Sure, the Pens’ goal (scored by Evgeni Malkin) could’ve caused a defensive collapse in Toronto’s defense, but this seems to be a different Leafs’ team. When they’re firing on all cylinders, they can battle out games with the finest the =eafs responded with a 5-on-5 goal from the top line of Matthews, Mitch Marner, and goal-scorer Michael Bunting for the game final goal.
For one night, at least, the Leafs looked like they can hang with the big boys. And that’s a crucial building block as they head toward the playoffs.
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