After struggling on their Western Conference road trip the Toronto Maple Leafs have come back to life and have handled themselves pleasantly without their future Captain, Auston Matthews.

It was a real nail biter last night as the game went on and on and nobody could score a goal for either team. The Leafs hung in there, and Frederik Andersen was phenomenal! He had a whopping 42 save shutout and was the main reason why the Leafs were able to take the game to overtime and eventually win it when William Nylander scored with just three seconds left in overtime. Willy was overdue and the timing was impeccable, that was his fourth of the season and secured the Leafs the two points.

We were all anxious to get Auston back into the lineup after seeing him practice earlier this week. It looked as if he was going to suit up for the New Jersey game last night but obviously didn’t and should be fresh and hungry to go against Montreal. Hopefully by then whatever is bothering Auston has settled down and he can get back on the ice in the blue and white where he belongs.

It’s great to see the team come together and continue their winning ways. After so many games the last two weeks the Leafs schedule slowed giving them time to work on their weakness as Babcock works his magic. Most importantly I think this gave Andersen some time to relax and watch some video and work on some of his reads and angles. He was stellar last night, completely stole the Leafs that win and that’s exactly what needs to happen from time to time from your starting goaltending. Surely something the Leafs have lacked for years before acquiring Frederik Andersen.

Remember it took Freddie a bit of time to get settled last season, injury or not he’s not the only goalie that needs to get into a rhythm over time.

Andersen’s last three games have been outstanding, saving 110/114 shots.

Maple Leafs Nikita Soshnikov played his first game of the season last night, logging over ten minutes and registering two hits.

As mention Nylander got his fourth of the season and Rielly picked up his 14th assist of the season which has him on pace to crush his points record in a season. Kadri picked up the other apple and it was his 8th of the year as he continues to put up the points.

The Leafs will play the Canadiens on Saturday night who have been without goaltender Carey Price for a handful of games. Could it be he returns to the lineup on Saturday night? Montreal has been playing better hockey as of late (6-3-1) in their last ten games but is coming off a loss last night to the Arizona Coyotes, which just happened to be the first regulation win of the season for Arizona, ouch.

Toronto won the first matchup of the season when Matthews scored his second of the night in overtime giving the Leafs a 4-3 win.

I would love to have big Auston back in the lineup for this game.

Have a great weekend, thanks for reading.

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