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Matthews, Leafs dominate hapless Habs in Montreal |
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All is right with the world if you are a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
The Blue and White won their sixth game in a row on Saturday, as goalie Frederik Andersen earned his second straight shutout and Auston Matthews scored a pair of goals in his return to the lineup after missing four games, but what made it that much more sweet was the 6-0 victory was at the Bell Centre in Montreal against the Canadiens.
Ron Hainsey, Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown, James van Riemsdyk and Matthews scored his club-leading 11th and 12th goals for Toronto and Andersen made 32 saves for the victory and extended his shutout streak to 131:35.
Toronto was on their heels for most of the opening period, not registering a shot on goal for the first eight minutes. The emotional Habs (coming a 5-4 loss to Arizona on Thursday) dominated play and fired 16 shots, but could not get one by the Leafs goaltender.
“(Andersen) was good early. We weren't as good as they were early and they won more battles and more races.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “Then I thought we settled in and got playing, scored some timely goals. Getting the first one was big, but getting the second one gave us some breathing room and I felt we settled in and played.”
With either team unable to break through, Babcock once again shook up his line combinations in hopes of generating some offense. Dominic Moore and Tyler Bozak set up Hainsey for his first goal as a Leaf to open the scoring midway through the middle frame and Kadri extended the lead 37 seconds later with a wrist shot high over the glove of Montreal rookie Charlie Lindgren.
Brown’s tally 25 seconds into the third all but eliminated any chance of a Montreal comeback and raised the frustration level of the struggling squad.
Habs captain Max Pacioretty, who had laid out Andreas Borgman in the first period, once again threw his weight around and crumpled Kadri into the end boards. The response from the Leafs center was to take a run at defenseman Shea Weber.
The most curious line combination was placing Matthews with Matt Martin and Mitch Marner. After van Reimsdyk made it 4-0, the “Killer M’s” combined for the final two Toronto goals, but that success is not something that will tempt Babcock to keep that unit together and he indicated after the game that he will return to the original line combos vs. Arizona on Monday.
“(The line juggling) wasn't about who I put (Matthews) with, I just had to do something different than what was going on. When I put Marleau and Brown and Hyman together it gave me another real good line to go with the Kadri line to take over the game a little bit.”
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A couple of Leaf related notes from Hockey Night in Canada’s “Saturday Night Headlines”.
Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos says that the Maple Leafs have not had significant negotiations with general manager Lou Lamoriello on a new contract, whose three year deal expires at the end of this season.
While the speculation will continue with Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter waiting in the wings, the 75-year-old Lamoriello is showing no signs of slowing down and his abilities to get players signed to cost-effective deals (Kadri, Rielly, Brown, etc) will be needed next summer with contracts for William Nylander, and possibly extensions for Matthews and Marner on the table.
On the ice, the Leafs have three veterans with expiring contracts in van Riemsdyk, Bozak and Leo Komarov. According to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston indicated that the Leafs have held no substantive talks with any of their pending free agents.
That does not mean that a deal is imminent, but the Leafs are in a fortuitous position to fill a need throughout the league for scoring wingers and centers. Dealing van Riemsdyk or Bozak is not out of the question, if Lamoriello is able to get a significant return of young assets and draft choices or a top four defenseman.
The Leafs have significant depth up front, including Josh Leivo(signed to an extension this week), Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson.
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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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