The Toronto Maple Leafs followed up an impressive outing against Washington with their most complete performance on the road, scoring three second period goals and holding NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid to a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
The number “10” was a common thread in the Leafs victory, as rookie Auston Matthews, James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri each notched their 10th goals of the season and goalie Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for his 10th win.
“The word we used was "gritty" and "greasy" road period.” defenseman Morgan Rielly said after the game. “We went out there and it probably wasn't our prettiest win, but we're very happy kick this road trip off with two points.”
The Leafs hope to continue their success against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. It will not be known until just before the game whether Andersen will play both ends of the back-to-back for the second time this season or if Toronto will opt to start Jhonas Enroth.
Enroth is winless in three starts, with a 4.21 GAA and .866 save percentage. Chad Johnson is expected to get the start for Calgary.
Matthews has been hot after breaking his 13 game goalless streak in New Jersey last Wednesday. The 2016 top pick has four goals in his last three games and trails only winger Patrik Laine for goals by a rookie and Laine and teammate Mitch Marner by one point in rookie scoring.
Matthews (with 10 goals and 8 assists) is maintaining a pace close to McDavid through 22 games and better than 2015 second overall pick Jack Eichel and 2013 top pick Nathan MacKinnon at the same point in their rookie seasons.
McDavid last season had 10 goals and 16 assists in 22 games, which included a five-point performance against Toronto in February. Eichel started his first season in Buffalo with seven goals and four assists in 22 games, while MacKinnon had three goals and 10 assists.
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Former Leafs GM Brian Burke did his best to quash the Dougie Hamilton trade rumors during an interview on TSN 1050’s Leafs Lunch on Wednesday. The Calgary Flames Team President vehemently denied that his club has been shopping the 22-year-old defenseman.
“It’s very frustrating when you have to deal with leaks. Soon as one of the team is in the mix in the leaks is the Toronto Maple Leafs, it's an army of leakers, an army of people who have no goddamn idea what they are talking about who will happily go on and say 'The Toronto Maple Leafs are doing this, and they're in on that'. “Burke said. “(Flames GM Brad Treliving) got a call from a team, who shall remain nameless, at least for now, if this goes on much further I'm probably not going to remain nameless, and said 'Would you move Dougie Hamilton?' and (Treliving) said no.
We're really happy with (Hamilton), he's a quality guy. He's 6'5, he weighs 237 pounds, he's a right shot, he skates like a deer, he's a good hockey player. Yeah, let's move him!” Burke said sarcastically.
“We haven't offered him to anyone. We don't intend to move him. If you've got the right offer, if someone offers us 20 1st round picks, are we making that deal? Probably, Wayne Gretzky got traded. But the difference between listening, listening attentively, and shopping are different things. Would we listen? Yes, it's our job to listen. Is he a guy we intend to move? Not a chance. Is that a guy we think will move? Not a chance.”
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