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The Toronto Maple Leafs played a lineup more representative of the one that will begin the regular season next week and benefited from offense generated from their special teams in a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Wednesday.
Nazem Kadri, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, who scored a pair of power play goals and two shorthanded tallies early in the third period. Frederik Andersen made 33 saves for the victory, as Toronto moves to 5-1 in the preseason, with a home-and-home with the Detroit Red Wings to close out the exhibition schedule.
“We won the game and we have (players with a) good skill set, (but) if you don’t put work in front of your skill, you are not going to be happy on many nights in the National Hockey League.… Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “Their team worked harder than our team and we turned the puck over way too many times. We got better as the game went on, but (Andersen) had to be really good.…
The Leafs top power play unit of Kadri, Matthews, Marner, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly scored on their first two opportunities late in the first and early in the second period, with Kadri beating Carey Price on a setup by Matthews and the former Calder Trophy winner scoring on a pass for Marner, who had a short handed goal and three assists on the night.
While the Leafs had success with their loaded power play, the concern continues to be that three of their four centers are on that top unit, which will play most of the man advantage or until they score. That would leave the Leafs vulnerable in terms of a matchup situation after the power play, with either the fourth line on the ice or the second power play with non-centers Marleau or William Nylander playing up the middle.
In spite of the two short-handed goals, Babcock was not pleased with the Leafs penalty killing. Tomas Tatar’s opening goal was a result of a lack of pressure on the Habs forward and Lindholm being caught out of position, and the collapsing box allowed David Schlemko a clear avenue on his goal early in the third.
“We gave up two goals on the penalty kill that I’d like to have back,… Babcock said. “I thought we were just learning things that we need to do better, but I liked a lot of the things from the new players that I thought were positive.…
Plus/Minus – Game 6
Plus – Tyler Ennis – The veteran forward once again played with energy and generated scoring chances on a line with Matthews and Marleau. Almost no doubt he will make the Leafs 23-man roster.
Minus – Calle Rosen – Rosen was excellent in Buffalo last Saturday, but was primarily responsible for Brendan Gallagher’s tying goal in the second, letting the feisty Habs winger to gain position in front of the net to redirect the shot past Andersen.
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