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In a season where the Toronto Maple Leafs have achieved a significant amount of success, one of the few blemishes has been their struggles against clubs with the worst records in the NHL. The Leafs were able to avoid that issue in the first game coming out of their All-Star/bye week break, a 3-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Friday.
John Tavares scored a pair of goals, Pierre Engvall added a single, and Ilya Samsonov was able to keep the cannon silent with 30 saves for his third shutout of the season, in the first of back-to-back games with the club with the league’s worst record.
“We scored on the power play, and that gives us control of the game in terms of the score. We obviously didn’t make good on the chances that we had to extend our lead, but within that, I thought we played a pretty solid and patient game.…Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “(Samsonov) made some good saves for us at key times. We didn’t give up a lot, and then we extended our lead in the third period, which is what you want to do. All in all, for a first game coming out of the break, it was a good night for our guys.…
The Leafs moved four points in front of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the race for second place in the Atlantic, and will need to take advantage of what appears to a be an easy stretch of the schedule, with the Blue Jackets, the Blackhawks twice and Montreal in the next four games. With Matt Murray out for another couple weeks, it appears that Keefe has no issue relying heavily on a red-hot Samsonov.
Alex Steeves had two hits and two shots on goal in just over 10 minutes in his first game of the season, while Joey Anderson saw 10:31 and Pontus Holmberg 10:51 in the club’s ongoing tryouts for bottom six slots down the stretch.
Rookie Joseph Woll will make his first start of the season against Columbus at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday. The 24-year-old goalie has gone 13-1-0 with the AHL Toronto Marlies this season, and will be opposed by Elvis Merzlikins in goal.
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