The Air Canada Center was rammed and excitement was in the air as superstar Connor McDavid was in town and it was his first game against Maple Leafs first overall pick Auston Matthews. What the fans didn’t know was they signed up for the shutdown show put on by Nazem Kadri and Frederik Andersen.
Kadri was draped over McDavid like a bedsheet over a child on Halloween; oddly enough McDavid was like a ghost out there in the second and third period. The Leafs and especially ‘Nasty Nazy’ did an excellent job shutting down the league’s most electric player in Connor McDavid. It was impressive, I loved the grit and compete level from Nazem Kadri, and it was one of his best games to date for the blue and white. The refs short changed Kadri at one point when he got tripped up with a can-opener and fell to the ice, giving him a diving penalty to go with the trip. Kadri wasn’t pleased with the call, nor was Babcock as he gave the refs an earful.
Kadri answered back quickly in overtime when he skated around McDavid and absolutely undressed Talbot with a dangle and a half and tucked the puck in. An unreal move by Kadri and with impeccable timing as the Leafs squeezed out two points and Frederik Andersen faced 46 shots.
Andersen was spectacular, especially in the first period when Edmonton controlled the play for the most part. It wasn’t until the second period until Toronto picked it up a notch and started laying the body more and grinding out some battles. Andersen has been playing good lately and if he can continue to put in efforts like last night, the Leafs will be climbing the ladder in November as they start the month off 1-0.
A few players who really stood out last night were Nikita Soshnikov, Connor Brown and Matt Martin.
Soshnikov was hurt to start the season and after a short stint with the Marlies to get up to game speed, Lamoriello gave Soshnikov the green light and wanted to see him up with the big club. It didn’t take long for Nikita to spark the fourth line, they were all over the place, hitting hard, winning battles in the corner, getting pucks on net and in the net. It was the best fourth line I’ve seen the Leafs ice, there was instant chemistry it seemed. The compete level of Soshnikov if off the charts, it’s a guarantee he will be in the lineup going forward, it will be interesting to see if Babcock keeps that line together or bumps him up a line or two; he really was impressive in the small sample we saw. It certainly gave Babs another weapon to use, one he could trust.
Connor Brown had a beautiful pass to Kadri in the first period, getting the Leafs quickly on the board. He was showing high levels of hockey intelligence in the offensive zone and big bursts of speed exploding towards the net giving the Leafs a quality scoring chance a few times. But the most impressive part of Brown’s game last night was when he skated all the way back up the ice and plucked off a pass going towards an open winger for the Oilers, completely breaking up the play and quite possible stopping a goal in the dying minutes of the third. Brown seems to be a good fit with Kadri and Komarov. Leo really needs to pick it up, I’ve been waiting for him to break out of his shell and start lacing people and causing more problems in front of the oppositions net. Whenever you see the opponent upset after the whistle giving Leo a hard time, you know that’s when he’s most effective.
Matt Martin may have registered five hits on the night but it seemed as if every time I saw a body flying and creaming someone into the boards it was Martin who I saw lay the body. He was a stallion out there last night, hungry winning battles, going hard to the net and causing issues for the Oilers defensemen as they tried to clear the puck. Martin, smith and Soshnikov were on the puck almost every time they were on the ice, it was brilliant work by the grinder line, creating havoc in the offensive zone giving the top three lines some rest. Not only that but the spark brought by the fourth line seemed to help feed the other lines, especially the Kadri line.
It was a great game by a number of Maple Leafs last night. What was overlooked by many was the coaching strategy used by Mike Babcock. He had the Kadri line beating up on McDavid and his line; enough that they were double and triple shifting McDavid trying to get him away from Kadri. Nazem was in beast mode, irritating bone-brain Lucic and making the Oilers ice McDavid way more than they should have. Babcock’s plan work most beautifully as his instructions to rough up McDavid through him off his game and let the Leafs walk away with a big win versus a red hot Edmonton squad.
Congratulations to William Nylander for rookie of the month in October, he and Matthews had a phenomenal first month of hockey and certainly have us fans ready and hungry for more.
The Leafs will face-off against the Sabres in Buffalo on Thursday, and then host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. I may still be riding high from the big victory last night, but I smell a three game win streak coming for the Leafs!
Thanks for reading, have a great day.