The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has thus far been doing what their management team expected. A roster of holdovers and stopgap free agents are working hard for Mike Babcock, but the club has lost six of their first seven games and are nearing the bottom of the NHL standings due to a lack of scoring and difficulty adjusting to the head coach’s new system.
The Leafs pummeled Habs goaltender Carey Price with 52 shots, but the Vezina and Hart Trophy stopped 49 in a 5-3 victory at the Bell Centre on Saturday, moving Montreal to a perfect 9-0-0 record. Toronto falls to 1-4-2 on the season and did not get the benefit of a solid game from netminder Jonathan Bernier after an impressive performance in Buffalo on Wednesday.
Bernier allowed five goals on 27 shots, including a bad rebound goal by Lars Eller, a deflected own goal off of Michael Grabner’s skate and a weak five-hole short-handed goal to Max Pacioretty in the second period which re-established the Habs two-goal cushion after Leo Komarov and James van Riemsdyk goals cut the lead to one.
Toronto played shorthanded without centers Peter Holland (healthy scratch), Tyler Bozak (lower body) and defenseman Jake Gardiner (upper body) and failed to get any secondary offense. The top line of van Riemsdyk, Komarov and center Nazem Kadri accounted for two goals and played between 19-21 minutes, while defenseman Morgan Rielly led the Leafs with 25 minutes of TOI and added a third period tally.
Free agent and trade acquisitions made over the summer have not had any significant goal scoring impact to this point. The group that includes Daniel Winnik, Brad Boyes, Michael Grabner, P-A Parenteau, Shawn Matthias, Nick Spaling and Mark Arcobello have combined for only two goals.
Leafs rookie Byron Froese registered two shots on goal in his NHL debut and had a few scoring chances in nearly 13 minutes of ice time, but the Winkler, MB native was on the ice for four Montreal goals.
******* Unlike their parent club, the Toronto Marlies are continuing to enjoy early season success under rookie coach Sheldon Keefe, going 2-1 on the weekend with a loss in Binghamton sandwiched between road victories over Rochester and Lehigh Valley.
The Marlies (5-2-0) won 8-2 over the Amerks on Friday and 3-1 over the Phantoms on Sunday afternoon, but fell 5-1 to the Senators on Saturday.
2013 top pick Frederik Gauthier scored his first professional goal in Sunday’s victory over Lehigh Valley, but the scoring star of the weekend was Russian import Nikita Soshnikov, who had two points (1G, 1A) in Rochester and scored twice on Sunday.
“I thought (Soshnikov) was our best player, the best player on the ice for both teams.… Keefe said on Friday. “There’s a lot to like about him. He’s on the puck, he works extremely hard, he’s strong for a smaller guy and he’s got some skill to.…
The 22-year-old winger played two seasons with the KHL’s Moscow Oblast Atlant and scored 14 goals last season before being signed by Toronto as an undrafted free agent this summer.
Goaltender Antoine Bibeau won both weekend games and is a perfect 4-0-0 this season.
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