The excitement for puck drop was off the charts for this upcoming season. When the Leafs hit the ice in Ottawa, it was special, even before puck drop. There was Dion Phaneuf on the other side of the ice; across from him was a completely revamped Leafs team. A number of Toronto fans were in attendance, a road game? I heard go Leafs go chants as the puck dropped in the first period. As if I wasn’t amped up enough…here we go!
Mitch Marner excelled, he was flying out there, zinging one off the iron, having a few breakaways that showed his explosive speed. Without a doubt I thought Marner was the best player on the ice in the first period, goals or not.
It wasn’t the Mitch Marner show though; it was the Auston Matthews magic show.
The Leafs go up one nothing on a goal by Matthews, the first of his career. The fan base couldn’t have been happier; could we? Matthews scored a goal in his first game as a Toronto Maple Leaf! It was an amazing moment as a fan, one I will never forget as I saw the first goal of many for number 34.
It didn’t take long for Ottawa to answer, Ryan and Karlsson both scored within five minutes to take the lead. Andersen had a tough go in net, as did the Maple Leafs defenders. As expected in game one; if you look around the league, there were a number of high scoring games, even for some goalies who are surely warmed up from the World Cup. Give it some time for Andersen to settle in and don’t bother wasting your time looking at the negatives.
Quite possibly one of the best all round skilled goals I’ve seen in quite some time was scored by none other than Matthews in the first period of game one. After some slick stick work and squeezing past two Ottawa skaters, Matthews picked the pocket of last year’s Norris winner and rifled it past Anderson for an absolute dandy of a goal. This baby got me out of my seat and I’d be lying if I wasn’t dancing around in awe of such a dandy goal! The arena erupted, even the Senators fans were shocked with what just happened. Matthews couldn’t help himself, he was fired up after scoring another, his teammates and a large number of Toronto fans celebrated along the glass.
At this point, the rest of Leafs Nation and I are in awe, text messages are rolling in and tweets are flying out about Matthews. This is only two of four!
The first period ended and I couldn’t believe our boy Matthews already put two pucks in the net in his debut, amazing, maybe he will get a hat trick first game I was thinking.
Sure enough, the first period starts, literally 1 minute into the period and Rielly feeds a beauty pass to Matthews and without hesitation he rips it passed Anderson and the hats are soaring through the air! Hats are not cheap these days, a lot of those hats were brand spanking new, but worth every penny to toss on the ice, knowing you witnessed something truly special.
Nobody saw this coming; this was certainly not a custom to us Leafs fans who can’t remember having such a star, and so quickly out the gates. It was a magical night, one I will never forget as a fan of hockey, let alone a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Brassard scored and the game was all tied up, it was one exciting game so far and we still had a period to go. Just as the second period is ending William Nylander and Auston Matthews are breaking out on a two on one. Time is ticking down, as we all got to the edge of our seat, Nylander sauces an absolutely perfect pass on the tape of Matthews and voila, his fourth of the night! An NHL record!
Nylander had a fantastic game, he ended up with two assists and a plus three rating. An excellent start to the season for the Hyman-Matthews-Nylander line.
Yeah sure Ottawa came back and tied it up in the third and ended up winning in overtime. That’s great, we’d all have loved the two points, especially Matthews who buried four and deserved a win. Nevertheless, there were a number of positives to take from the game. The play of Matthews, Nylander and Marner was superb.
Matt Martin laid a few solid hits and landed a few nice punches giving Toronto a spark after they fell short 2-1 in the first. It’s going to be nice having a guy who can skate, hit, chip in but most importantly take care of business if need be.
Matt Hunwick got smashed by Chris Neil and didn’t return to the game after. This left the Leafs with five defenders instead of six. That’s not the best way to start the season, as it left the Toronto defense scrambling at bit as they had different pairings than expected. At the end of the day Toronto went into Ottawa and scooped up a point. If they can tighten up defensively and keep that offensive punch coming, they will be a threat all season long and every exciting to watch.
I’m certainly ready for my next taste of Matthews!
Enjoy tomorrow’s game versus Boston in the home opener. Good luck to the Blue Jays tonight in their playoff action!
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend.