The Toronto Maple Leafs moved over .500 for the first time with a 6-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at Air Canada Center on Saturday, highlighted by a wild third period that saw nine players sent to the locker room (including both goaltenders) and 157 minutes in penalties doled out.
The line of Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk and rookie Mitch Marner were central to the Leafs victory for the second straight contest, combining for three goals after accounting for both tallies in the 2-1 victory over Buffalo on Thursday.
Bozak netted a pair, Marner, Nazem Kadri, Nikita Soshnikov and Jake Gardiner also scored, while Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for his third straight victory.
3-1 Leafs pic.twitter.com/lIxl0ZYtmq
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 6, 2016
Toronto never trailed in the game, as Kadri and Bozak scored in the first to establish a 2-0 lead, but Vancouver’s Derek Dorsett responded quickly to narrow the lead to 2-1.
The two clubs traded goals in the middle frame, with Bozak scoring his second of the game on the power play on a nice feed from Marner and Henrik Sedin responding shortly after. Toronto put the game away early in the third, as Marner and Soshnikov scored less than two minutes apart to open a 5-2 lead.
The game got out of hand following the Soshnikov goal, but uncharacteristically it was the team leading that started the shenanigans, as Morgan Rielly hit Jannik Hansen at center ice and Kadri followed with a hit up high to Daniel Sedin, as the Canucks forward beat Andersen to narrow the lead to 5-3.
i have no idea what's happening pic.twitter.com/x7rf2U80qz
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 6, 2016
Following the Gardiner goal to make it 6-3, Vancouver seemed intent on exacting a bit of revenge on the Leafs, as Alex Burrows speared Rielly in retaliation for the Hansen hit, Derek Dorsett jumped Leo Komarov and Burrows and Rielly tussled at center ice.
The coup de grace for hostilities was Matt Martin jumping Canucks rookie Troy Stecher, who was so outmatched that goalie Ryan Miller jumped in as third-man to save his teammate, which drew Andersen down the ice in response.
“(The Canucks) were upset with the hits by Rielly and (Kadri). Obviously our team had lots of energy here tonight and it was a good win for our team -- three in a row -- and we have an off-day, it's Saturday night.… Head coach Mike Babcock said following the game. “I haven't seen any of that rodeo stuff since junior. Everyone got excited, they got excited, we got excited……we won.…
Blind side hits are NOT illegal in itself. If the head isn't the MAIN point of contact, it doesn't matter if it's North/South or East/West. pic.twitter.com/edzNqfnf2M
— Damian Echevarrieta (@Ech28) November 6, 2016
The Kadri hit was reviewed by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety and it was determined that Sedin’s shoulder was the principal point of contact. That fact and Sedin returning to the ice after undergoing concussion protocol prevented the Leafs forward from being suspended for the fourth time in his career.
What is most disturbing about the hits by Rielly and Kadri is that they came when the team was up three goals and had the game in hand. Earlier this season, Dmitri Kulikov blasted Jakub Voracek in the third period of a 3-0 game between Buffalo and Philadelphia and the resulting penalty and wake up call spurred a Flyers comeback and shootout victory.
The hit on Sedin was very similar to the one on Detroit’s Luke Glendening last April that resulted in a four-game suspension for Kadri.
Kadri showed what a valuable player he could be this week, when he frustrated Connor McDavid and scored twice in a 3-2 victory over Edmonton, but the hit on Saturday that missed being suspendible by centimeters is another example of Kadri’s reckless side that often leads to negative repercussions for himself and his team.
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