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The leafs will need to put Wednesdays loss to Montreal behind them tonight as they take on Pittsburgh at home.
Could a loss to Montreal in the season opener for the first time in 4 years be a good thing for Toronto? It’s certainly a new start for the Leafs, who haven’t lost their season opener to Montreal in 4 straight seasons and it’s a humbling start because losing with 42.9 seconds remaining is always a tough. Best case scenario is it gives the Leafs more fight and takes some of the pressure off.
That being said, Bernier needs to prove the Leafs can rely on him for a win and as a starting goalie especially since Reimer is eager to prove himself. We will see him again tonight but his job isn’t getting any easier against Pittsburg.
One thing that’ll weaken Pittsburg offence is Malkin’s injury. Although he did play and get an assist in their season opener, his ice time was lessened and he admitted after the game that he didn’t feel good.
Tonight look for Van Riemsdyk to score tonight he led last season against Pittsburg with 5 points. Despite the loss Wednesday, the Leafs do have some good to build on. They were able to score and Bernier stopped 28 shots, so they can carry some of that momentum forward to tonight. If every Leaf player is on point, they will be a strong team. But that is the problem, especially offensively, they tend to peak and struggle throughout the season.
For now, I’m giving Toronto the benefit of the doubt, it's not time to throw Carlyle to the wolves just yet. But Wednesday night is an example of a game the Leafs needed to win, knowing they are playing back to back games 2 days later. Its only 1 loss but odds are with Pittsburg tonight and so unless the Leafs improve, they may be 0 for 2 come tomorrow. To avoid that, the Leafs need to get off to a good start and maintain that for the entire game tonight, especially the last minute.