Toronto Maple Leafs were ruthless against the Vancouver Cacuks tonight, defeating the rivals on the road with 4-1.
It was another win for the newly appointed head coach Sheldon Keefe, who replaced Mike Babcock three weeks ago. At the moment, Keefe is 6-3-0 with the Maple Leafs, who managed to stabilize themselves following a turbulent period.
“A lot of stuff happened pretty quickly out there. That’s the fastest game that I’ve been a part of in the League in terms of the speed and the competitiveness overall in the game, start to finish,” said Toronto’s head coach.
But regarding tonight’s game, the person who needs to be credited the most is not Keefe, but his starting goalie Frederik Andersen. The 30-year old posted 38 saves and was especially impressive in the final period, once he stopped 15 shots towards his net. Among them were Brock Boeser’s two breakaways, which could make this game much more interesting if he converted them.
“Unbelievable saves,” Matthews said. “He’s been great for us. Ideally, you probably wouldn’t want to see him make five breakaway saves in one game, but that’s just a credit to him and he’s just dialed in.”
The game opened with both sides preferring tough defense rather than attacking. It is why there weren’t any goals in the opening 20 minutes. Auston Matthews was the first one to hit the back of the net, with the Maple Leafs’ center using Justin Holl’s blind assist to score from the edge of the crease.
Vancouver’s players were stunned when John Tavares doubled the lead 19 seconds before the end of the period. Cody Ceci fire a point shot towards the Canucks’ net, but Tavares changed the trajectory of the puck, deceiving Jacob Markstrom.
The home team decided to go all-in with the final frame starting. They would manage to decrease the gap with 11:14 into the period, with Josh Leivo scoring. But their hopes of forcing overtime or even turning the result upside down were crushed some three and a half minutes later.
It was Tavares who scored the third goal for the guests, his second of the night, at exactly 14:58, with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle. That pretty much decided the game, and although the hosts pulled out the goalie, and left their net empty, they couldn’t score. Furthermore, Maple Leafs added struck once more, with Zach Hyman 104 seconds to go.
Toronto is now 15-13-4, with the note that Keefe’s team won two straight games on the road. After beating the NHL champions the St. Louis Blues this Saturday, they added this one too. The Maple Leafs have two more matches away from their home, and both are in Canada. The first one vs. Calgary Flames on Thursday, followed by the clash against Edmonton Oilers this Saturday.
Canucks (15-12-4) are awaiting the Carolina Hurricanes this Thursday, and after that head for San Jose, where they face the Sharks on Saturday evening. Vancouver will have to meet the Golden Knights in Vegas the following night.
