Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up and shout “goalies!” I’m not sure how that last one stayed out. He was making a lot of friends in the blue paint again tonight, frustrating opposing defenders enough to eventually draw an interference penalty later in the game.īunting also had a few good scoring chances in this game, including a breakaway, a few good whacks at some rebounds in tight, and a one-timer coming off of a Rasmus Sandin seam pass. Michael Bunting (LW, #58) - We should start a running tally of how often Bunting gets knocked down after going hard to the net. He also played over 22 minutes tonight, so it’s nice to know his stellar play is finally being rewarded by the coaching staff. Whether he’s teeing up from the dots on the power play or getting himself open at the net front off the cycle at even strength, it’s clear that he’s generating offense at an elite rate. He finished the game with seven shots from the slot, one of which found the back of the net. What’s impressed me the most early on is how much he’s generating individually by way of his shot. He’s been flying up and down the ice in transition, gaining the zone with speed, and making high-skill plays with the puck to create quality scoring opportunities. William Nylander (RW, #88) - We’re only two games into the season, but Nylander appears to be picking things up where they left off in the playoffs. I’m not sure why the Leafs have insisted on playing Spezza so few minutes when he’s proven he can produce at an elite rate, but it’s nice to see them use him on PP1 to start the year in Matthews’ absence. Now seems like a good time to bring up the fact that Joe Thornton got PP1 usage in the playoffs over Spezza last season. There is an element of frustration when I see Spezza make these high-end offensive plays with consistency, knowing he’ll be stuck on the fourth line with linemates who can’t do anything with the cross-ice passes he feeds them.
Spezza also let a bomb go from the top of the right circle, beating Anton Forsberg clean, which wasn’t an easy task tonight.
He only picked up an assist on one of those plays, but those are extremely high-value passes that are going to lead to a lot of goals. He’s still excellent at threading passes through the seam, pulling it off twice at 5-on-4 to William Nylander and another time to Morgan Rielly as time expired. Jason Spezza (RW, #19) - Watching him quarterback PP1 makes me wonder what could have been last year. Let’s evaluate each Leaf individually to help explain why, starting with the few guys who actually did make a meaningful impact tonight. Just in case you were wondering if there was any reason for optimism in this game, there wasn’t much. To top things off, Petr Mrazek left the game after two periods with a groin injury and did not return. The more troublesome takeaway for me is that he needed to be the one to spark it after things weren’t going the Leafs‘ way, which seems to happen a lot when things tighten up for Toronto. That comeback falls largely on the shoulders of Jason Spezza, who we’ll be breaking down in more detail shortly.