Recent articles from Arun Srinivasan

It appeared that the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to race away to a comfortable victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, but complacency set in during the final 10 minutes of the game. Toronto emerged with a 6-3 victory, based on the strength of a dominant first period, and two empty-net goals, one from Auston Matthews, and one from Pontus Holmberg. Alex Steeves scored the first goal of his NHL career, Holmberg quickly added to the lead, David Kampf and John Tavares notched first-period markers and the rout appeared to be on through the first forty minutes. And then, all hell broke loose. five minutes left in the first and it's 4-0 Leafs, John Tavares with a monster first period. — Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) February 23, 2025 Shayne Gostisbehere crashed down from the point to get Carolina on the board, Andrei Svechnikov scored two minutes later, and Jaccob Slavin buried a puck into the open cage when Anthony Stolarz couldn’t locate the puck, although the fault lies with the Maple Leafs’ skaters for not clearing the zone. It was a frantic final 10 minutes, but Matthews and Holmberg put the game to rest with empty-netters. Steeeeeever!!!!! pic.twitter.com/YAZoR9fQMn — Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2025 Here are five takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ victory over the Hurricanes Alex Steeves scored his first NHL goal, and he looked like a completely different player from his earlier stint with the Maple Leafs this season. Steeves generated a secondary assist on David Kampf’s first-period marker, which gave the Maple Leafs a 3-0 lead and he was active throughout the contest. The 25-year-old sprung off the rush near the end of the second period and almost scored his second goal of the game, getting a quick shot off that Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov deflected out of play. Earlier in the second frame, Steeves created a golden chance for Kampf, but Kochetkov made a stellar save on a dangerous scoring opportunity. Steeves started the game on the fourth line, he’s been an excellent goal scorer at the AHL level, and if the Maple Leafs are looking to figure out their optimized playoff lineup, Steeves could make a push for a permanent spot, especially if he can help with the team’s dormant depth scoring, and he was awarded the team belt, given to the best or most impactful player in a winning effort. Pontus Holmberg submitted his best game of the season, while featuring on the second line alongside John Tavares and William Nylander. Holmberg scored early, when Jordan Staal accidentally steered the puck into his own net, while the Leafs’ forward was pushed into Kochetkov by Hurricanes defenceman Jalen Chatfield. He was engaged on the forecheck, he made a stellar defensive breakup, outmuscling Sebastian Aho for a dangerous pass that Anthony Stolarz steered into the slot, during the second frame. And with the Maple Leafs seemingly falling apart in the closing minutes, Holmberg notched an empty-netter, doubling his season goal total. Holmberg was on the ice for four Toronto’s four goals and while he’s often kept his spot in the lineup due to his ability to draw penalties, this was an excellent standalone effort that he can continue to build off, as the Maple Leafs near the home stretch of the regular season. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner didn’t look much worse for wear, particularly Marner, as he was actively jumping passing lanes throughout the night, while playing within the team structure. Marner had a shorthanded breakaway in the second period that was turned away by Kochetkov, Matthews was winning puck battles and sent Matthew Knies in for a great chance early in the third period that the young winger sent wide. Matthews, Marner and Knies all lost track of the puck during Andrei Svechnikov’s goal, where Marner couldn’t stop the puck from riding up the wall, Matthews didn’t track a cutting pass and Svechnikov wired it off Jake McCabe and in. Matthews notched an empty-netter with 83 seconds left, to seal the victory. It was a high-variance game for the Leafs’ first line, to say the least. John Tavares was the easily the best of the Core Four, with a tremendous first period that set the tone. Tavares set up Steeves’ opening goal, picking off a no-look pass from Brent Burns, then quickly got the puck over to his teammate. He used his positioning and hockey intelligence to great effect and eased his way into the slot for Toronto’s fourth goal of the game. Eric Robinson simply had no chance of sticking with Tavares in the slot, and Tavares took a no-look feed from William Nylander, making no mistake. He was physically engaged, he was dominant in the faceoff circle and the 4 Nations Face-Off break certainly paid off for Tavares, finishing with a team-best 79 percent share of the expected goals in all situations via Natural Stat Trick. Anthony Stolarz wasn’t called up often but he was solid when he needed to be, making 31 saves. Stolarz’s best stop of the game occurred during the second period when he shut down Eric Robinson on a breakaway. He moved well laterally throughout the game, he stayed engaged during low-activity segments, and the Maple Leafs can rotate the best goaltending duo in the league throughout the final 26 games of the season. You can’t fault Stolarz for any of the goals either, where you could reasonably chalk them up to a series of defensive breakdowns and complacency from the skaters. The final 10 minutes may have impacted Stolarz’s statline, but he shut the door in the final minute, before Matthews and Holmberg added some much-needed insurance. Sponsored by bet365

Recent articles from Arun Srinivasan

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