Leafs Postgame: Double Agent

Manipulated Photo. Original Photo Credit: Kim Klement/USA TODAY SPORTS

You just knew that this game was going to end up this way. The TV broadcasts made it all about Steven Stamkos. The fans made it all about Steven Stamkos. The Bolts needed a win, so they were probably looking towards their high-scoring captain. The Leafs, well, they were an accessory to the process.

The end result? The scoresheet was all Stamkos, all the time. Mostly because it was a very short scoresheet, as the Lightning defeated the Leafs by a score of 1-0.

The last goal of this game came seven minutes before the Leafs took their first shot on goal. Forty seconds after Roman Polak was tossed into the box for a puck-over-glass infraction, the hero Toronto deserves set up shot. Stamkos’ first attempt at the off-wing one-timer was unsuccessful, but when Former Leafs defenceman Anton Stralman found him for a second attempt at the left hashmarks, Stamkos went into one of his trademark knee drops and put all his weight into a rocket that beat Jonathan Bernier to open the scoring.

From there… not a lot happened. The Leafs gave up a couple of penalties throughout the period, and about twelve minutes in, they finally took their first shot; one of 30 that Andrei Vasilevskiy would shove aside. 

The second period started off in a bit of a weird fashion. Frank Corrado took an interference penalty that wasn’t quite interference, though some would argue that it would have been an elbow regardless. Nikita Kucherov was sent off for a dive, but it didn’t appear that he had actually embellished. Brian Boyle and Nazem Kadri started jousting. Needless to say, the refs had a tough job to do for a while, especially when the Leafs were attempting to generate offence like this:

Amazingly, the Leafs outshot Tampa 11-5 in the second, a trend that continued into the third. Even with the added pressure, though, they couldn’t convert anything into an equalizer before the final buzzer sounded, allowing them to continue their three-way tie for last place with Edmonton and Columbus.

What a fantastic, fantastic man. Some will point to Toronto being practically absent for the first 10-15 minutes of the game as the biggest reason that he had the opportunity to send a one-timer into its own orbit, but hey, someone has to do something with the gifts that they receive, no?

Jonathan Bernier was absolutely fantastic in net tonight, stopping 29 of 30 shots against him. As stressed repeatedly before, that Stamkos goal was powered by the best version of one of the league’s most elite shots, so it’s hard to fault him for it. Whether the Leafs decide to keep him or move him, it’s crucial that Bernier finds consistent success, for their sake and its own.

Honourable mentions goes to Dion Phaneuf, who was a rock on the point tonight, even if the Bolts weren’t all-too-pleased with his physicality. 

I can excuse the stretch of counting William Nylander as a Leaf for the sake of an argument, and I can excuse Glenn Healy reading Marlies facts off a sheet (not all of us have time to pay attention to two leagues front to back), but man, that’s a huge misplay by the stock footage by the Sportsnet Crew. Alex Nylander got two clips. William got none. If nothing else, it might help his draft stock.

It’s over for a while! Not a moment too soon, either. The Leafs get six days off now, with the exception of Leo Komarov, who will be headed to Nashville shortly to take part in the All-Star festivities. The full team has their next real game on Tuesday when they take on the Boston Bruins in Boston. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM.