Leafs Postgame: More like the Penglosses

Today was a huge day in Toronto Maple Leafs history as Trevor Moore was called up.

Also the Leafs strolled into Pittsburgh and shut out one of the best teams in the league sans Auston Matthews and William Nylander.

The Leafs were in control of this game from the beginning. They came out flying in the first period and controlled play from the get-go.

Nazem Kadri and Kasperi Kapanen nearly opened the scoring, but Kadri put his pass just slightly of of the area where Kapanen could one-time it and Matt Murray made a great save.

The Hyman-Tavares-Marner line was all over the place all night and, particularly, Marner was absolutely dominant. The first goal of the game was a result of a Marner zone entry followed by a cut to the middle of the ice where he took a shot. Tavares made a very nice tip from the middle of the slot which put the Leafs up 1-0.

Marner also just missed a goal of his own early on.

Tavares almost had his second of the period after a great feed by Zach Hyman (?!) but the shaft of Murray’s stick kept it out.

I also enjoyed this way too much. Kasperi Kapanen has rockets attached to his skates prove me wrong.

That first period was one of the best periods the team has played all year.

Fourty-four seconds into the second, this happened.

Kapanen is incredibly fast and incredibly good. Exhibit C:

Roughly ten seconds later, Marner did this on the penalty kill:

Morgan Rielly then roofed a shot off the rush from Tavares to put the Leafs up 3-0.

Marner was an absolute maniac tonight, dominating at evens, on the powerplay and shorthanded.

Marner then somehow got a Kadri pass stuck between the boot of his skate and his tuuk.

No matter what happens with Marner on the ice it’s required viewing.

The third period began with Tavares missing out on his second goal by about half an inch.

Phil was being Phil.

And then Rielly scored his second of the night and sixth of the year late in the third to put it away while on the powerplay.

Hyman got the monkey off his back with his first of the year while shorthanded with 20 seconds left in the game.

Ultimately, the Leafs played a very good game on the road vs. one of the better teams in the league, winning the 5v5 corsi battle 59 to 54 (52% to 48%), the expected goal battle (57% to 43%) and the goal battle. They scored three 5v5 goals, one powerplay goal and one shorthanded goal. By the way, Marner and Tavares had six shots each.

My three stars:

That was fun! We should do this again sometime!