Leafs Postgame: Smashed ‘Ville

Getting ever closer, aren’t they? The Toronto Maple Leafs dragged their feet in the late stages, but squeaked out a 3-1 lead over the Nashville Predators to bring themselves to 89 points with a win over the Nashville Predators.

This was a game of late period goals for the Leafs. Toronto opened their account up tonight on a powerplay drawn by Matt Martin through (gasp) not fighting Austin Watson after throwing a big hit on Mattias Ekholm. James van Riemsdyk made no mistake redirecting a Nikita Zaitsev point shot, which also led to Mitch Maner breaking the Leafs rookie assist record with his 41st of the year.

Toronto recaptured the lightning in a bottle at almost the same time in the second period. Mike Fisher went to the box for a slash on Tyler Bozak, and Auston Matthews converted on the ensuing powerplay thanks to a sweet feed from Connor Brown, extending his amazing rookie goal total to 36.

Trouble seemed to be brewing in the third period when Filip Forsberg took advantage of an incredibly passive Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev, easily stepping in to fire home a goal that brought the Predators to within one. Moments later, Roman Polak took a revenge penalty for holding that put the Leafs on the penalty kill, but they were able to fend off harm. While the period mostly consisted of Toronto getting nervously caved in, it worked out in the end; Brown added an empty-netter to win the day.

So much for a panic-inducing, season-ending injury, eh? Frederik Andersen stopped 29 of 30 shots that he faced after missing just a single game. He kept the Leafs in it when they tuned out, especially in a third period where they were outshot 13-2. All the credit to him.

We all get a day off before the Leafs are back at it again. They’ll be at Joe Louis Arena for the last time ever, taking on the Red Wings.  It’ll be on Hockey Night in Canada at 7:00 PM, as most Saturday games are. See you then!