Morning-after recap: A night of firsts

Well, that was about as good a Leafs Wednesday night midseason game as we’ve had in, maybe… six years? Ten years? 100? There was just so much that happened in this game. Do you remember it all? What a fun night.

A little over five minutes into the game, the Leafs were fighting back and forth with a high-powered Islanders offence. Trading chances at each end of the ice,

Travis Dermott makes his first good play of the night, skating the puck up through the neutral zone and later recovering the puck to shoot it on net.

Kapanen got “a couple of whacks at it”, but it looked like it was actually Mat Barzal’s stick that the puck went in off of last. Whaddya know? It’s a goal from a new-look fourth line, and well, that’s about as good a start to a game as you could hope for.

File this one in the “holy shoot” column.

Picking the puck up on a good bounce after a rush was created by Zach Hyman, Auston just kind of … flings this one over Thomas Greiss. Boy, what a heck of a player that kid is.

23 goals on the season now and it’s only… okay it’s February now. Just an incredible athlete.

This line’s been a revelation, no? Heck of a performance, and wonderful vision from both Mitch and Nazem here.

Great celebration too, and well, that’s about all you could ask for.

TRAVIS DERMOTT HAS SCORED HIS FIRST NHL GOAL AND HE GOT TO DO IT IN A SITUATION WHERE THERE WAS LIMITED PRESSURE BECAUSE THE LEAFS WERE UP FOUR SO HE COULD PROPERLY ENJOY THE CELEBRATION THIS IS VERY GOOD.

LOOK AT THAT SWEET COLLECTION OF BOYS ENJOYING THAT GOAL TOGETHER. WHAT FUN!

Storybook.

What else can you say, really?

Two first NHL goals in one night? Justin Holl getting the call-up the day of the darn game and managing to score in it?

A beautiful effort from the Leafs, as they hit the net 50 times and scored on 10 percent of them. Arguably their most complete game of the season. See you tonight, as they take on the Rangers at MSG.