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Have a night, Johnny! 🧢🔥

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2:26 AM · Oct 29, 2024

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• John Tavares quietly did a lot of things well last season, which also carried into October. A number of critics took aim with his declining foot speed, which was never backed up by NHL Edge data. Tavares drew rebounds at an elite rate last year, and the idea that he should take less than his market value on his next contract is patently ridiculous. When the Maple Leafs desperately needed a result, Tavares submitted his best performance of the season, capping it off with a hat-trick on an empty-netter in the final minute. It was an outstanding performance from Tavares, and he should be paired with Max Pacioretty and William Nylander again during Thursday’s game against the Seattle Kraken. Tavares finished with a game-best six shots at 5-on-5 and seven shots in all situations. He’s been excellent at 5-on-5, even if his power play time is reduced in the new set up.
• Max Pacioretty authored a throwback game, with a three-assist performance — the first time since February 5, 2021. Pacioretty was buzzing around the net from the outset and fended off two Jets’ defenders to set up Tavares’ first goal. Craig Berube previously lauded Pacioretty for his goal-scoring ability, and while the 35-year-old often finds himself in and out of the lineup, his offensive touch is a weapon to be used, and a sorely-needed item for the Maple Leafs, who struggled to generate any rhythm during the three-game losing streak. Positional versatility is key, Pacioretty can play throughout the lineup, and his connectivity, playmaking and willingness to throw himself into high-danger areas was vital against the Jets.
• Pacioretty’s agent, Allan Walsh, took note of the line data: Tavares, Pacioretty and Nylander outscored their opponents 4-0, outshot them 10-2, outchanced them 16-7, while controlling 89 percent of the expected goals. That’s pretty, pretty, pretty good!
• Jake McCabe signed a five-year extension with the Maple Leafs on Monday, then was dominant throughout the game, as the Maple Leafs outshot the Jets 12-4 when he was on the ice McCabe finished with a game-best 90.92 share of the expected goals, and made a clever play at the line to keep the puck alive on Tavares’ opening goal, firing it at the net, before Pacioretty outmuscled two defenders on the primary assist. He looked poised, confident, while throwing three hits and playing with the physicality that has been required during his tenure with the Maple Leafs. McCabe is in it for the long haul, and this was a near-perfect game Monday.
• Toronto revamped its power play units and while it didn’t score, the more balanced approach seems to be working. Matthew Knies earned a promotion to the first unit and was great in all situations, but it didn’t result in a goal. Perhaps Knies will be the catalyst for the first unit as he continues to create havoc net-front, while the entries should become a lot cleaner if the team enters with speed, rather than the static east-west play that has become a feature, not a bug.
• Kyle Connor almost made this another nightmare for the Maple Leafs, scoring twice on the power play, and he was initially credited with a hat-trick, but his third goal at the time of this filing has been credited to Gabriel Vilardi. It’s hard to assign real fault on Connor’s first goal — Steven Lorentz is slightly too late to react on the closeout, but it’s a clean shot from Connor. The second Connor goal invites more criticism as no one picks up Connor, while the Leafs crash down, sending three players to guard Mark Scheifele. Connor has scored in every game this season and the Leafs aren’t immune, but he almost singlehandedly rallied the Jets back into the contest, and perhaps Berube and his staff will assess how to rotate on shooters at the faceoff circle.
• Matthew Knies is beginning to put it all together for the Maple Leafs. Knies has been paired almost exclusively with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on Toronto’s top line to begin the season and with that comes the expectations to produce. Knies scored Toronto’s third goal of the contest, cleaning up a Matthews rebound from in tight, his fifth goal in 10 games. Knies is being deployed on the penalty kill, where he’s aggressively attacking and almost scored on an inside-outside fake spin-o-rama, and he was the best Leafs player during the three-game losing streak. He’s only 22 years old, which is often discounted, given the pressure to perform alongside Toronto’s superstars, but he’s been one of the team’s best forwards and submitted another stellar game in most scenarios — the two goals allowed on the penalty kill are a collective effort and his opportunism, along with the team victory, gives him more than a pass on Monday evening.

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