<p><a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/knee-jerk-reaction-toronto-maple-leafs-top-six-breakout-home-ice">Another home opener is in the books</a> as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Saturday. William Nylander scored twice, including an empty-netter to clinch the game with 22 seconds left, while Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner both scored their first goals of the season. Kris Letang and Rickard Rakell scored for the Penguins, while Evgeni Malkin recorded his 1,300th NHL point.</p>
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<p>Anthony Stolarz recorded his first win with the Maple Leafs, making 21 saves and the home crowd was buzzing after Nylander sealed the victory. Stolarz received the team belt, awarded to the Maple Leafs&#8217; de facto player of the game after every win.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Stolie&#39;s first belt pic 💙 <a href="https://t.co/YvCWoExeXu">pic.twitter.com/YvCWoExeXu</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845291491981136114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Here are four<strong> </strong>takeaways from the Maple Leafs&#8217; home opener:</p>
<h2>Marner, Knies drive tremendous evening for Toronto&#8217;s 1st line</h2>
<p>Toronto&#8217;s top line of Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner responded in a major way after being carried by the team&#8217;s depth in Thursday&#8217;s win over the New Jersey Devils. Marner and Knies both scored their first goals of the season, the former finishing with a two-point evening. Knies-Matthews-Marner finished with a 98.4 percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5, along with a 9-0 shot differential via Natural Stat Trick but you don&#8217;t need to dip into the stats to see how self-evident their impact was against a Penguins team that was looking to spoil the party.</p>
<p>If you can&#8217;t resist a few more numbers: Matthews and Knies both boasted a 16-3 shot differential in all situations and crushed their opponents. We&#8217;re not going to expend too much time on Matthews being held pointless through three games, as the laws of regression indicate he&#8217;s due for an imminent explosion.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kniesly done Matthew <a href="https://t.co/zoh48Dqcti">pic.twitter.com/zoh48Dqcti</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845259055016690161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Knies capitalized when Morgan Rielly read the play and tossed a shot-fake off the boards, which then caromed off the side of the net, directly in front of goal. The 21-year-old needs to produce exponentially if he&#8217;s going to keep his place alongside two of the NHL&#8217;s best forwards and he was buzzing all over the ice for the second consecutive contest, while posting a 97.4 percent share of the expected goals, an actual goal, and a 11-1 shot differential.</p>
<p>&#8220;He is a powerful guy. He was excellent tonight,&#8221; Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said of Knies post-game. &#8220;He is strong on pucks and plays the game the right way. The scoring of the goals will come. He is young. It is hard to score in this league as a young guy. I am not saying he is not going to score early in his career, but the goals will come.&#8221;</p>
<p>Marner was composed as a playmaker and was aggressive as a shot-maker, flying past Marcus Pettersson, to beat Joel Blomqvist off the rush for his first goal of the season, reinvigorating the Scotiabank Arena crowd. He provided some stellar defensive work as well, batting down attempted passes in the defensive third, while looking to turn defence into instant offence. It was an inspired performance and one he can look to ahead of Wednesday&#8217;s game against the Los Angeles Kings.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Quick sleight of hand 🪄 <a href="https://t.co/0yMvadI14W">pic.twitter.com/0yMvadI14W</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845272962569580676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>&#8220;I talked about this earlier: we have a lot of speed on this team. We try to be predictable to each other and when that happens, I think it&#8217;s working well for us,&#8221; Marner told reporters post-game.</p>
<p>And fine, here is one more stat to leave you with: Knies-Matthews-Marner have outshot opponents 30-13 through three games at 5-on-5. Marner and Knies are on the board now, while Matthews is seemingly on the doorstep. Although there&#8217;s a natural inclination to stress out about the reigning Rocket Richard winner, there&#8217;s enough data to suggest, along with the eye test, that Toronto&#8217;s first line is working just fine.</p>
<h2>Nylander breaks out, while Holmberg miscast in top-six role</h2>
<p>Nylander opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs, helping the team overcome a shaky first period by notching his first tally of the season 50 seconds into the second frame. He was asked to play both centre and wing throughout the game and displayed versatility in each role, while Pontus Holmberg appeared miscast as a top-six forward in John Tavares&#8217; illness-related absence. He created a golden opportunity for Holmberg on the doorstep in the first period while sustaining offensive zone time for over a minute in an inspired first period sequence, he flew around the ice to track down pucks, and he displayed why he&#8217;s trusted with virtually any player on his line at this stage of his career.</p>
<p>Holmberg made a critical error on the penalty kill, when he skated out of Kris Letang&#8217;s shooting lane, allowing the Penguins&#8217; defenceman to wind up into an uncontested slap shot for the game&#8217;s opening goal. Nylander worked hard to get him out of a tough spot, but found more natural chemistry alongside Domi and the speedy Nick Robertson.</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t necessarily a highlight-reel night but Nylander closed the game out with an empty netter and for a Maple Leafs team that has outproduced its actual goals through three games, it was a more than welcomed development on opening night. It&#8217;s a matter of time before Nylander and Matthews starting lighting the league aflame.</p>
<h2>Max Domi&#8217;s lateral playmaking and skating shines</h2>
<p>Max Domi is a gifted creator and he created tons of chances with his stellar passing. Prior to Saturday&#8217;s contest, I asked Domi if he had a preference for playing centre or wing, as a playmaker.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve played both. I think you could probably say half of my career has been down the middle, half of my career I&#8217;ve done on the wing. I&#8217;m used to both, whatever I&#8217;m asked to play, I&#8217;m needed to play, I&#8217;m ready to go,&#8221; Domi told The Leafs Nation after Saturday&#8217;s morning skate.</p>
<p>Domi was looking to torch the Penguins&#8217; defense with precision looks throughout the night and generated a key chance for Bobby McMann off the rush in the dying seconds of the first period, instantly attempting to capitalize on a turnover in conjunction with Nylander. He generated a primary assist on a 2-0 with Nylander for the Maple Leafs&#8217; first goal and minutes later, was unfortunate not to connect with Rielly for what would&#8217;ve been an insurance marker.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">late-period chance for McMann off a Pittsburgh turnover <a href="https://t.co/LaQgHy7rL4">pic.twitter.com/LaQgHy7rL4</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Omar (@TicTacTOmar) <a href="https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1845252953021485498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>And when it wasn&#8217;t his playmaking that caught people&#8217;s attention, Domi&#8217;s skating definitely threw the Penguins for a loop. Domi appeared to cross over 20-year-old rookie Rutger McGroarty, who fell over, causing a stir among the elated home crowd.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">oh wow ankles gone <a href="https://t.co/kHhrp6oxtz">pic.twitter.com/kHhrp6oxtz</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Omar (@TicTacTOmar) <a href="https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1845250180834263068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">stylin&#39; to the MAX! 😎 <a href="https://t.co/ICm96zxSDt">pic.twitter.com/ICm96zxSDt</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845258222497611803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<div class="css-175oi2r">
<div class="css-175oi2r r-1s2bzr4">
<div id="id__jrdyt3lnyv" class="css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-1inkyih r-16dba41 r-bnwqim r-135wba7" dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText"><span class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">&#8220;Max made a great play, so all I had to do was put it in there,&#8221; Nylander said of Domi&#8217;s assist on his opening goal. &#8220;He kind of faked me out for a little bit, so I wasn&#8217;t ready. But, I mean, he usually passes. So back of my mind, I thought he was gonna pass it.&#8221;</span></div>
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<div class="css-175oi2r">Continuity matters and Domi seems more empowered than ever to create plays at will, regardless of where he&#8217;s lined up in Berube&#8217;s system. It was a strong performance as he continues to cause danger for opponents in rush scenarios.</div>
<div></div>
<h2>A stagnant power play remains a work in progress</h2>
<p>Through three games, Toronto&#8217;s power play is 0-for-9 and it&#8217;s quickly becoming a source of consternation even though we&#8217;re not even at Halloween just yet.</p>
<p>&#8220;So far, it has been stagnant,&#8221; Berube said post-game. &#8220;We all know that. We were just moving some guys around tonight, trying to find a spark with something different. I thought it got better in the third. There were some opportunities, but we have to get to work on it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Toronto is still running a stacked first unit, featuring Matthews, Nylander, Marner and Rielly, with Max Pacioretty getting an initial look on the team&#8217;s top-unit. The imbalanced approach between both groups hasn&#8217;t worked just yet, but there doesn&#8217;t appear to be much internal concern within the group.</p>
<p>&#8220;Obviously, it hasn&#8217;t gotten off to the start we wanted to, but can&#8217;t get frustrated with it. Thought we did a better job with our entries tonight. In-zone play, we need to be a little more cleaner, direct. We did have looks around the net, second opportunities that just didn&#8217;t fall our way,&#8221; Marner said of the power play post-game.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s probably some truth in that the Maple Leafs are due for a goal, especially given their collection of talent and the looks generated thus far. But there&#8217;s ample time until Wednesday&#8217;s game against the Kings to figure it out, and that appears to be the party line for now.</p>
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<a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/knee-jerk-reaction-toronto-maple-leafs-top-six-breakout-home-ice">Another home opener is in the books</a> as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Saturday. William Nylander scored twice, including an empty-netter to clinch the game with 22 seconds left, while Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner both scored their first goals of the season. Kris Letang and Rickard Rakell scored for the Penguins, while Evgeni Malkin recorded his 1,300th NHL point.
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Anthony Stolarz recorded his first win with the Maple Leafs, making 21 saves and the home crowd was buzzing after Nylander sealed the victory. Stolarz received the team belt, awarded to the Maple Leafs' de facto player of the game after every win.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845291491981136114

Here are four<strong> </strong>takeaways from the Maple Leafs' home opener:
<h2>Marner, Knies drive tremendous evening for Toronto's 1st line</h2>
Toronto's top line of Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner responded in a major way after being carried by the team's depth in Thursday's win over the New Jersey Devils. Marner and Knies both scored their first goals of the season, the former finishing with a two-point evening. Knies-Matthews-Marner finished with a 98.4 percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5, along with a 9-0 shot differential via Natural Stat Trick but you don't need to dip into the stats to see how self-evident their impact was against a Penguins team that was looking to spoil the party.

If you can't resist a few more numbers: Matthews and Knies both boasted a 16-3 shot differential in all situations and crushed their opponents. We're not going to expend too much time on Matthews being held pointless through three games, as the laws of regression indicate he's due for an imminent explosion.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845259055016690161

Knies capitalized when Morgan Rielly read the play and tossed a shot-fake off the boards, which then caromed off the side of the net, directly in front of goal. The 21-year-old needs to produce exponentially if he's going to keep his place alongside two of the NHL's best forwards and he was buzzing all over the ice for the second consecutive contest, while posting a 97.4 percent share of the expected goals, an actual goal, and a 11-1 shot differential.

"He is a powerful guy. He was excellent tonight," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said of Knies post-game. "He is strong on pucks and plays the game the right way. The scoring of the goals will come. He is young. It is hard to score in this league as a young guy. I am not saying he is not going to score early in his career, but the goals will come."

Marner was composed as a playmaker and was aggressive as a shot-maker, flying past Marcus Pettersson, to beat Joel Blomqvist off the rush for his first goal of the season, reinvigorating the Scotiabank Arena crowd. He provided some stellar defensive work as well, batting down attempted passes in the defensive third, while looking to turn defence into instant offence. It was an inspired performance and one he can look to ahead of Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Kings.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845272962569580676

"I talked about this earlier: we have a lot of speed on this team. We try to be predictable to each other and when that happens, I think it's working well for us," Marner told reporters post-game.

And fine, here is one more stat to leave you with: Knies-Matthews-Marner have outshot opponents 30-13 through three games at 5-on-5. Marner and Knies are on the board now, while Matthews is seemingly on the doorstep. Although there's a natural inclination to stress out about the reigning Rocket Richard winner, there's enough data to suggest, along with the eye test, that Toronto's first line is working just fine.
<h2>Nylander breaks out, while Holmberg miscast in top-six role</h2>
Nylander opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs, helping the team overcome a shaky first period by notching his first tally of the season 50 seconds into the second frame. He was asked to play both centre and wing throughout the game and displayed versatility in each role, while Pontus Holmberg appeared miscast as a top-six forward in John Tavares' illness-related absence. He created a golden opportunity for Holmberg on the doorstep in the first period while sustaining offensive zone time for over a minute in an inspired first period sequence, he flew around the ice to track down pucks, and he displayed why he's trusted with virtually any player on his line at this stage of his career.

Holmberg made a critical error on the penalty kill, when he skated out of Kris Letang's shooting lane, allowing the Penguins' defenceman to wind up into an uncontested slap shot for the game's opening goal. Nylander worked hard to get him out of a tough spot, but found more natural chemistry alongside Domi and the speedy Nick Robertson.

It wasn't necessarily a highlight-reel night but Nylander closed the game out with an empty netter and for a Maple Leafs team that has outproduced its actual goals through three games, it was a more than welcomed development on opening night. It's a matter of time before Nylander and Matthews starting lighting the league aflame.
<h2>Max Domi's lateral playmaking and skating shines</h2>
Max Domi is a gifted creator and he created tons of chances with his stellar passing. Prior to Saturday's contest, I asked Domi if he had a preference for playing centre or wing, as a playmaker.

"I've played both. I think you could probably say half of my career has been down the middle, half of my career I've done on the wing. I'm used to both, whatever I'm asked to play, I'm needed to play, I'm ready to go," Domi told The Leafs Nation after Saturday's morning skate.

Domi was looking to torch the Penguins' defense with precision looks throughout the night and generated a key chance for Bobby McMann off the rush in the dying seconds of the first period, instantly attempting to capitalize on a turnover in conjunction with Nylander. He generated a primary assist on a 2-0 with Nylander for the Maple Leafs' first goal and minutes later, was unfortunate not to connect with Rielly for what would've been an insurance marker.

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1845252953021485498

And when it wasn't his playmaking that caught people's attention, Domi's skating definitely threw the Penguins for a loop. Domi appeared to cross over 20-year-old rookie Rutger McGroarty, who fell over, causing a stir among the elated home crowd.

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1845250180834263068

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1845258222497611803
<div class="css-175oi2r">
<div class="css-175oi2r r-1s2bzr4">
<div id="id__jrdyt3lnyv" class="css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-1inkyih r-16dba41 r-bnwqim r-135wba7" dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText"><span class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">"Max made a great play, so all I had to do was put it in there," Nylander said of Domi's assist on his opening goal. "He kind of faked me out for a little bit, so I wasn't ready. But, I mean, he usually passes. So back of my mind, I thought he was gonna pass it."</span></div>
</div>
<div dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText"></div>
</div>
<div class="css-175oi2r">Continuity matters and Domi seems more empowered than ever to create plays at will, regardless of where he's lined up in Berube's system. It was a strong performance as he continues to cause danger for opponents in rush scenarios.</div>
<div></div>
<h2>A stagnant power play remains a work in progress</h2>
Through three games, Toronto's power play is 0-for-9 and it's quickly becoming a source of consternation even though we're not even at Halloween just yet.

"So far, it has been stagnant," Berube said post-game. "We all know that. We were just moving some guys around tonight, trying to find a spark with something different. I thought it got better in the third. There were some opportunities, but we have to get to work on it."

Toronto is still running a stacked first unit, featuring Matthews, Nylander, Marner and Rielly, with Max Pacioretty getting an initial look on the team's top-unit. The imbalanced approach between both groups hasn't worked just yet, but there doesn't appear to be much internal concern within the group.

"Obviously, it hasn't gotten off to the start we wanted to, but can't get frustrated with it. Thought we did a better job with our entries tonight. In-zone play, we need to be a little more cleaner, direct. We did have looks around the net, second opportunities that just didn't fall our way," Marner said of the power play post-game.

There's probably some truth in that the Maple Leafs are due for a goal, especially given their collection of talent and the looks generated thus far. But there's ample time until Wednesday's game against the Kings to figure it out, and that appears to be the party line for now.
<h3>Sponsored by bet365</h3>
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Maple Leafs-Penguins takeaways: Marner, Knies drive stellar evening, Domi’s playmaking, PP woes continue

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