Toronto Maple Leafs forward Sammy Blais made an instant impact in his debut with the team on Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Appearing in his first NHL game since April 17, 2024, Blais was among the lone bright spots on what was an otherwise dismal night for the team as a whole. He collected two points, which included his first NHL goal since October 19, 2023, when he was a member of the St. Louis Blues.

Speaking with reporters after the game, Blais said he felt good to once again make an impact in the NHL after being away for over a year.

“ It felt good to be in the lineup,” he said. “ Been here for a little while, and it’s not easy to not play for a long time like that.  But I was looking forward to it and just enjoyed it.  First game in the NHL in a year or so, it felt really good.  Really happy that I played tonight and it went well. Pretty pumped.”

His opportunity came about because William Nylander was given the night off due to complications from a lower-body injury. Blais had been waiting for weeks to get his shot after getting claimed off waivers by the Leafs on October 6, and he responded by having his first multi-point game since March 28, 2023.

He assisted on Nick Robertson’s goal late in the third period, while the goal came early in the second period, in which he batted the puck out of midair and made no mistake.

“ I saw the puck kind of in the air and kind of waited a little bit to it for it to go down,” he said. “Got a stick on it a little bit. Just got lucky and I’m glad it went in.”

As far as why things went south for his team on the night, Blais stated that it came down to the Blue Jackets having far too many odd-man rushes that they were able to capitalize on while the Leafs failed to convert on their chances until garbage time. There is no doubt plenty of work that needs to be done as a collective to clamp things down on the defensive end since rush chances against have been a key area of weakness for them to this point.

Perhaps getting to utilize Blais’ physical prowess could be one way to help mitigate the problem, as it is a part of his game that he takes a lot of pride in.

“It felt good,” he said, regarding his physical play. “ I felt like in the first, it took me a little while to get going.  But after that found the rhythm a little bit. Physical play has been part of my game for a while now, and I’m always gonna bring it. Pretty happy how it went.”