<p>Well that was a rollercoaster.</p>
<p>After a couple straight beatings at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes, the Leafs came out of the gate with another flat effort against Chicago, allowing two goals in the first, only to make a nice comeback thanks to backhanders from John Tavares and David Kampf, and a nice breakaway goal from William Nylander to win the game in overtime. It was far from perfect, and it&#8217;s still pretty sad that they barely beat a team without a win, but they managed to come out without being their first win, so that&#8217;s a plus.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s to hope.</p>
<h1>Three Stars</h1>
<h3><strong>3rd Star: William Nylander</strong></h3>
<p>Even when the team was dead, you could still see William flying out there, even getting a little bit physical when it seemed like the team didn&#8217;t have a spark. It wasn&#8217;t his best night analytically, with only 50.68% of the expected goals at even strength, but he seemed like one of the few Leafs with life, and it paid off with the OT winner.</p>
<h3><strong>2nd Star: David Kampf</strong></h3>
<p>IT FEELS SO NICE TO SEE LEAFS SCORE AGAINST THEIR FORMER TEAMS! Kampf was a bit of an unknown going into the season for Leafs fans, but he&#8217;s been a nice surprise early on, and this game was no different. He had 63.64% of the shot attempt share and 69.76% of the expected goals at even strength, and got his first goal as a Leaf against his old team.</p>
<h3><strong>1st Star: Jack Campbell</strong></h3>
<p>Campbell was left hung out to dry early on, but he shut the door once the Leafs were down 2-0, and it was probably the biggest reason the Leafs won. He kept them in the game, and it&#8217;s not like they were easy stops, he made some amazing saves. I hope the boys take him out to Red Lobster after this one.</p>
<h3><strong>40th Star: Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl</strong></h3>
<p>I know it&#8217;s early, but this is becoming too many games in a row where this pairing looks awful. I&#8217;m not surprised by Holl because I think everyone knew he wasn&#8217;t driving the bus there, but if this is the new Muzzin, the Leafs are very, very screwed.</p>
<h1>Tweet of the Night</h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you, Kyle Beach. No one should have to experience that, let alone the response from those in positions of power. Gut wrenching to watch.</p>
<p>There are no words for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Blackhawks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Blackhawks</a> allowing Brad Aldrich’s life to be like it was the day before, like nothing happened (via <a href="https://twitter.com/rwesthead?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rwesthead</a>) <a href="https://t.co/vsAPHfHmNr">pic.twitter.com/vsAPHfHmNr</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) <a href="https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1453489788623917057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2021</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>While some progress was made today, the NHL and hockey culture has miles to go before it makes up for all the mistakes of it&#8217;s past. The fact that it took this long is incredibly disappointing, but hopefully things improve from here. Kyle Beach, you are incredibly brave for not only speaking out, but also revealing your identity, and you have the support of all of the hockey world (or at least the good ones).</p>
<h1>By the Numbers</h1>
<p><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-75315 aligncenter" src="https://i0.wp.com/theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-cfdiff-sva.png?resize=751%2C350&#038;ssl=1" alt="" width="751" height="350" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-cfdiff-sva.png?w=751&amp;ssl=1 751w, https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-cfdiff-sva.png?resize=300%2C140&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 751px) 100vw, 751px" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-75316 aligncenter" src="https://i0.wp.com/theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-sva.png?resize=803%2C422&#038;ssl=1" alt="" width="803" height="422" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-sva.png?w=803&amp;ssl=1 803w, https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-sva.png?resize=300%2C158&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-sva.png?resize=768%2C404&amp;ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px" /></p>
<h1>Up Next</h1>
<p>Hopefully the lesson the Leafs learned from this game is that they can slack off against bad teams, because Detroit has been surprising teams so far this season. They&#8217;ll be short their leading goal scorer because despite being a team first guy, he&#8217;s decided that his anti-vax beliefs are more important than the team, but who am I to judge? The Wings and Leafs will faceoff on <strong>Saturday, October 30 at 7 p.m. on CBC. </strong>Hopefully the Leafs don&#8217;t pay tribute to Halloween with another terrifying performance.</p>


Well that was a rollercoaster.

After a couple straight beatings at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes, the Leafs came out of the gate with another flat effort against Chicago, allowing two goals in the first, only to make a nice comeback thanks to backhanders from John Tavares and David Kampf, and a nice breakaway goal from William Nylander to win the game in overtime. It was far from perfect, and it's still pretty sad that they barely beat a team without a win, but they managed to come out without being their first win, so that's a plus.

Here's to hope.
<h1>Three Stars</h1>
<h3><strong>3rd Star: William Nylander</strong></h3>
Even when the team was dead, you could still see William flying out there, even getting a little bit physical when it seemed like the team didn't have a spark. It wasn't his best night analytically, with only 50.68% of the expected goals at even strength, but he seemed like one of the few Leafs with life, and it paid off with the OT winner.
<h3><strong>2nd Star: David Kampf</strong></h3>
IT FEELS SO NICE TO SEE LEAFS SCORE AGAINST THEIR FORMER TEAMS! Kampf was a bit of an unknown going into the season for Leafs fans, but he's been a nice surprise early on, and this game was no different. He had 63.64% of the shot attempt share and 69.76% of the expected goals at even strength, and got his first goal as a Leaf against his old team.
<h3><strong>1st Star: Jack Campbell</strong></h3>
Campbell was left hung out to dry early on, but he shut the door once the Leafs were down 2-0, and it was probably the biggest reason the Leafs won. He kept them in the game, and it's not like they were easy stops, he made some amazing saves. I hope the boys take him out to Red Lobster after this one.
<h3><strong>40th Star: Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl</strong></h3>
I know it's early, but this is becoming too many games in a row where this pairing looks awful. I'm not surprised by Holl because I think everyone knew he wasn't driving the bus there, but if this is the new Muzzin, the Leafs are very, very screwed.
<h1>Tweet of the Night</h1>
https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1453489788623917057?s=20

While some progress was made today, the NHL and hockey culture has miles to go before it makes up for all the mistakes of it's past. The fact that it took this long is incredibly disappointing, but hopefully things improve from here. Kyle Beach, you are incredibly brave for not only speaking out, but also revealing your identity, and you have the support of all of the hockey world (or at least the good ones).
<h1>By the Numbers</h1>
<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-75315 aligncenter" src="https://theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-cfdiff-sva.png" alt="" width="751" height="350" /> <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-75316 aligncenter" src="https://theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/10/20212022-20099-sva.png" alt="" width="803" height="422" />
<h1>Up Next</h1>
Hopefully the lesson the Leafs learned from this game is that they can slack off against bad teams, because Detroit has been surprising teams so far this season. They'll be short their leading goal scorer because despite being a team first guy, he's decided that his anti-vax beliefs are more important than the team, but who am I to judge? The Wings and Leafs will faceoff on <strong>Saturday, October 30 at 7 p.m. on CBC. </strong>Hopefully the Leafs don't pay tribute to Halloween with another terrifying performance.

TLN Three Stars: Leafs somehow don’t lose to the league’s worst team, plan the parade!

Recent articles from Scott Maxwell

Breaking News