The Toronto Maple Leafs were back in action last night against the Calgary Flames. They came into the game looking to start a winning streak after beating the Buffalo Sabers on Saturday night.
It wasn’t the best start to the season for Toronto. They’ve had to go through a lot of adjustments to their lineup and that takes time. However, they are now ten games into the season and need to turn things around or risk falling behind early. Luckily, they were able to fight back and beat the Flames 4-3 to win their second straight game on NHL’s first episode of Frozen madnessan evening where all 32 teams take action.
With that, let’s look at some takeaways from last night’s match.
Stolarz’s game looks bad
When we compare Anthony Stolarz from last season to this season, they almost seem like two different goaltenders. Personally, I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that he played in eight games and was a bit overworked, or if it has to do with the absence of Joseph Wollwith whom he has built such a strong tandem. But he’s clearly not playing the game. There were a few examples in the game last night that prove his play is completely off.
The first example is the Flames’ second goal in Joel Farabee’s game. It was nothing more than him driving to the net and getting an extra hit on the loose puck as it found its way through his five-hole. The second example, although not entirely his fault, was the third goal. Samuel Honzek grabbed the puck in the slot behind the defense and quickly fired it onto the net. Again, it’s not just on Stolarz, but at that spot in the game, when you’re winning, he’s got to find a way to save that game.
Related: Domi & Knies score twice to lift Maple Leafs past Flames 4-3
It is actions like this that allowed him to make a big save last season. This season, however, it seems like something is wrong. Hopefully he’s just overused and can return to form, because the Maple Leafs need him to play better.
Domi & Knies have a very strong game
The Maple Leafs needed some of their players not named Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares to have a strong game. That’s what they got tonight, between Max Domi and Matthew Knies, who had a great night and together won the match for their club. Domi found the back of the net twice, giving him three goals on the year, just five fewer than his total from last season. He was one of the hardest working players in the lineup last night. He had a good game from 60 yards and was able to show off his shot, burying two past Dustin Wolf with two lasers beating him.
As for Knies, he also had two goals, benefiting from great play from his teammates. He plays a power-forward style every night and there are rewards associated with that. He goes hard to the net, puts his body on the line and takes a beating for the goalkeeper. When a player does that he is rewarded with goals, and that was the case last night. On the first goal, Nylander had a great steal and found Knies in front of the net to do the rest. On the second goal, he fought for the net on the power play in the third period and stayed with the loose puck to find the back of the net.
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It’s these kinds of efforts from players like Domi and Knies that the coaching staff and fan base like to see. No, it wasn’t a great match. They didn’t start strong, but eventually took control of the match. But when players who aren’t necessarily among the “top earners” or “best players” contribute so much to help you win, the team becomes much better.
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