The Toronto Maple Leafs returned to action in the second half of a back-to-back against the Nashville Predators.
This game highlighted the Maple Leafs The debut for Cayden receivedwho was claimed exemptions by the club just before the start of the season. It was also the first game of the season for Nashville’s Justus Annunen. So who would come out on top in a battle for backups?
Without further ado, let’s get to the game summary.
Game Summary:
1st Period:
The first period had a fast pace and very few interruptions. Being the second half of a back-to-back for both clubs, both teams were flying. The Maple Leafs had a bit of an edge over the Predators, especially in terms of total shots. Toronto also got a boost from their defensemen, with Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scoring to give the team an early 2–0 lead.
Five minutes in, Nicolas Roy took a hooking penalty, sending Nashville to their first power play of the game. Unfortunately, just like yesterday against the Ottawa Senators, the Predators’ power play couldn’t produce much and left them 2-0. The Maple Leafs kept the pressure on in the final two minutes, almost leading to McCabe scoring his second of the night, but Annunen stayed up. The period ended with Toronto leading 2-0.
2nd Period:
The second period started at the same pace the first ended. The only real difference was that the Predators came out with more urgency. Bobby McMann had a breakaway that he smashed into the post, and just a few minutes later Nashville scored on an odd bounce that found its way into the net. In an incredible turn of events, they scored again just 44 seconds later to tie the match at 2-2 in less than five minutes.
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After the Predators tied it, the Maple Leafs called a timeout to settle matters. It seemed to work. They stopped running around and looked more organized in their defensive zone. That led to William Nylander and John Tavares making quite a passing play regained the lead at 3-2. The rest of the period saw a lot of back and forth action, and the intensity subsided a bit until McMann broke the side wall and had his first shot blocked. The puck came right back to him and he caught Annunen out of position to make it 4-2. The final minutes were more physical, but nothing else changed and Toronto took a 4-2 lead into the break.
3rd Period:
The third period started with Toronto with all the momentum. They had an early scoring opportunity that was spurned by Annunen to keep it a two-goal game. The pace slowed a bit until Ozzy Wiesblatt hit Easton Cowan hit the post without the puck, drawing a crowd and sending Toronto to their first power play.
On the ensuing powerplay the first unit looked good but the best came from a great pass from Mattias Maccelli to Nicholas Robertson in the slot. Robertson’s shot hit the post. In the bottom of the third, the Predators tried to close the gap, but the Maple Leafs did a good job of keeping shots out, blocking lanes and clearing the zone. Finally, Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies broke out in a two-on-one and gained a beautiful tic-tac-toe game leaving Matthews with an empty net at the right post. Cowan delivered that goal his first NHL pointpicking up the secondary assist.
After that goal, Toronto played looser and looked much more like what the team fans are used to seeing. But it didn’t last long. After a missed call on Matthews, Roman Josi fired a puck from the point that found its way to 5-3. The Predators got their goalie with just over three minutes left to try to mount a comeback, but seconds later Matthews buried his second of the night to extend the lead to 6-3. Nashville added one late to cut the score to 6-4, but after pulling their goalie again with a minute left, Knies found Nylander to seal the deal and secure Toronto’s second win of the season by a score of 7-4.
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