William Nylander scored twice, including an empty netter to make it 4-2 late, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to victory in their home opener Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sidney Crosby and company are leaving empty-handed largely because of Toronto’s top-six forwards.
Saturday didn’t get off to a good start before the puck was dropped. John Tavares was ruled out due to illness before the game and wasn’t able to play. It gave Pontus Holmberg a potential look for some more minutes but that didn’t necessarily end up the case. He only played 12:14 against the Penguins. Midway through the first period, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang walked into one, and opened the scoring for Pittsburgh, where Holmberg got himself turned around near the blueline, giving Letang room and space on the power play.
After the bottom-six led the team to a win on the road in New Jersey on Thursday, the top-six took over on home ice in the second period. Nylander had a bounce-back game after a tough showing against the Devils. He tapped home a beautifully timed hard pass by Max Domi, as the two rushed in all alone and converted to tie the game.
Just over two minutes later, Matthew Knies showed off some slick hands and snapped one home quick. Knies has looked strong as ever on the puck and has increased his foot speed from a season ago. He’s flying these first three games of the season and has a huge opportunity in front of him to have a break out season. Knies plays a perfect style for how the team’s identity is slowing changing and there should be some talks about a contract extension soon, the Leafs are going to want to get that done sooner than later.
Pontus Holmberg was promoted into Tavares spot in the lineup against the Penguins, while Craig Berube got his money’s worth out of Matthews and Mitch Marner. Some of the best parts of the night were watching Matthews and Marner go to work. They looked in mid-season form and even though the goals haven’t come yet for the Maple Leafs’ captain, it’s only a matter of time. Marner also showed great chemistry with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who had himself a strong night. OEL missed a couple of grade-a chances. If he can chip in on the secondary scoring on the back end, the Leafs will be in really good shape.
The power-play was more direct at times, but have nothing to show for it, ending the game 0-for-3. They’ll look to finally connect on Wednesday, when the Maple Leafs welcome the Los Angeles Kings to town. Berube has a couple days of practice ahead, we’ll have to wait and see if there’s any tinkering to the lineup before game four of the season.
Leafs Nation can head into the rest of Thanksgiving weekend on a high note. The Maple Leafs have won two in a row, their big guns are starting to click, the bottom six and blue line are vastly improved, and despite some early season adversity, the goaltending situation is in very good hands. It’s a good start to the season in Toronto!
