TORONTO – From tears to cheers.
It required an inspired comeback, some L.A.-imported muscle, a scoring leader blocking shots, and maybe a box of Kleenex, but for the first time in 2019 the Toronto Maple Leafs are the proud owners of consecutive wins on home ice.
In rallying to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 — and looking more juiced in the second half of their back-to-back than the first, Friday’s out-of-rhythm OT loss in Detroit — Toronto took a step towards re-establishing their building as a bitter stop on the NHL circuit, now having defeated the past three Stanley Cup champions in the past 120 minutes skated at Scotiabank Arena.
“Woooo!” Jake Muzzin yelped to no one and everyone in particular as the Corsi god strolled out of the dressing room to shower his beard in the giddy afterglow of his first victory dressed in the clothing of his boyhood team.
“Adding player of his calibre means the staff believes this team can do something,” Mitch Marner said. “It definitely brings a lot of confidence to this team.”
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Excitement is a-buzzin’ in these parts, as Muzzin — who topped all skaters with a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 67.4 — lays hits, snuffs out cycles and replaces the likes of Martin Marincin (waived Saturday afternoon) on the roster.
“Suddenly, we’re way deeper on the back,” said coach Mike Babcock, still tinkering with his new pairings.
“Muzz is a big man. He’s not flashy, but he’s intelligent. He’s calm. He’s got real good puck skills, got a good shot, but he’s a big body, plays real hard between the whistles — and we don’t have enough of that.”
Earmarked as Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Night, the Maple Leafs’ first home date since their extended all-star break opened with a beautiful surprise, then doubled and tripled down on the unexpected.
Corporal Jeremy Hillson walked the red carpet to centre ice, shocking his wife and young children, who were ready to drop a ceremonial puck. Unbeknownst to them, Hillson had been jetted back from Iraq and forced 19,477 to watch the first period through happy tears.
“I was told this morning about it, and I was really looking forward to it,” said Morgan Rielly, after he handed over the puck.
“Those moments are fun. This night is pretty cool to begin with, and to be part of something like that was special. I thought the organization did a good thing.”
With Connor Brown serving a high-sticking penalty, Sidney Crosby gave the visitors the jump, sniping a perfectly placed short-side shot through Muzzin and goaltender Garret Sparks.
AHL call-up Teddy Blueger doubled the Penguins’ lead, scoring his second career NHL goal on just his second career shot.
But instead of rolling over, Toronto woke up and got to flying.
Auston Matthews gathered a rebound off a fluttering Travis Dermott point shot and tucked in his third goal in as many games, making his recent seven-game goal drought feel like it was only a bad dream.
Until the Matthews strike — his 23rd in just 37 games — the loudest cheer of the night belonged to Muzzin, for crunching a fellow Jake, Guentzel, into the boards with gusto.
Yes, the 2018-19 Maple Leafs have a real-life body checker, finally.
“The crowd loved it. It was great,” Matthews said. “Muzz, he’s fit in so well and got acquainted with everybody so quick. That’s obviously not easy to do getting traded in the turnaround. He’s fit in well with us, and he’s had two pretty solid games.”
Ditto Dermott, whose confidence has benefitted by having stable veteran Ron Hainsey in his ear.
Dermott knotted the game on a one-timer through a screen off an offensive-zone draw won cleanly by Patrick Marleau over Crosby after the Penguins’ top line got caught gasping after their long shift got extended by an icing.
“You want to get out there as quick as possible to keep ’em tired. That draw’s important,” said Marleau, who swiped nine of 12 face-offs and has suddenly Stella’d his groove back.
“Turks and Caicos must’ve done him pretty well,” Matthews smiled. “He’s flying. Both nights we’ve been able to really find each other and create havoc in their zone and play down low.”
Then Zach Hyman dirtied his nose, kicked a loose puck to his blade, out-duelled Kris Letang for a rebound in the slot and whacked home the winner before time drained on the second period.
Arguably, it was the Leafs’ effort to grasp on to that thin lead in the scoreless third that was most impressive and caused Rielly to label this one “a good character win.”
Sparks shut the door after falling behind 0-2 to salvage his first post-concussion win. Nazem Kadri made a game-saving stop of his own and mixed it up with crease-crasher Patric Hornqvist. And Marner hit the deck to block a team-high three shots as the Penguins pressed.
“Oh, it’s huge. The whole bench gets up,” Marleau said of Marner’s effort in the D-zone.
“We’re gonna need a lot of that going forward. But to see him put his body on the line makes you look yourself in the mirror. Everybody should take a look. Take a page out of his book and make sure we get in lanes.”
Toronto has yet to lose a single game this season when carrying a lead into the final 20 minutes.
It was one of those magical nights where the work matched the skill, the magic equaled the hype, and the best player in the world was not only shut out at even strength but finished a dash-2.
One of those nights where one could be tempted to believe, just maybe, this team can do something.
Enough to make a grown man “Woooo!”
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