What are the top five Toronto Maple Leafs games so far this season?
My initial list had about a dozen games on it, and I wrote about five honourable mentions in yesterday’s post on the topic.
But this? This is the real deal.
Here are, in my opinion, the top five games of the Maple Leafs’ season so far.
5. Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 – Toronto Maple Leafs 2, Vancouver Canucks 3 (shootout)
Dec. 3. You had it marked down—every hockey fan did.
When naming the most highly-anticipated games this season—not just for the Leafs or Canucks, but league-wide—this has to be in the conversation.
The first matchup between these teams, which we will get to, made the rematch one of the hottest tickets on the Canucks’ schedule.
The game did not disappoint.
Daniel Sedin scored the lone goal of the first period and Sven Baertschi scored on a partial break to put the Canucks up 2-0.
Then the fans got what they paid for: Matt Martin fighting Erik Gudbranson. Yes, it was a staged fight, but let’s not pretend this tilt fell out of thin air. The fights and ugliness between the Leafs and Canucks in their first meeting got the hockey world talking, but when Gudbranson said “Matt Martin is dead” after that game, he essentially sold tickets to the rematch and jacked the prices.
Maybe the best part of the Martin-Gudbranson fight on Dec. 3 is that put an end to the ugliness. There were no cheap shots and that was the first and only fight of the game.
After that, James van Riemsdyk scored on the power play and, early in the third, Zach Hyman fed Auston Matthews to tie it up in regulation.
Fans literally went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.
The Canucks scored twice in the shootout, the Leafs only score once, and Vancouver won it 3-2.
It was a highly-anticipated Hockey Night in Canada matchup between two Canadian teams, it was close, fans got free hockey plus a shootout, and nobody actually died.
Sure, the Leafs lost but you know you enjoyed that game.
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4. Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 – Edmonton Oilers 2, Toronto Maple Leafs 3 (overtime)
Wayne Gretzky decided to show up. Bobby Orr was there. You were going to watch Connor McDavid’s first NHL game at Air Canada Centre no matter what, but these legends’ presence made it matter just a little bit more.
Connor McDavid vs. Auston Matthews… right?
Nazem Kadri turned this into “Kadri vs. McDavid” on the opening shift when he threw McDavid to the ice and he never let go, badgering him all the way to the final horn.
Roman Polak pinched to catch McDavid off guard, Connor Brown set up Kadri, and the Leafs lead 1-0.
Anton Lander capitalizes on a blunder behind the Leafs net and it’s 1-1 after one.
Nice, close game.
Ben Smith buries a feed from Nikita Soshnikov, who bolted into his first NHL game of the season on a call-up from the AHL like a bat out of hell, and it’s 2-1 Leafs.
Darnell Nurse ties it in the third and now we have what should be a long, fun-filled overtime, right?
Well, at least it was fun.
Kadri battles with McDavid, grabs the puck, swoops in on Cam Talbot, and scores his second of the night to win it in OT—all while shutting down McDavid, by the way.
Actually, eh, that’s not really true; McDavid still had four shots on goal and the Oilers outshot the Leafs 46-31.
Who cares? Two goals! OT winner!
Forget the six-year contract extension—this was Kadri saying definitively that he belongs on this young, rebuilding team. It also marked pretty much the last game in which any official in the league gave him a little bit of leeway.
Leafs and Oilers fans were pumped for the rematch, but they had no idea what was about to happen just four days later…
3. Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016 – Vancouver Canucks 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 6
Buckle up.
The Maple Leafs were looking for their third consecutive win while the Canucks wanted to avoid their eighth straight loss. This was actually a pretty fun little game before everybody lost their minds.
Kadri and Tyler Bozak each scored to put the Leafs up 2-0, but Derek Dorsett scored his first of the season—and the Canucks’ first goal in an eternity—to make it 2-1 Leafs after the first period.
Bozak scored on the power play early in the second frame for his second of the game to make it 3-1 Toronto, only to have Henrik Sedin score just 1:20 later. It’s 3-2 Toronto after two.
It’s a competitive game between two Canadian teams on Hockey Night in Canada. So far, so good.
Early in the third, Mitch Marner scored off a Bozak feed and it’s 4-2 Leafs. (Wow, Bozak is having himself a night! I bet that will be the big story after this one!)
Ben Smith feeds Soshnikov to beat Miller and it’s 5-2. This once-close game might be over.
Kablooey.
Morgan Rielly obliterates Jannik Hansen with a huge open-ice hit and Daniel Sedin snipes on Frederik Andersen only to get popped with a hit by Kadri—all in a span of 4.5 seconds. (I counted.)
Hansen fights Kadri, both get ejected. Now it’s on.
Jake Gardiner scores to make it 6-3 blah blah who cares.
Dorsett fights Leo Komarov. Dorsett loses his mind, Matt Martin yells back.
Alex Burrows spears Rielly, tries to hide that he speared Rielly, fights Rielly, and continues to punch Rielly while the refs are holding the both of them.
Martin jumps Canucks rookie Troy Stetcher and now we have a line brawl.
Oh, and the Leafs won the game 6-3. Afterwards, Erik Gudbranson shouts “Matt Martin is dead” within earshot of reporters and a month-long hype campaign for the rematch is born.
My LFR video after the game got mixed reviews, to say the least. I might’ve gone a little mad.
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2. Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017 – Detroit Red Wings 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 5 (OT)
In any other year, this is No. 1 and it’s no contest. I have it at No. 2. What a game though!
The stadium is bigger, the hype is greater, and the stakes are higher. It’s a regular season game in the standings but we all know outdoor games mean a little bit more.
After a scoreless first period, Anthony Mantha fires a bullet past Frederik Andersen to make it 1-0 Detroit after two.
Then comes the seven-goal third period.
Gardiner feeds Komarov – goal. Rielly feeds Marner – goal. Zach Hyman feeds Connor Brown – goal. Brown feeds Matthews – goal. The Leafs are up 4-1 in the third!
Uh oh… The Leafs are up 4-1 in the third.
Jonathan Ericsson blast – goal. Dylan Larkin finds a loose puck – goal. The Leafs fail to clear the puck a half-dozen times in the final 20 seconds – goal (with one second left).
This is bad. The Leafs choke on a lead—again—and it’s on an enormous stage with millions of eyes watching. You have to win for redemption.
Toronto gets three chances to finish in OT and Matthews makes no mistake on the third one with a backhander… because who else?
It looked like it might be a flop of an outdoor game, then got really exciting, then got too exciting, and finally ended like a Disney movie.
The Centennial Classic was just that—a classic.
And now, the best Leafs game of the season so far…
1. Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016 – Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Ottawa Senators 5 (overtime)
It doesn’t matter that the Leafs lost. If you have kids, you’re going to tell them about this game someday. If you had a ticket, one of the first things you tell people when they meet you is that is you were at this game. If the Leafs ever win the Stanley Cup again, people will talk about how it all started with this game.
The Senators led once. The Leafs led three times. This game got tied up four times before heading to overtime. This game featured a record-breaking performance.
Simply put, this game had everything.
After a brilliant William Nylander effort, Zach Hyman sets up Auston Matthews for his first career NHL goal—in his first NHL game.
After Bobby Ryan and Erik Karlsson make it 2-1 Senators from a combination of a shaky Frederik Andersen and lucky bounces, Matthews makes a few moves in the neutral zone, breaks in, strips Karlsson like he’s a nobody, and snipes on Craig Anderson.
It was a goal-of-the-year candidate in a season that had barely begun. It’s 2-2 after one.
Second period. Rielly sets up Matthews and the hats rain down on the Leafs—who were supposedly playing a road game—to make it 3-2 Toronto.
Derick Brassard scores his first as a Sen to tie it (another one Andersen maybe should have had) before William Nylander sends the puck to Matthews, who nets his fourth.
Yes, Kyle Turris tied it in the third. Yes, Turris also won the game for Ottawa in overtime. Yes, Matthews should’ve had him. Despite the heartbreak of a loss, how do you not stand and applaud after that debut performance? Matthews did what nobody had ever done before: score four goals in his first NHL game.
The loss was almost fitting. The Leafs’ fanbase got to see a night of flashy, youthful, high-flying brilliance, but were also given a reminder that this team has work to do.
It fired me up, though.
Leafs fans can be pessimistic. How can you blame them? The team has let the fanbase down for over a decade now.
I’m not talking about a Stanley Cup drought; I’m talking about a team that has been a joke since the early 2000s, save for one seven-game playoff run that ended in a record-breaking collapse.
If you can remain loyal to a hockey team through what Leafs fans have put up with over the years, I think that makes you a pretty optimistic person.
Loss or not, Matthews’ performance—as well as the overshadowed performances of a few other Leafs rookies in this game—validated Leafs Nation’s optimism. That makes this the best game of the Leafs season.
So far.
