The Leafs played Max Domi on line two most of the time, although he did stay out for part of the line three shift occasionally.

First Period

This was not a good period of Leafs hockey. But you know what the relationship is between deserve and winning.

The Leafs got the first power play after Simon Benoit took a high stick:

This was not a good power play, and the Leafs ended it with no Shots on Goal. The Hurricanes had the first shot. Leafs were offside on the first entry, and it took a full minute to get setup, only to have William Nylander fan on his shot. That was the highpoint.

The fourth line had a refreshingly good shift:

Joe Woll was very good all period.

No one is very sure what Freddie was doing here.

After one it was 1-0 Leafs.

Hurricanes with 77% Corsi. I know they underscore their Expected, but this is a bit extreme. However, we're not giving this goal back.

Second Period

It appears the Leafs are determined to have fewer Shots on Goal than Montréal did last night.

Phil Myers went off for interference early in the period, and Carolina produced a power play nearly as bad as the Leafs.

Auston Matthews with a beauty when the Leafs finally got to play in some open space:

Taylor Hall couldn't handle Holmberg along the boards and he sat for tripping.

Leafs struggled to get setup against the tough Carolina entry denial.

No last minute goal this time.

After two it was 2-0 Leafs.

This period was dead even in Corsi, with the Hurricanes at 22% Expected Goals, a flip there almost exactly of the first period. The Leafs were better and tired, and the 'Canes were tired and coasting to the playoffs.

Third Period

I ate dinner during the first half of this period. Here are some clips:

The refs had flat out missed a high stick on a Carolina player earlier.

Aho busts the shutout bid:

The goal seemed to wake up the sleepy Hurricanes who started playing some effective offence. The Leafs got pinned in for a long time.

John Tavares!

Brandon Carlo took a tripping penalty at the end, but it made no difference to the outcome.

Final score was 4-1 Leafs. Good game from Domi, who played mostly on the second line. The entire bottom six looked up to the task. Caveat on all of that is that Carolina had no pressing need to win this.

Mitch Marner still with the most minutes for forwards, but most of the defenders were in front of him. All that PK time.

Next game is Tuesday in Buffalo, see you then.

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