First Period

Toronto takes a penalty within the first two minutes. Matt Knies for hooking. Carolina is all over the Leafs pressuring constantly for possession.

And Michael Bunting scores as Martin Jones let that right in five-hole.

1-0 Carolina

What's fascinating (by which I mean frustrating) is how seldom a Leafs skater can do anything with the puck before a guy is on him getting in the way. Morgan Rielly managed a pass, and it was refreshing.

The Leafs get a wide open net, but the defenders have everyone tied up.

Rielly again gets loose and Pyotr Kochetkov doesn't look all that sharp so far, but he makes the save, eventually.

Dmitry Orlov takes a slashing penalty on the Rielly rush, so to a power play we go. And the Carolina PK is as advertised, impossible to get setup against, and the Leafs only have one attempt at a shot, which is not a shot attempt.

Auston Matthews with the save of the night.

Jesper Fast takes a hard hit from Noah Gregor and he has to go in for concussion protocol but no penalty on the play. Fast looked very discombobulated by the hit.

John Tavares with a rush chance that brings no joy.

Martin Necas commits the sin of putting the puck in the net after a whistle, so he gets pummeled. He goes to the box with Jake McCabe which makes Keefe mad because he doesn't think McCabe should have a penalty, or he feels like yelling and he hasn't got time to log into the GDT.

Kochetkov stretches to make a save, and he looks hurt.

He stays in, apparently convinced his foot bone is still connected to his leg bone.

Thoughts

Carolina being their weird selves, Leafs doing better here than it looked.

The Leafs need rush chances. They can't get good net-front presence and they can't get a cycle going. They have to use speed to overcome the close checking.

They need this in a general way, regardless, and from someone with more talent than Domi and Robertson.

Second Period

McCabe tries some speed on offence, and gets totalled by a semi.

Tyler Bertuzzi tries a rush and bobbles the puck.

Matt Knies steals the puck and goes, and nope, he collides with Kochetkov, but doesn't score. The leafs actually get an exciting set of chances out of the aftermath.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi goes off for holding, giving the Leafs another chance to try their power play against this PK.

It's terrible, and also better than the first one because the Leafs won the opening faceoff.

Jones loses his stick, and the Canes don't seem to know, but Max Domi takes a holding call – a classic chasing the play kind of penalty that everyone thinks they should get away with. Likely because they often do.

Carolina scores before you can blink.

2-0 Hurricanes

A two-on-one where the defender does not take away the pass at all. Frederick Andersen says, yup, one of those.

And to end this frustrating period, Auston Matthews takes his first penalty of the season for tripping.

The PK actually get a little puck action on this Canes power play which will continue after the intermission.

Thoughts

The Leafs are doing several things very well, including keeping their speed up, and getting a lot more shots off than most teams do vs the Canes. But Carolina is just so on them defensively, the Leafs never really look all that dangerous.

More action, less quality. Carolina actually did the reverse, less, but better.

Third Period

William Nylander the star of the PK finished off the Matthews penalty.

Nick Robertson with a rough defensive shift and a bad giveaway.

Kochetkov goes swimming like Sammy and the Leafs can't take advantage.

Oh yeah! Timothy Liljegren with his first goal of the year!

2-1 Carolina

That's just lovely.

Another good shift from the Domi line, and it's very good to see. Also that Keefe isn't overly concerned about one bad shift from Robertson.

Carolina takes a penalty – Burns for tripping on Gregor.

The Canes PK is too high a wall for the Leafs.

The Leafs can't get a pass through at all.

Mitch Marner takes a tripping call just in time for the final TV timeout.

Marner bursts out of the box to play the final two minutes with Jones pulled as soon as they clear the zone.

The Canes breakup a pass and Sebastian Aho puts this away with the ENG.

3-1 Carolina

Sticks in lanes, Carolina Hurricanes.

Kochetkov makes a great save at the end of the game on Robertson, but is it a save?

I have never cared less about a goalie review, possibly ever.

Wow, the call on the ice was no goal, and it's overturned.

3-2 Carolina

ENG is now the winning goal.

Thoughts

Close checking team that is relentlessly on their man, good enough goalie, a few hot shooters vs a team wearing the maple leaf who can't get any decent offence going and lose the special teams battle dramatically.

At least they didn't get shutout or ever give up.

(Don't tell the Canes I compared them to Swedes, I don't think they'll like it.)

See you Monday at noon, and then very, very late on Tuesday.

Game Coverage