First Period

Martin Jones starts the action with a little bit of an adventure trying to freeze the puck, but everyone escapes alive.

Nils Höglander opens the scoring after the Leafs spend a long time pinned in.

1-0 Vancouver

Uh-oh. Höglander again.

2-0 Vancouver

Nikita Zadorov knocks down Matt Knies, and the Leafs go to the power play.

Leafs really can't do anything right tonight, they get zero shots on the power play, but wait, they almost do some offence right as it ends.

The pass deflected to the wrong guy or that was a goal. Highlight of the game for the Leafs so far.

Tyler Myers hits Järnkrok right into the Vancouver bench, but he escaped.

Conor Garland is annoying because I have to now look up how to spell his name, and he scored to make it 3-0 Vancouver.

Thoughts

Pffffft

In other news, the Leafs finished that period ahead in SOG, but there's no question who outplayed whom.

Second Period

I like to be honest with you all, and so I'm telling you the PWHL game is what I'm mostly going to watch now.

And naturally the Leafs score.

3-1 Vancouver

Nylander picking the top corner like he's just so done with this crap and wants to win or something.

Look guys, you're bad, you're supposed to stay bad.

3-2 Vancouver

Jake McCabe just barely beats Thatcher Demko here.

Sarah Nurse just missed about three times in a row, so fine Leafs. You're out of the doghouse.

Nylander comes in three across with John Tavares and Tyler Bertuzzi, but he decided he was good on his own.

Tie Game

Leafs score. Tyler Bertuzzi, no less. But it's waved off because he pretty much kicks it in.

The big scrum after sees three defenders go to the box because the ref just thought this was too low scoring a game.

Leafs getting stuck, David Kämpf gets it out, but no one does anything with it. It's one of those out and right back in situations that have ben plaguing the team.

The Leafs are exhausted, and the inevitable is that it's 4-3 Vancouver

Thoughts

For most of the period, all the Leafs passes hit sticks. The play was fast, the cycle effective.

Gone were the lone guys circulating looking for a passing opportunity or spending a full shift hemmed in. Well, except that one time.

Why, though? Well part of that is that the Canucks came out really hard in the first ten minutes and got a little lucky, and well, Martin Jones.

Part is that Mark Giordano started playing with Simon Benoit, and Timothy Liljegren was with McCabe.

Part is that the Leafs are totally capable of playing like that, and every team looks like losers when they have to chase the play.

Will the Canucks let this go unanswered?

Third Period

Mitch Marner starts the third with an adventure.

So far this period is all Canucks, and the Leafs take a penalty trying to defend.

Oh baby. That's the Marner we need.

Tie Game

Just awesome. He starts it with a shot block, ends it with a goal. You know what would be better than a trade to help the Leafs? Mitch Marner back to himself all the time.

Max Domi cross-checks someone, and forces me to remember he's on this team.

J.T. Miller scores.

5-4 Vancouver

Can Keefe just bench Domi again?

Toronto hemmed in, and the Leafs take a penalty again. Giordano this time for cross checking.

Well, that's just awesome. (Actually that's a hell of a shot for the tip.)

6-4 Vancouver

Canucks take a penalty. Jones with the best save in the Leafs PP.

Leafs bench is not short. (Okay Pontus Holmberg isn't really on the top line and hasn't been for some time.)

Keefe says:

Calle Järnkrok takes a double minor (offsetting with Pius Suter) but he gets to sit out most of the rest of this game. Smart man.

Leafs do the empty net routine, and yeah, whatever. Remember when you got loser points in games like this because you didn't spend the entire third period being stupid?

Vancouver takes a penalty with a minute and a half left. Demko is better in this power play than he's been all game.

Some sorta fight thing breaks out. Whatever. Twenty-four seconds left, so it doesn't matter it's six-on-three. Tyler Myers started it by cheap-shotting Morgan Rielly. See above re: Demko.

Okay, I'm being grumpy, and yes the Leafs actually did put in massive effort after they gave the game away. Sorry, that's not really less grumpy.

Thoughts

Why do the Leafs keep blowing ties?

Next game is tomorrow at 9 pm. I can't wait.

Game Coverage