It’s recap time again. One single post to get you caught up on this game if you missed it. One article that covers the full game for you, in brief, but has lots of Omar’s gifs.

First Period

Really fast start to this one, as the crowd is into it, and the Jets are dressed like the Rangers for some reason.

Mitch Marner with a flailing shot at the net is the most offence anyone has produced out of all the speed in the first five minutes.

And then, just to give the commentators a opportunity to do the “a chance at one end...”  speech, this happens:

1-0 Jets

Ginormous rebound right out to the Jets rushing the net, and some not very good defending from Alex Kerfoot turn a rush chance against into a pretty easy goal.

Matthews fans on a shot looking at a wide open net. He’s cursed right now.

The Leafs are going to the PK on an interference call to Michael Bunting, which is what you want right after a goal against.

In a thing that just seems to be en vogue, there’s another penalty called almost immediately, another interference call, this time on Josh Morrissey.

Nick Robertson goes out for four-on-four. That used to be Mitch Marner’s job, has he been replaced at playing when there’s fewer than 10 skaters?

Marner gets a shift and is not very good at this playing defence stuff he’s allegedly going to be doing this year.

As the short power play starts, Matthews is almost flat on the ice and makes a terrible pass that ends up with Tavares via Nylander, and JT’s not cursed:

Tie Game

Matthews making the most of his currently cursed status:

We get a few seconds of five-on-five before Kyle Clifford takes a stupid tripping penalty. Back to PK we go, where the Leafs do a good enough job.

Jets take a penalty because even cursed, Matthews is too much for them. Morrissey again.

Best chance on the power play is a centring pass from Bunting that jumps the stick. Can’t blame the SBA ice for this one. Oh, and Marner got smushed into the boards there somewhere.

Leafs give up a three-on-one as the clock runs down because they just felt like exiting on a rush against.

Thoughts

  • The top line is cursed, you can’t convince me otherwise.
  • I found that period irritating.
  • The Leafs are dominating at five-on-five and giving up a lot of chances to the Jets power play. It’s October — you need your special teams firing while the power play opportunities are inflated./

Second Period

Giordano and Nylander with chances early.

This better not be the curse spreading.

Giordano makes a looooong stretch pass right onto the stick of a Jets player, and yup, Matthews line is on the ice, oozing curse essence onto everyone.

See you are ess ee dee.

The Leafs are pretty relentless here with the offence, and I’m not complaining, you have to be relentless vs Connor Hellebuyck, but it is annoying when there’s no goals.

Yeah, baby. A David Kämpf goal, just what you expect.

2-1 Leafs.

That was a pass a guy makes only when he used to be a star, but the whole play was good stuff from that fourth line.

Oh, ho, now we have a big scrum because the Jets are getting too close to the Leafs only goalie — you know the one who has been so good, we’re actually afraid to mention it?

We get a much bigger scrum when some punk runs over Nick Robertson. Morgan “enforcer” Rielly goes for Josh Morrissey. (Bigmouth strikes again, as he’s got five for fighting along with Mo.)

Keefe puts out his scoring line of Clifford, Kämpf and Simmonds after all of that.

Wow. Blake Wheeler has an open net, Samsonov out of position, and he just... doesn’t shoot.

And we have another scrum when DuBois goes right for Sandin after a hit on Cole Perfetti. The Leafs end up with the power play out of that somehow, which considering the last mess ended up even seems... kind of not fair to the Jets, really. Oh, well!

Scores!!!! Right during the “ref you suck” chant too. Man, that’s delicious. Like a gooey chocolate brownie with ice cream.

JT is, I may have mentioned, not cursed

3-1 Leafs

Thoughts

  • That was a period so improbable, you’d send the script back for a rewrite before the Mo vs Mo 44 fight.
  • For a guy suffering an evil curse, Matthews is getting a lot of assists./

Third Period

Samsonov checks to see if everyone is awake and we all pass. He got lucky when he went awandering.

There’s almost another fight, which just ends up in a power play for the Jets.

The Leafs weather that, mostly because the Jets hesitate too long before shooting. Leafs need to get a grip on this period and close it out with some nice boring un-activated defencemen and offence where you never see more than three Leafs players on the TV screen.

Samsonov is scaring me now with a lot of big rebounds. He has a lot to work on out of this game, most of it in this period.

Now Samsonov is scaring me with more wandering ways.

Hellebuyck is pulled with just under two minutes to go, and Michael Bunting might have busted the top-line curse a little.

4-1 Leafs

Interesting to see ZAR playing in lieu of Robertson in the last minutes.

Thoughts

  • I know what Samsonov is going to be doing on the plane to Vegas./

Leafs win! See you Monday night, everyone.

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