The Maple Leafs hosted the Calgary Flames tonight, and in a brilliant bit of trolling the Leafs honoured the Grey Cup winning Toronto Argos ahead of the game. The CFL Champions defeated the Calgary Stampeders in Ottawa last week, and it’s not their fault the first home game they’ve had since the Grey Cup was against the Flames, it’s just delicious irony.

Oh, right there was a game as well.

Here are the goals:

The first goal was scored by the Flames on the powerplay. Matt Martin was in the box for holding, and Mark Giordano takes a wrist shot from the blueline while all the Leafs are crowded around the net.

The second goal of the game came at the end of the second period, for the Maple Leafs. Giordano tries to clear the puck out but there’s no Flame along the boards. The puck rolls right to Rielly who fires a wristshot past Olympic gold medalist Mike Smith.

Here are my thoughts on the game.

William Nylander is good. Like, super good at this hockey thing.

Leo Komarov isn’t? This is his last season on a contract and if the plan was to trade him...well someone will still want him for his reputation and grittiness, but the return won’t be as high. Someone said tonight that ‘the puck dies on his stick’ and while that’s a bit of an exaggeration, he wasn’t on top of the game and led to a few clearing attempts by the Flames to get the puck out of their own zone.

The Penalty Kill needs some work. Yes, it’s been good at times, but on ACC ice it’s almost last in the league. Zach Hyman couldn’t clear the puck out and looked to be scrambling around his position between the two point men. The shot that went in for the first goal wasn’t even super hard, just a wrister from the blue line that made it in. There were one of two good chances for the Flames that didn’t go in, so it wasn’t super tonight.

Polak is supposed to clear the net and stuff right? Isn’t that what he’s good at?

Matthew Tkachuk was a shitweasel on the London Knights and continues to be a shitweasel on the Flames.

You know else could use some fine tuning? The power play. They just couldn’t seem to get the puck far away from any Flames in the offensive zone. It was a lot more condensed than the Flames were, the point men are closer in and the other three are circling the net, giving the Flames PK more room to operate effectively.

That Gaudreau penalty was weird. He did throw it inadvertently in the way of Matthews and it is technically interference, but....I dunno, it’s odd.

Hey Matt Stajan!

Mitchell Marner and James van Riemsdyk are a good pair and involved in some close calls and nice chances. Marner will score again someday and it will be glorious.

Matt Tkachuk is a shitweasal and dropkicked Frederik Andersen right at the end of the second period. Maybe, I dunno, Matt Martin should do something about the opposing team running the goalie, eh?

The net was knocked off when the Flames think they scored, so it was really nice to see the Flames be sad their goal didn’t count.

Johnny Gaudreau messed up, he gets called for holding with 37 seconds left. To me, that’s a bad penalty to take. Lucky for him the Leafs power play was ineffective tonight, going 0 for 4 on the night.

Nothing would happen in overtime, aside from a close call as a Matthews tip in goes wide, and in the shootout Matthews and Nylander would score for the Leafs, and of course Tkachuk scored for the Flames.

A 2-1 win for the Leafs! Hurrah!

Who wants some charts?

Shooting wise the Leafs would keep all their attempts to the slot and nice and close to the net. The Flames were everywhere, I don’t think there was anywhere they weren’t allowed to shoot from.

The game was mostly in the hands of the Flames, especially at even strength.

It’s fun to switch back and forth from all situations to even strength.

The game was a win for the Leafs, but there’s some work to be done, as there always is.

Play Nylander more with Matthews. Play the bottom sixers less.

The Maple Leafs don’t play again until Saturday night when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then fly right back home to host the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night.

How was this game from your point of view?

Game Coverage