First Period

  • [18:38] Kyle Connor takes a feed from Mark Scheifele and fires a shot from the slot that Andersen looks awkward in saving - he does end up saving it though, which I suppose is all that matters.
  • [17:21] Mason Marchment has his first touch by intercepting an aerial pass from the Jets and forcing an offside.
  • [16:37] Adam Brooks gets his first NHL point in his hometown. He steals the puck off Connor Hellebuyck behind the Jets net and feeds it to Nylander in front. He deposits it calmly and the Leafs lead 1-0./
  • [15:49] On the next shift, Nylander hits the post after a great pass from John Tavares. That duo is flying early. A few shots from the Leafs defence are peppered in for good measure
  • [15:29] As the Tavares line changes, Scheifele gets a good chance off the rush that Andersen stones. Big save to keep the lead.
  • [14:58] Laine nearly gets a break too, and as the play goes the other way, Matthews gets two great chances, with the offensive zone sequence created by Hyman beating out an icing. The second chance in particular looks like it went in at first glance, but it went off the post.
  • [13:50] It’s all offense when Matthews is on the ice against Scheifele, for both teams. Both units are gaining the zone and getting into high danger areas of the ice easily - Laine gets another great chance from the slot that Andersen saves.
  • [11:01] The Jets D is shambolic right now. Luca Sbisa barfs the puck up to Kasperi Kapanen on a routine play, and he fires it five-hole for a 2-0 Leafs lead. /
  • [9:33] Barrie trips Nikolaj Ehlers, who is an absolute master at drawing penalties. Jets go to the power play.
  • [9:03] The Jets set up Laine’s one-timer, but I don’t think he put it where he wanted to, as it goes five-hole rather than top-shelf. Andersen saves. Later in the power play, he gets Laine again, this time with a glove save.
  • [7:33] The Leafs kill off the power play.
  • [4:27] Engvall takes a shift with Nylander and Tavares, with Kerfoot taking his spot alongside Spezza and Kapanen. We’ll see if this is a pattern.
  • [3:19] Marner nearly makes a magical play as the Jets turn the puck over in the neutral zone. He comes in on a two-on-two and bamboozles his defender, passing to Hyman who has an empty net. Unfortunately, Hyman can’t find the puck in his feet, and the chance goes wasted. Later in the shift, the Leafs get a few more decent chances with Hellebuyck scrambling.
  • [2:35] Kerfoot back in his standard spot in the lineup.
  • [0:00] The Jets have a sequence of forcing a few icings and winning the ensuing offensive zone faceoffs, but the Leafs mostly keep them to the outside and with pretty low danger chances. The one chance of note was a Matthieu Perrault tip in which was well-saved by Andersen./

Second Period

  • [17:27] Spezza flips the puck out of play from his own zone, so the Jets will head to another power play.
  • [16:15] The power play for the Jets was pretty ineffective until Kyle Connor takes the puck from Scheifele off a zone entry and walks into the faceoff dot to wire one by Andersen. 2-1 Leafs./
  • [15:13] Andersen turns the puck over on the shift after, leading to a great chance for Adam Lowry. Pretty shaky stuff for the Leafs in the early part of this period. The next few shifts are pretty similar, and the Leafs are reeling somewhat.
  • [12:16] Well, that was coming. Laine makes a great inside-outside move on Morgan Rielly, and while it initially looks like he can’t get the shot away, he sticks with it and pots it from a pretty acute angle. 2-2 game./
  • [10:58] And the Leafs answer right back! Dermott gains the zone and passes to Nylander, who fires a great pass to Kerfoot. He redirects it off the bar and lies in the crease until Dermott (whose been having a good game) jams it home from the 1-inch line. 3-2 Leafs. /
  • [10:23] And Engvall! Jason Spezza wins a draw to Kapanen, who drops it to Engvall immediately. There’s a mass of bodies in front of Connor Hellebuyck and the Swede’s shot beats him. 4-2 Leafs./
  • [9:26] Nick Shore hauls down John Tavares and the Leafs will get their first power play.
  • [7:26] The Leafs don’t do a ton on the power play - Kerfoot gets a rebound chance from the slot, but that’s the only real dangerous shot that the Leafs generate. The Jets do a good job of aggressively cutting off the Leafs options and generating chances of their own.
  • [7:12] And shortly after the power play, the Jets make it 4-3. Scheifele picks the puck up in the neutral zone, gains the blue line and fires it from the top of the circle. Not a tremendous goal for Andersen to give up, though Scheifele is certainly a good shooter.
  • [5:45] Man, this game is ALL offence. Both teams are just generating great chances at will. It looks like an all-star game. The amount of successful dekes to beat a defender in 1-on-1 situations is genuinely shocking.
  • [4:30] The Spezza line with Ceci/Dermott have one of those 45 second offensive zone stints that don’t really lead to any offence. However, they do draw a penalty (Perrault slashes Kapanen), so the Leafs will head to the power play again.
  • [3:08] A Marner slap shot ... works? The Leafs are kept entirely to the outside, and I was about to swear in frustration as Marner fires his squirt-gun of a one-timer on net. But Hellebuyck juggles it and puts it in his own net. That is an AWFUL goal to give up from Hellebuyck (and it might not be the worst of the night, given his brain fart for the Nylander goal). He has been putrid. 5-3 Leafs. /
  • [0:00] The Leafs mostly played like ass that period and left it with the same advantage as they entered it. It’s been pretty uninspiring at 5v5, with the Leafs getting massive chances periodically, but also going long stretches without any offensive zone play at all./

Third Period

  • [20:00] Laurent Brossoit takes over for Hellebuyck to start the period.
  • [19:50] Brossoit is tested early as Kerfoot essentially gets a breakaway off the opening draw. He makes a nice save on Kerfoots backhand attempt.
  • [17:53] Brossoit makes another great stop, robbing Brooks of a chance in front. Gauthier made backhand saucer pass to give Brooks that chance. I’m as shocked as you are.
  • [15:49] Scheifele’s line hems in Tavares’ and creates a few good slot chances that Andersen stops. On the following shift, Laine (who has been great all game) gets another good shot away.
  • [11:16] The Tavares line strikes again! Tavares finds Kerfoot in the slot, who passes to Nylander at the side of the net. He fires it past Brossoit to make it 6-3 Leafs. Tavares had some nice plays to maintain control of the puck in that sequence, and it’s worth noting that the Jets defense was absolutely shambolic in failing to clear the zone when they had the chance. Tucker Poolman in particular will not want to see that play again. Kerfoot made a couple really solid plays there too. He’s fit like a glove on this line./
  • [8:34] If this game recap has it made it obvious - let me be explicit. the Jets are an AWFUL team. They make our defence look like the trap-era Devils. As flat as the Leafs looked in parts of the 2nd, the Jets have done absolutely nothing offensively in the third despite being at home and trailing.
  • [4:07] The Leafs are generating a decent amount of offense in this late stage of the game as the wind has come out of the Jets sails. Other than that, not too much is really happening.
  • [0:00] Leafs win! Weird game - certainly not amazing defensively from Toronto, and it’s hard to parse out much of the offensive generation was the result of some truly pitiful defense on the part of the Jets. Nonetheless, they got the better of the chances in the game on the whole, and get another valuable two points in the playoff race. On to the next one!/
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