Well, while speed killed last game, tonight was all about the rough stuff. The Habs mauled the Leafs physically out of the gate, laying on the body and not allowing them room to use their wheels. As an aside, there are webcams with better resolution than the cameras used in OHL arenas, so a lot of plays, players, and even the puck were hard to see clearly.

The period started, as I mentioned, physically. The Habs were on the body early and often, and their work paid off quickly. Off a 2 on 2, a small saucer pass, that didn’t really change the angle too much, was blasted by Antoine Bibeau’s glove far side by Daniel Audette. I’m not a fan of the goal, and I think Bibeau should have been further up on his crease, but the pass shouldn’t have gotten through in the first place. This seemed to wake the Leafs up a little, as they started to push the throttle a bit more, but it came at the expense of defensive responsibility. While there were several odd man rushes against, it was off one of these that the Leafs tied it up on a counter. I’m not sure who was the man defending the rush, but I’m not happy with them, as they failed to cover the pass and veered towards the passer, but luckily Nicolas Mattinen was back in time to interrupt a chance on net. From there the play turned up the ice and Keaton Middleton – a defender from this year’s draft class – came off the bench and wristed a floater on net that beat Fucale. The period ended with the Leafs starting to throw their weight around a bit, and boy did that set the tone for period 2.

The Leafs stopped caring about the Habs being physical, and threw hits of their own instead. Andrew Nielsen had a heavy hit in his own corner, Timashov threw his body down to block a shot, and the Leafs 3rd goal of the period was a result of Justin Holl taking the reverse hit to poke the puck out to Tobias Lindberg. However a few shifts before that, in what was an oddity of the night, Tony Cameranesi broke around the outside with SPEED and fired a shot on Fucale, which he then followed to the net and finished. All in all, the Leafs turned a 6-6 shot count to end the first to a 13+ shot surplus at the last shot count I heard announced all game. Also in a little awesome moment, William Bitten shoved into Bibeau, so Bibeau turned into a gardener and planted him into the ice.

The Leafs carried the play for the most part in the third period. They continued with the physical play and kept pressure on the Habs, but Fucale stood his ground on some good chances by the Leafs. Lindberg took a holding penalty to prevent a clean 2 on 1, but needn’t have bothered as 4 seconds into the penalty kill the Canadiens tipped the puck in off a point shot, couldn’t see who it was (thank you based potatocam). The Leafs followed with a dominant shift by Freddie Gauthier, Dmytro Timashov and Trevor Moore, with Montreal hemmed in their own zone. Nikita Scherbak took Andrew Nielsen into the boards in front of the ref, after the whistle, with no call, and like a pretend tough guy grabbed onto Neilsen’s visor to yank his head around when the refs were there to save him. A shift later Nielsen was given a slashing penalty for knocking the stick from a Montreal player’s hand, which Montreal capitalized on via Mike McCarron’s 2nd of the night as the announcers informed me, solving the mystery of who scored Montreal goal number 2. As a second aside, not thrilled with the reffing in this game. Dermot then took a legitimate tripping penalty, leading to the 3rd Habs powerplay in a row. Marner had a shorthanded breakaway stolen at his own blueline by the linesman, but the Leafs killed the powerplay. In the last 2 minutes, off a shift with Freddie the Goat’s line, Nielsen kept the puck in at the line, walked in to the top of the circle and breezed a puck through Fucale’s legs (I think) to put the Leafs back up at 4-3. The Habs pulled their goalie on the next shift but to no avail as the Leafs kept the Canadiens out of the dangerous areas of the ice to close out the game. Leafs go 2 for 2, 4-3. Final shots: Not announced but I’d like to believe we outshot them.

Standouts

Keaton Middleton – Used his big frame well throughout the game despite the fact that he was clearly inexperienced, and scored the first goal of the game.

Martins Dzerkials – Was the only player other than the entire Marner line really able to use his speed in the 1st, and was also noticeable in 2nd

Marner line – See yesterday’s assessment on all 3 players, it will apply here. Slick passing, offensive chances, good chemistry and a goal from Tobias Lindberg. If we ever split the big 3 between 3 lines, I could see this line flourishing at an NHL level.

Travis Dermott – Made himself involved in the play but passed up on a few opportunities to shoot in favour of passing.

Nicolas Mattinen – Brought more physicality to his game tonight, was still great position-wise and was directly responsible for breaking up that 2 on 1 I mentioned in the 1st.

Nikita Korostelev – Good release, needs to learn to play away from the puck more, but showed he wasn’t afraid to take the body on the backcheck

Antoine Bibeau – Made a lot of saves on many odd man rushes, showed feistiness and a green thumb. First goal was weak in my opinion but was pretty solid other than that. Needs to show a step forward this year.

Andrew Nielson – Was the last man back often, and was physical catalyst. Needs to keep his emotions in check, as refs will always call retaliation.

Tony Cameranesi – Showed good puck pursuit in scoring the 2nd goal and had some good looks on net besides that.