Opinion | Leafs close out 2022 with a mile-high win over the defending champions

January 1 is an imaginary fault line for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Not that there’s a whole lotta fault to toss around.

Flying home from Denver and ringing in 2023 at some 35,000 feet will likely involve no more than the discreet popping of a champagne cork or two. The bubbly will taste even fizzier on the heels of a 6-2 New Year’s Eve win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche.

That outcome quickly cauterized any bleed-out from Thursday’s third-period-sag loss in Arizona as the Leafs concluded a whirlwind, and winter storms-buffeted, three-game road trip across the Central Division that garnered Toronto four points since the Christmas break. If still no closer to challenging Boston atop the rock-face Atlantic Division.

But of course, as will be repeated ad nauseam over the months ahead, the only measuring stick for Toronto is how they perform in the playoffs and whether this gem-mounted outfit can actually win a round after a six-straight-year bust.

While there’s no continental divide on the season, some questions had recently arisen, bracketed around the holidays. Like whither the John Tavares who came out of the gates sizzling in October — just a goal and an assist in five games previous to Saturday night? (Oh, there he is. Two assists. Never mind.)

And why is a power play blessed with so much talent sitting 10th in the NHL when it was first last year? (Oh, good for one in Denver. Never mind.)

And howcum Auston Matthews was shooting a career-low (at puck drop) 10.6 per cent, although we take note he’d absorbed 57 hits (while delivering 51), thus opponents are cramping his style by punishing his body. He’d looked a wee bit off. (Oh, his 18th goal on the season, and 499th career point in 444 games. Never mind.)

And has the team’s goaltending been definitively resolved? As in, is this the tandem that the Leafs should be going on with in the post-season, if there’s a better option out there before the March 3 trade deadline? (Oh, ninth W for Matt Murray, who turned away 26 of 28 Avalanche shots, now 4-0 following a Toronto loss. Never mind.)

Of course, some of these are existential ponderings and there’s no shortage of armchair coaching/managing in Leafs Nation. Although the net quality was suddenly in doubt anew, just — checks watch — 48 hours earlier. Admittedly, neither Murray nor Ilya Samsonov had been particularly sharp in the past fortnight or so. Which naturally reignited debate over whether either salvage job is the stuff of playoff success.

It bears repeating, however, that there are ebbs and flows to every season and there’s no reason to have conniptions over the occasional dip in form. These are still the Leafs with the third-best defensive record in the NHL, and some of that must be credited to their goalies.

The only caveat here is that old hockey chestnut: If you can’t decide on a No. 1 goaltender, then you don’t have one. Teams that roll rarely split netminding duties down the middle — Murray and Samsonov at 14 games apiece, Erik Källgren with an injury-relief 10. The Bruins, standing astride the NHL, had deployed Linus Ullmark in 23 games and he’d lost only once in regulation, boasting a 1.90 goals-against average.

Relocating their groove had been top of mind for the Leafs as they concluded their six-day sojourn. Because, as the team has substantially transformed itself from an unbalanced offence entity, they can no longer rely on outscoring their mistakes.

“When we’re going at our best, we’re really connected shift to shift and play to play,” coach Sheldon Keefe observed the other day. “It’s just a lot of positive play, positive play, positive play. We haven’t had enough of that here of late.

“We’ve alluded to the fact that the better we’ve played defensively and the more connected we’ve been, our defensive metrics have all improved. And then our offence has followed suit.”

Any team that uber-emphasizes offence over defence, Keefe continued, will probably rue the day. “When I say defensively, I’m not just focused on structure defensively; it’s more puck battles and positioning and decision-making, whether you’re above or below the puck. Those types of things are what we get right, and have got right a lot.

“And if we don’t, you leave the game to chance.”

Keefe underlined that defensive message by sending his third line with David Kämpf over the boards to start the game, against a team welcoming Nathan MacKinnon back into the lineup for the first time since he was injured Dec. 5. The Leafs actually hadn’t lost in Denver in regulation time since Jan. 17, 2006 and were 7-0-3 in the Mile High City over their last 10 encounters.

Mitch Marner opened the scoring on a fine second attempt entry — thwarted backhand-forehand in his first foray on Alexandar Georgiev — with a fake to the outside, slick move to the outside that froze the D-man, then a wrister over the pad and under the blocker at 6:51. It was the first point registered by any of Toronto’s core-four studs, blanked in Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Coyotes.

With a Colorado penalty pending, Pierre Engvall put Toronto up 2-0, again that third unit outworking the opposition, Engvall with his seventh, a quick-release wrister. The home side got one of those back before the period ended on a goal that was almost a mirror image of Marner’s: J.T. Compher benefitting from a neutral-zone turnover and sweeping a shot past Murray from some 40 feet away in the high slot.

Michael Bunting widened Toronto’s lead on the power play 34 seconds into the second, stuffing a puck by Georgiev that Tavares had slid across the crease. Fifteenth point in the last 16 games for Bunting. The Avalanche fended off back-to-back penalties and were rewarded midway through the period when a puck caromed into the net off Matthews’s foot, rotten luck, registered to Devon Toews.

Matthews’s own goal was own-erased as he rapidly thereafter finished off a nice feed from William Nylander, cleverly delaying his shot until Georgiev was utterly flummoxed. The Leafs centre is one point away from career No. 500.

“I’ve been fortunate to play on really good teams year after year,” Matthews said post-game. “It’s not as much of an individual accomplishment as it is a team accomplishment. Myself and Mitchy (497) are close in on that, but we’re working toward something bigger.”

T.J. Brodie made it three goals for the Leafs in the second, 24 seconds later, with a semi-slapper from inside the blueline — unassisted, driving Georgiev out of the game. Notably, Brodie racked up half a dozen shots in the game.

The Avalanche elevated their tempo in the third and had a territorial edge, but it made no difference. They pulled Jonas Johansson with nearly five minutes left in regulation and Bunting notched his second of the night, an empty-netter.

“We got contributions from all four lines, all six defencemen,” said Keefe. “Got saves from (Murray) when we needed them. It’s a good way to close out what feels like a long road trip. I like the way the guys got it done.”

Toronto closed out the book on December 8-3-1, well-earning a Happy New Year in-flight champers toast to self.

Probably preferred beer, though.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno

SHARE: