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Sandin, offense carry the day in win over Devils; Leafs talking to Muzzin

January 15, 2020, 4:04 PM ET [248 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs knew that to survive the next two months without Morgan Rielly, they were going to need the rest of their blueline to pick up the slack and more consistent contributions from their forwards and goalie Frederik Andersen. Most of those factors occurred against the New Jersey Devils, as Auston Matthews scored a hat trick in a 7-4 victory at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

John Tavares, Frederik Gauthier, Zach Hyman and William Nylander also scored for Toronto, rookie Rasmus Sandin made an impact in his first game since mid-October with a pair of assists, and Frederik Andersen was strong until late in the game with a 24-save effort for his 22nd win of the season and 129th victory with Toronto, tying Mike Palmateer for fifth in career wins with the Leafs.



The Leafs dominated the struggling Devils, scoring three goals in the first period and chasing starter Louis Domingue after scoring another pair in the second period. Toronto extended their lead to 6-1 in the third before taking their foot off the gas pedal and surrendering three late goals before Matthews scored into an empty net for his first hat trick since his 4-goal debut in October 2016.

“I thought our first period was really good, liked a lot about that.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “I liked that we were able to score goals again here today. I didn't like our second period at all. This has happened to us before where the third period is where the puck ends up in our net, but I actually liked a lot about our third period. The second period, with the puck offensively was one of the worst periods that we've had since I've been here.”

Keefe spread the minutes normally allocated to Rielly amongst their six blueliners, with Justin Holl leading the defense with 21:34, Cody Ceci 19:15, Tyson Barrie 17:52, Martin Marincin 17:12 and Sandin with 16:12, but got a calm and confident performance out of the 19-year-old rookie.



“I think (Sandin’s) game matches ours very well. You saw tonight, his poise with the puck, his defensive play is top notch and he showed it here. You saw it at World Juniors as well. He’s been impressive to watch.” Marner said. “ He made plays, he made stuff happen all over the ice. He’s got a very good head on his shoulders; he plays very well.”

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A welcome sight at the Ford Performance Centre on Wednesday was defenseman Jake Muzzin taking to the ice for the first time in nearly three weeks. The veteran blueliner suffered a broken foot against the Devils in late December and was seen in a walking boot as recently as last week, but the injury to Rielly has made Muzzin’s return to action even more critical and his appearance on the ice before practice is a positive sign that he may be able to return after the upcoming All-Star break.

The Leafs are likely considering addressing their immediate blueline issues with possible trades before the deadline next month, but they are also looking forward at the summer with three defensemen pending unrestricted free agents. TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported that the club have opened preliminary contract talks with agent Joe Resnick, but what the term and cap hit of a new contract would be is anyone’s guess.

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