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Top Corner Hockey: Matthews and Tavares

October 5, 2018, 10:30 AM ET [239 Comments]
Lucas Neilson
Blogger •Atlantic Division Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Leafs came out with two points in game one of the regular season. It wasn’t their best game and certainly not what I expected as Montreal beat Toronto to most pucks and controlled majority of the first and third periods.

Their speed is dangerous and their goaltending is still spectacular.

It looked as if the Leafs were going to put them to bed in the second as they started to take over the game, but the Habs came out strong in the third and Frederik Andersen had to be sharp. One thing is certain; the Leafs will have to knock off that rust and early season jitters and prepare for a heavy weekend ahead.

Toronto hosts the Senators on Saturday night and then travels to play Chicago on the Sunday. That should give them plenty of time to settle in and hopefully dominating the play more than they were in game one versus Montreal.

How about that Maple Leafs power play? Danger Bay!

It’s like an all-star team out there, now I know how Pittsburgh felt all those years with Crosby, Malkin and Letang out there.

Dabbling in on the Nylander ordeal or lack of deal and Ennis filling his spot…

Ennis isn’t bad at all, small, and easy to push off the puck but he’s fast and he’s giving it his all. Only one game in but I like what he brings to the table, not so much in a top six role though. With that being said; Nylander what on earth are you doing?

This kid needs to sign on the dotted line and get into the lineup. I can’t imagine how frustrating that must be for Babcock and the other Maple Leafs players. It may even give a bit of a sour taste in Tavares’ mouth as he was assured the Leafs would be able to keep Nylander, Matthews, Marner and himself if he were to sign with the Buds.

Nylander from what I’ve heard is looking for 8 per and the Leafs are obviously not in that range. How can they pay Willie 8 and then fork over the big bucks to Marner and Matthews next off season without handcuffing themselves for the future?

They can’t. Nylander is an RFA and I sure as hell hope they figure out sooner than later because this is really rubbing me the wrong way.

Next up is the Ottawa Senators; they managed to take the Blackhawks to OT, but failed to capitalize and squeaked out the loser point.

I truthfully expected the Leafs to come out opening night and wipe the floor with the Habs. I expect them to do exactly this on Saturday night, and we just may see Garret Sparks get his first start of the season as I mentioned earlier the Leafs play back to back against Chicago on Sunday.

If Tavares and Matthews come to play like that every night there are going to be a lot of red lights going on behind the oppositions net. Tavares is an all-round gamer, a legit two way animal. He’s always skating hard, digging deep on the back check and of course dangerous with the puck.

Matthews showed his top notch release with a laser beam to get the Leafs on the board, and then another quick snapper top shelf to end the game in overtime. I love big Auston, what a stallion he is.

Could the combo score 100 goals between the two of them? Tease me.

Go Leafs Go!

Thanks for reading, have a great day.
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