Martin Jones of the Toronto Maple Leafs protects the corner of his net against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on Dec. 16 in Toronto. The Maple Leafs defeated the Penguins 7-0.Claus Andersen/Getty Images
So who were those guys? Not just the Maple Leafs, but on both sides of the ice?
Was that really the Pittsburgh Penguins – Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Erik Karlsson and Kyle Dubas – at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night?
By the end of the 7-0 blowout, Toronto fans were taunting Dubas, their former general manager. I have no personal dislike for him but that was a train wreck of a game.
“It’s a humbling experience,” Mike Sullivan, the Pittsburgh coach, said tersely. At this point, his team is ahead of only the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division.
“It’s a loss,” Crosby said. “An ugly one, obviously.”
The Maple Leafs led 3-0 after the first and 6-0 after 40 minutes. They played without Auston Matthews and T.J. Brodie – both sick with the flu – and left tread marks on an opponent that has long been among the elite in the league.
This is not to demean the Penguins but, for a change, to praise the home team.
Toronto escaped with an overtime point on Thursday despite turning in a stinker against those last-place Blue Jackets. Two nights later it looked unbeatable.
With three games remaining before Christmas, the team is 16-6-6, trails Boston by five points in the Atlantic Division and is 10-1-4 over its past 15 games. Its most recent loss in regulation time came on Nov. 25.
A year ago, en route to a 111-point season, the Maple Leafs were 21-7-6 at the December break. They are 10 points off that pace at present but still look formidable. They have 19 goals in their past three games and manhandled the Penguins, handing them their worst loss of the season and only their second shutout.
“I mean, you can’t chase the game against them,” Crosby said. “You give them room and open up, you’re going to pay. We got behind, and then tried to force things to get back in it. That’s what happens.”
Last week Toronto beat the Rangers handily at Madison Square Garden. New York comes in 21-7-1 and is on top of its division. Another similar win would leave an impression.
The numbers that are being run up by players are impressive.
As of an off day on Sunday, Matthews is tied for the league lead, along with Vancouver’s Brock Boeser, with 23 goals. William Nylander has 40 points, which is seventh-best in the NHL but just three out of second place. The Swedish-Canadian winger had a goal and an assist on Saturday to extend his points streak to eight games.
John Tavares scored on a Maple Leafs power play and now has points in seven consecutive games. Conor Timmins has points in each of the past five games, the longest such streak of his career. Jake McCabe is also on a career-high four-game points streak.
Matthew Knies, the rookie left winger, opened the scoring against Pittsburgh, added an assist and had his first fight at any level. The 21-year-old rallied to the defence of Max Domi after the latter received a hard hit by John Ludvig.
“I didn’t go to the game looking to do that,” Knies said. “It just happened. Domi went down and I didn’t really like the play. I felt it was necessary for me to step up. I kind of blacked out a little bit.”
Last but not least, Martin Jones stopped all 38 shots he faced in Saturday’s victory in the 29th shutout of his career. He has wins in each of his first three games as a Maple Leaf and could be on the verge of pushing Ilya Samsonov to third string.
“It was a pretty impressive game from top to bottom to start to finish,” Jones said. “That’s an effort we can definitely build off of.
“We didn’t give them any life or any momentum. Give us credit. We played hard all night.”