Toronto Maple Leafs left wing Nicholas Robertson, left, and centre Auston Matthews celebrate Robertson's overtime goal against the Dallas Stars in Toronto on Oct. 20.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
A share of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ preseason lead wasn’t enough for Nicholas Robertson to secure himself a roster spot heading into the 2022-23 season.
But after the Leafs sputtered out of the gate with a 2-2 record, with lacklustre losses to both the Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes resulting in head coach Sheldon Keefe calling out his “elite players,” the one-time junior scoring star found himself back in the lineup on Thursday night.
He wasted little time making his presence felt, scoring his second and third NHL goals – the last one the overtime winner – to help the Leafs hand the Dallas Stars their first loss of the season in a 3-2 victory.
“You kind of dream of this stuff, to score an overtime winner in the NHL, but now for me, it’s just to keep going and to keep fighting and learning every day,” said an emotional Robertson following the victory.
In his 17th regular-season game, it looks like the 21-year-old has finally arrived at the NHL level, even as a guy who has had his share of false dawns ever since he was drafted 53rd over all in 2019. Playing left wing on a line with captain John Tavares and William Nylander – in place of Denis Malgin, the man who took his roster spot as training camp broke – Robertson would likely have been happy just to make his Leafs’ season debut. But Thursday’s game was anything but normal.
With the Stars in town, the contest also meant another chance for Robertson to lock horns with older brother Jason, who has two years in age and six inches in height on his younger sibling. The elder Robertson broke through for 41 goals for the Stars last season and was the recipient of a four-year, US$31-million contract last summer as a result.
In their first career head-to-head, last March 15 in Toronto, neither Robertson brother was a factor in a 4-0 Leafs win. The California natives were held without a goal, while Nick had just 11:09 of ice time and was sent down to the AHL Marlies just five days later. But as competitive as the sibling rivalry is between the two brothers, the younger Robertson has learned to look past his brother six months on from their first encounter on NHL ice.
“I feel you feel like I’m less, ‘Oh my brother is out there’ like last year,” he said. “I don’t have time to worry about who’s on the ice. … I got to play my best, I got to shut out the noise or whatever.”
Robertson said he would have scarcely believed it had someone told him a week ago he’d be scoring an overtime winner, but “you never know what can happen in this industry.” His choice of word – industry as opposed to “game,” or “sport” – was telling in his postgame comments. He realized coming out of training camp that as a young guy in the league – and consequently one who could be sent down to the minor leagues without penalty to Toronto – he was prevented from starting the season with his parent club because of the machinations of the NHL machine moreso than anything he had or hadn’t done.
“To get sent down given the cap space and everything, the situation was definitely tough to grasp,” he said. “But now to get a night like this. It’s just kind of makes up for it. Again, I don’t want to just have a night, I want to be consistent, I want to play well and help the team win.”
A 100-per-cent win rate so far this season bodes well for the winger’s presence with the senior club. He said earlier in the day that, as a 5-foot-9 player – “not the average height here” – he had to use his shiftiness out on the ice to make people notice him. It’s a small sample size, to be sure, but so far, mission accomplished.
“It was unbelievable,” said goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who stopped 26 of 28 shots for his third win in three starts with Toronto. “You know, it’s his first game in a season and two terrific goals you know, winning goals, which is help for our team for sure.”
Looking for a bounceback victory after Monday’s home loss to those perennial basement dwellers, the Arizona Coyotes, the Maple Leafs arguably caught a break before the opening puck drop when Dallas head coach Peter DeBoer announced that No. 1 goaltender Jake Oettinger would get his first night off this season. Oettinger, who was one of the breakout performers of last season’s playoffs thanks to his league-leading .954 save percentage, has picked up where he left off in the spring, posting a perfect 3-0 record with a .966 save percentage as the Stars had conceded just three goals through their first three games.
In his place, DeBoer decided to give Brampton, Ont., native Scott Wedgewood his first action of the season in front of his friends and family. Despite a slow start – with Toronto putting just six pucks on the opposition net in the first period – the Leafs eventually got to Wedgewood in the second, with Alex Kerfoot grabbing his first of the season on a power play before Robertson beat him in the third with his first of his two goals. Wedgewood ultimately finished with 40 saves on 43 shots.
And while the game was pushed to overtime after a controversial video review, when Tyler Seguin’s goal was allowed to stand despite Samsonov being pushed into the net by Mitch Marner, albeit under pressure from Seguin, the overtime itself produced an extended period of back-and-forth play.
But with a shootout looming, Robertson found himself on the ice once again. After forcing a turnover, headed up the ice with Morgan Reilly and Auston Matthews, and after working a give-and-go with the reining Hart Trophy winner, Matthews had himself the 200th assist of his career, while Robertson one-timed his first overtime goal past Wedgewood for the win with 1:14 to play.