The Toronto Maple Leafs bounced back from a disappointing opening night loss on the road, winning the next two games at home. Some unfortunate news did come during week 1, with the team announcing that new goalie Matt Murray was placed on the long-term injured reserve, and will miss “at least” 4 weeks with an adductor injury. Here are the games recaps:
GAME 1:
TOR 3 MTL 4
This game was super back and forth but Murray just couldn’t hold the Habs down in his Leaf’s debut. Michael Bunting opened the scoring in the first period with the Leaf’s first goal of the season. Nobody wanted the lead in the second period either, with Cole Caufield scoring 2 goals for the Habs, and Denis Malgin adding one for the Leaf’s to keep it tied at 2. Sean Monahan opened the scoring in the third with his first goal of the season to give the Habs the lead, but less than a minute later William Nylander’s first goal would tie the game yet again. Josh Anderson would score the game-winning goal with just 19 seconds left in the period to push the Habs past the Leaf’s on opening night.
GAME 2:
WAS 2 TOR 3
The Leaf’s debuting another newly acquired goalie, win their first game of the season in their home opener in Toronto. Ilya Samsonov won his debut, giving up just 2 goals. The Leaf’s would strike first in the first period with John Tavares scoring his first goal of the season. The Capitals would strike back and take a 2-1 lead in the first with goals from Nic Dowd (1) and Marcus Johansson (1). Washington wouldn’t get anything against Samsonov after the first, meanwhile, the Leafs tied the game in the second with a goal from Calle Jarnkrok (1), and take the lead in the third with a goal from Auston Matthews (1).
GAME 3:
OTT 2 TOR 3
After Matt Murray was scratched with an injury earlier in the day, Ilya Samsonov won his second game in a row with an almost identical performance as his Leaf’s debut the previous game. Shane Pinto would give Ottawa an early lead with his first goal of the season, and it would stay 1-0 until the final minute of the second period where David Kampf (1) tied the game for the Leaf’s. William Nylander (2) and Claude Giroux (1) would trade goals in the third, to keep the game tied at a score of 2-2, but Justin Holl (1) would break the tie with less than 2 minutes left in the third, pushing the Leaf’s past the Senators to make them 2-1 in the young season.
-Austin Sturge