The Toronto Maple Leafs are taking on the San Jose Sharks in their first matchup of the season at Scotiabank Arena. Both teams come into this game having played well in their last 10 games. However, the biggest storyline of the day was Ryan Reaves, who returns to Toronto for the first time since being traded.
Related: Maple Leafs Game Day Preview: Reaves’ Return to Toronto
During his time with the media, he explained how he felt about his time coming to an end there. That took up most of the air time leading up to puck drop. But most fans of both teams were excited to see how the game would play out, since there are a lot of similarities between the Sharks now and the Maple Leafs at the start of the Auston Matthews era.
So, let’s see how the game played out.
Game Recap
1st Period:
The first period had a bit of anticipation because it was the return of Reves. However, the show was stolen by the speed and skill of both teams. The first period had a lot of that, a lot of north and south play and some great saves by both goalies. The Maple Leafs were able to get on the board first with a goal from their newfound third line that has William Nylander on it. He was the one who threw the puck on the net and it hit off Dakota Joshua and found the back of the net to give Toronto a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
2nd Period:
The second had much of the same, a ton of pace because of the speed and skill from both teams. Both teams traded chances, including Nicholas Robertson, who had three point-blank chances but couldn’t score. Matthews, on the other hand, did score on the power play to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead. However, just 58 seconds later, Dmitry Orlov was able to beat Dennis Hildeby for his first goal of the season and cut the lead to 2-1, which is where it remained as they headed into the second intermission.
3rd Period:
In the third period, the pace slowed a bit. The Maple Leafs tried to shut down the game and carry a one-goal lead to the end of the game. And the Sharks tried their hardest to tie the game as early as they could in the third. Toronto did a good job of keeping things to the outside. The one time that they didn’t, San Jose scored, but it was reviewed and ruled no goal because the play was offside. Unfortunately, Oliver Ekman-Larsson had to leave the game with what looked like a leg injury that forced them to play the rest of the period with five defensemen, something that isn’t easy to do against a team as young and speedy as the Sharks.
In the dying minutes of the third, the Sharks were pressing and had a great scoring chance but Hildeby made a huge behind-the-back glove save to keep them in the lead. However, just a minute later, they were able to score on a shot from the point to tie the game at 2-2 and send the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, the Sharks took advantage of an odd-man rush and Alexander Wennberg won it for his team. There was a review to determine if he had gotten a stick on it after he kicked it into the net, and it was ruled he did. And then there was a review to determine if the play was offside and it was ruled a good goal. So, San Jose came back late in the third and won it 3-2 in overtime.
