5 Takeaways: TOR 6-BOS 4

 

Kampf celebrates after his deflected goal (Steve Babineau, Getty Images)

    Despite brutal officiating and an ill-timed groin injury to starting goalie Petr Mrazek, the Leafs stunned the NHL's hottest team in a dominant offensive performance.

    Here are my 5 takeaways as the Leafs' early offensive burst kept them ahead in a nasty game. 

1. The Harvard Boys Step Up

    How fitting is that Colin Blackwell scored his first as a Leaf at TD Garden? In the state that housed his university, Blackwell made a really smart play to direct the puck home after a wonderful pass from Jason Spezza. 

    After an unlucky carom handcuffed Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton, Blackwell charged into the corner to retrieve the puck. However, he kept his head up and noticed that Spezza was right on the near boards. He showcased some pretty edgework to cut back towards the front of the net and direct the puck past Jeremy Swayman. It was the smart play that you'd expect from a Harvard graduate. Blackwell's physical play has been the standout factor in his Leafs tenure so far, but we can't underestimate the impact his intelligence has on the game.

    Blackwell wasn't the only Harvard graduate to have an impact either. Alexander Kerfoot was Toronto's second best player last night per my estimation. He broke up passes well and made a wicked smart move to block Clifton's shot and take the puck in stride before burying the puck with a beautiful deke. 

    The duo won't be alone as Harvard attendees either. Nick Abruzzese is expected to make his Leafs debut this week. He's been with the team after playing with Harvard this season. He should be a nice boost to what has become a stale fourth line. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can bring. This nasty game was definitely the wrong time to thrust him into the NHL, so maybe the coaching staff will be less hesitant against a team that doesn't have murder on their minds.

2. The DoPS is Fraudulent

    Nobody can convince me that George Parros is the right guy to be heading the Department of Player Safety. A player who had over 1000 NHL penalty minutes (30 PIM for every point) and whose Wikipedia article lists that "his primary role on the ice was that of an enforcer" within three sentences of the page should not be in charge of protecting player safety.

    After getting sucker punched by Taylor Hall, Ilya Lyubsushkin, who is no softie, went down hard and had to exit the game to go into concussion protocol. As I just mentioned, Lyusbushkin is not the type of guy to dive willingly. He's a massive guy who can take a punch. Not to mention that what Hall did was a direct and blatant infraction according to Section 6, 46.15 of the NHL rulebook, which essentially states that any sucker punch administered to an unsuspecting party will be awarded a match penalty (immediate ejection, 5 minute major penalty, automatic one game suspension).

    Hall's punishment, you may ask? A $5,000 fine. For a player with a daily cap hit of $30,000 like Hall, that's chump change. Any player in the league would accept a two-minute penalty and a $5,000 fine if it means they can get away with a direct gloved punch to the face of another player. 

    The league's officiating is brutal enough, but at least you can make the excuse that they have to make spontaneous decisions in the heat of the action. The DoPS has hours to pore over footage of the incident and yet they still decided to not suspend Hall. 

    It's disgraceful. 

3. Injury Crisis Looming

    They can't keep getting away with it!

    Despite the game being completely out of Boston's hands (as terrified as I was after the Boston's fourth goal, I never expected that they could reverse a 6-1 deficit), they slashed, attacked and executed cheap shots on Toronto's star players. This led to a tough game as far as injuries are concerned. Petr Mrazek, Michael Bunting, Justin Holl and Ilya Lyubushkin all left the game, which is by far the most I've seen in a game all season. 

    Add that to Ondrej Kase's injury, Jake Muzzin's concussion and the fact that Jack Campbell is still on injured reserve with a bruised rib and you have a recipe for disaster. This period of the season is crucial and the Leafs may have to tackle it without 6 defensemen or with AHL forwards in their top-9. Not to mention that if Mrazek's groin pull is serious enough that Erik Kallgren is officially Toronto's backup plan for the postseason.

4. Clifford>Simmonds

    Wayne Simmonds has been objectively horrible this year. His 0.42 goals per 60 is a career worst and a far cry from his 0.92 last year. The two-time 30 goal scorer has just 4 on the year this campaign. The Leafs possess 48.8% of expected goals when Simmonds on the ice. That's the lowest mark since his rookie season. But that's not my main criticism of Simmonds.

    He wasn't brought on by Dubas to be an analytics darling; he is there to be able to throw the body around and stand up for his teammates. However, even that aspect of Simmonds' game has diminished this season. He isn't finishing checks as well as he previously did. He has been in just 4 fights this year and only one since the calendar shifted to 2022. It doesn't seem like he is protecting his teammates as well.

    So it was telling when Sheldon Keefe left Simmonds as a healthy scratch against the notoriously physical Bruins. He opted for Kyle Clifford, who I thought had a good game. He forced mistakes from Boston's young defensemen with his intimidating body. He completed some body checks and had leadership composure that we always want from Simmonds. 

    I'm not entirely sure how Toronto's cap situation can allow for more games for Clifford, but we're at the point where I would rather have him as the Leafs' 13th forward than "Simmer."

5. I Hate Boston

    Every year, the games that get me the most animated and passionate are random regular season games against the Boston Bruins. They are masters in the art of toeing the line between legal and illegal, in the sense that they don't get penalized, but probably should. Their defensive style is often so tough for Toronto to break down. Also, games between Boston and Toronto often turn sour quickly, which just makes for bad quality hockey. 

    So I was a happy camper when the Leafs dropped 6 on them within two periods of play. It's good for the soul to see a Leafs beatdown of the Bruins over once in a while.

    Also it was nice to see Brad Marchand get a 10-minute misconduct penalty. When Boston gets the better of Toronto, I want to pull my hair out and scream at the TV. But on occasions like this when Toronto comes up on top, I cheer and high five anybody around me. Good times. 

ALL STATS COURTESY OF MONEYPUCK AND NATURAL STAT TRICK

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