The Leafs celebrate Engvall's goal (Kevin Sousa, Getty Images)
The Leafs came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the New York Islanders, setting the franchise record for points in a season during the process.
Here are my 5 takeaways from the Leafs' victory against the now-eliminated Isles.
1. Best Season
The Leafs broke their franchise record for both wins and points in a season. The previous record of 49 wins and 105 points in the 2016-17 season. For context, Lou Lamoriello was still the GM that season, Mike Babcock was the coach, Leo Komarov and Tyler Bozak were both alternate captains and James van Riemsdyk led the team in goals.
This win over the Islanders gave the 2021-22 Leafs a pretty whopping total of 50 wins and 106 points. There are still 6 games left to add to that tally. There are plenty of reasons to suspect that this is the best Leafs regular season of all-time. It's the highest points percentage by any Toronto team in modern day history. They have two of the best players in the NHL. Despite all that, the Leafs are going to have to face the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, to have any hope of winning their first playoff series since 2004.
It's the issue with the NHL's strange postseason system. If we had the more traditional system, in which the teams were ordered 1-8 in their respective conferences, the Leafs would have a matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins, which I would feel much more confident about than the Lightning series.
With that being said, to be the best, you have to beat the best. This is a good challenge for a Leafs team that is way overdue for a franchise-defining moment. The Leafs have just had their best ever season and they need to be ready to come out of their shell in time for the postseason, because the Lightning are going to make it very difficult.
2. Campbell Excels
If Jack Campbell can play like he did on Sunday night, I'll feel much more confident about Toronto's chances. He stopped 27 of 29 shots, saving 0.67 goals above expected. Crucially, none of the goals that he conceded were his fault, as on the first goal, Ilya Lyubushkin was screening him, and on the second goal, Alex Kerfoot scored on his own net. I don't think that we need to be overly worried about the Leafs' scoring on their own net very often, so I'll chalk both those goals up to flukes.
Campbell looked stable in his crease, which is more than what we can say about his play in 2022. Nevertheless, if Campbell can reclaim even a fraction of the form that made him one of the stars of the first few months of NHL hockey, Toronto could make some noise.
3. Nylander Looks Like a Force
William Nylander tied his career-high with 31 goals with a well-placed goal past Ilya Sorokin. He also picked up an assist on David Kampf's empty net goal. Though that is encouraging on its' own, the performance was particularly exciting as a Leafs fan.
Willy was buzzing around in both ends, finding chemistry with Tavares and Kerfoot almost instantly after the reunion in Ottawa. He was eager to make creative plays and his work ethic really stood out. By the end of the game, the winger led all Leafs players with 6 shots on goal.
Similarly to with Jack Campbell, if Nylander can get back to his November form just in time for the playoffs, it'll be huge boost to the Leafs' chances.
4. Abruzzese Boosts Confidence
It wouldn't be ridiculous to claim that Nick Abruzzese played his best NHL game last night. So far, the biggest criticism about the young Harvard prospect is that you barely notice when he's on the ice. Firstly, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Typically, rookies struggle with decision-making and the speed at the highest level of hockey. That cannot be said about Abruzzese, who has been comfortable, even if he is often a bit passive with the puck. Secondly, his style of play has been becoming more aggressive recently.
It was definitely his most noticeable game as a Leaf. He challenged multiples Islanders defensemen, which often led to them coughing up the puck. Abruzzese's chemistry with Spezza was evident, as the pair had a couple of nice passing plays.
It's hard to imagine Nick Abruzzese being on the playoff roster, but he has a chance to play himself into the conversation.
5. Mathew Barzal Makes an Expensive Mistake
Barzal grabs onto Marner (TicTacTOmar, Twitter)
On an inauspicious play in the final minutes of the third period, Mathew Barzal impeded his buddy Mitch Marner by grabbing onto him from the bench. It seemed like the two were just joking around, evidenced by Marner's comments after the fact.
In a sarcastic tone, Marner said, "Hopefully he gets a fine for that; that would be nice." As the NHL Department of Player Safety is a bit two-faced with distribution of fines, it wasn't clear whether Barzal would face any punishment.
Today we learned that Barzal got fined $2,500 for the incident, which is pretty funny. Obviously that's pretty insignificant for an NHL player, but it's still $2,500. It's a bit strange to me that this was considered worthy of a fine, but some more dangerous plays this season have been ignored by the DoPS.
ALL STATS COURTESY OF EVOLVING HOCKEY
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED
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