The first period came out swinging, and for a while it looked like both teams had decided defense was optional.
Jack Roslovic opened the game with back-to-back goals to start the night, and the chance itself came after a very good play, even if the finish owed something to bad goaltending. Easton Cowan then found the ice at the right moment and cashed in, with Brandon Duhaime colliding by the Vegas net and taking too long to get to the bench, which opened the door for Cowan to jump on. The period kept rolling from there, with McKenna waiting for Raddysh as the trailer before a blast from the point created a deflection that went in off Paul.
Vegas answered with a big-time slapper from Mark Stone, then kept chipping away after McKenna went to the box for hooking, the season’s weak call of choice. Brett Howden scored, and then Morgan Rielly pulled down Jack Eichel and handed him a penalty shot. Eichel got his chance, and Vegas still had more coming.
On a later power play, Brandon Duhaime was stuck out there for almost the whole kill because the puck never got cleared long enough for a change, and Sergei Bobrovsky bailed things out with a huge save. The penalty kill, at least in that stretch, was a mess.
It wasn’t the structure that was falling apart so much as the inability to get the puck out. That part did improve the next time the Leafs took a badly timed penalty, but the overall picture was still ugly.
By the end of the second period, Toronto had survived and the game was tied 3-3, though it was hard to call the effort anything close to clean against a top team that eventually started playing like one.
The third period brought a line switch, with Nylander and Marchenko swapping lines again, just like in the Nashville game. Then Bo Groulx took a penalty behind the play, giving Vegas its fifth power play, and the score was still tied when that was over. The Leafs’ penalty kill wasn’t getting carved up by the setup itself; it just couldn’t clear the puck.
Late in the third, OEL went hard into the glass and ice and left the game immediately with less than two minutes left. He went to the dressing room after his head hit the ice, though the note here was that no one heads to the room right away the way OEL does, so it shouldn’t be assumed he’s badly hurt.
Overtime was needed again, but it settled nothing. Bobrovsky was excellent playing the puck in three-on-three, and Morgan Rielly rang one off the post at the other end.
That sent it to the shootout, and the second point went to Vegas in the worst way hockey can decide a game. The Leafs now head to Colorado for Saturday’s game.
In Other News...
Nick Robertson Is Reopening A Maple Leafs Debate Fans Hated
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From the Leafs side, the explanation for moving on was practical enough, centered on salary considerations and roster fit. Still, when a player who once felt like a puzzle piece in waiting starts clicking somewhere else, it reopens the debate fans never fully loved in the first place, and leaves Toronto wondering whether the picture would have looked different with a longer runway. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Win Couldn't Hide A Problem Before This Road Trip
The Maple Leafs left their four-game homestand with a 5-4 overtime win over Nashville, but the mood around the result was hardly pure celebration. Toronto got the two points it wanted, and the underlying numbers still lean in a positive direction, yet the game also offered a familiar reminder that the margin for error on this team can disappear fast when the defensive structure slips.
Brandon Duhaime, Jake McCabe, Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson were all part of the breakdowns that helped Nashville find openings, and those kinds of mistakes are hard to ignore with a demanding road stretch ahead. A win can cover up a lot for a night, but for the Leafs, the next phase of the schedule will say more about whether the defensive issues were a one-game mess or something more persistent. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs May Be Overlooking The Edge This Lineup Still Needs
The Maple Leafs brought in Zack MacEwen over the offseason as a depth addition with a clear purpose in mind: add some size, edge and energy to the bottom of the lineup. After a brief stint with New Jersey last season, MacEwen arrived on a two-year deal and has so far been used sparingly, with Toronto treating him as the kind of forward who can give a game a different texture even without heavy minutes.
MacEwen has only dressed once this season, and the usage suggests the Leafs are still deciding how much room there really is for that brand of player. Toronto already has enough skill to survive most nights, but the question hanging over this roster is whether it is leaving itself a little light on the kind of toughness that can matter when the games tighten up later on. [Read more 🡒]