Good, Bad, & Ugly in Maple Leafs 4-3 OT Win Over Oilers

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ record was raised to 11-6-2 Saturday night with a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Edmonton Oilers. Mitch Marner scored in overtime while Connor McDavid kept his point streak going. And, Ryan Reaves will have a hearing with the NHL DoPS over a hit to the head of Darnell Nurse. What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?

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The Bad: Rielly and McCabe

First Period Struggles:

This game started badly for the Maple Leafs as they gave up the first goal just 1:42 into the contest. After Toronto’s weak shot on the net, the puck rebounded off Oilers’ goalie Stuart Skinner. I went to Connor Brown. He flipped it up the ice to Mattias Janmark.  Janmark skated the puck into the Toronto zone along the boards to Anthony Stolarz‘s left. Janmark fed a backhand pass to Adam Henrique, who was heading for the front of the net.

Morgan Rielly, trying to deflect the puck away from Henrique, got a piece of it. It was just enough to change its course by a few inches. That seemed to freeze Stolarz. Henrique managed to get his stick on the puck. He deflected it up and over Stolarz’s right shoulder into the net. It was the third game in which the Maple Leafs had given up the first goal.

Second Period Bad Luck:

Toronto gave up an early goal in the second period as well. This time, it was on an Oilers power play after John Tavares was called for a hook on Evan Bouchard. Again, it involved some bad luck for the Maple Leafs. A one-time shot by Leon Draisaitl from the faceoff dot to the left of Stolarz deflected off Jake McCabe’s stick and Zach Hyman’s leg right to Connor McDavid, who was standing off to Stolarz’s right. Before Stolarz could get across to cover the shot, the puck was behind him in the net. 

Late Equalizer:

After Toronto had taken a 3-2 lead late in the game, Draisaitl capitalized on a mad scramble in front of Stolarz, with Skinner on the bench for an extra attacker. The puck found its way onto Draisaitl’s stick. With four Maple Leafs, including Stolarz, all piled in a heap in front of him, Draisaitl managed to flip the puck over them all into the goal with just 1:29 left in the third period.

The Good: McMann and Marner

McMann’s Contribution:

Just 2:11 after Edmonton scored the first goal of the game; Bobby McMann scored to tie the game when he slid a rebound off of a John Tavares shot under Skinner into the goal. McMann started the play, which led to the goal with a strong forecheck from a Toronto dump-in. With Tavares, McMann created havoc behind the Oilers’ net. That caused the puck to squirt out to Mitch Marner in front of Skinner. Marner slid the puck down low to Tavares, who exited from behind the net. Skinner was able to stop the Tavares shot but was unable to rebound. 

Knies’ Equalizer:

With Edmonton up 2-1 just past the midway point of the third period, Knies was surprised by a gift from Evan Bouchard. Bouchard was attempting a stretch pass out of the Oilers’ zone. However, he bounced the puck off McDavid’s leg right out into the slot to Knies. Knies took advantage of the turnover, firing a wrist shot past the equally surprised Skinner on his stick side. The goal was Knies’ eighth in 19 games this season. He is on pace to score 34 goals in 2024-25. 

The Maple Leafs took the lead 59 seconds later. A hard pass by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins behind the Toronto goal to Stolarz’ right went off Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s skate across the zone, off the boards to Stolarz’s left, and down the ice to the Oilers’ zone. McMann got on his horse and beat Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm to the loose puck. He pulled the puck from his backhand to his forehand and beat a sprawling Skinner over his blocker. 

McMann likes to score in bunches. He has six goals this season, four of which were scored in two games. Last season, he scored seven of his 15 goals in three games. He had a hat trick and twice with two-goal games. 

Marner’s Overtime Heroics:

Marner owned the overtime. After Toronto lost the opening draw of the extra frame, Marner kept McDavid to the outside on a 1-on-1 rush, forcing McDavid to take a shot Stolarz handled efficiently.  Then McDavid and Draisaitl broke in 2-on-1 on Marner.  Marner locked down the puck this time as Draisaitl tried to pass it across the Toronto goalmouth. Marner turned up ice with the puck 2-on-1 with Tavares. He used Tavares as a decoy and fired a perfect wrist shot off the far post to Skinner’s right and into the net to win the game. 

Marner has 24 points in 19 games this season, including 17 in his last ten games. Stolarz improved his record to 7-3-2 with a 2:18 GAA and .927 SV% in 12 starts.

The Ugly: Reaves Hit on Darnell Nurse

Ryan Reaves was given a five-minute match penalty at 2:41 of the third period when he skated hard at Darnell Nurse and caught him with a shoulder to the head. The Nurse was knocked out on the hit. He fell to the ice and had that dazed look you see boxers with when they have been knocked out. I don’t know what it is with hockey players, as Nurse tried to get back up but failed.

Players in other sports stay down after taking a hit like that. However, hockey players must be of a different breed. It is quite common to see them get up immediately. It was scary watching Nurse trying to get to his feet. He failed in his effort. He also appeared to be cut on the play and was helped off the ice by one of the Oilers’ staff. Elliotte Friedman reported that the Nurse was joking with the trainers during the third period. He did not return to the game. 

Reaves could receive a lengthy suspension for the scary hit. He did come a long way to make the hit. While I am sure he did not intend to hit him in the head, a player does need to be responsible for his actions. Years ago, this might have been considered a good hit, although I still think it would have been called charging. But it is the hit the NHL has specifically outlawed. It will be interesting to see how many games Reaves will get. I guess it will be somewhere between five and ten games. Reaves has been suspended three times in the past for six games.   

Reaves reported going to the Edmonton dressing room after the game to apologize to Nurse personally. 

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

After having one of the toughest schedules of any team most demanding the season, the Maple Leafs only play one game over the next seven days. That is a home game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night. Las Vegas has the same points as the Maple Leafs (24) but has played two fewer games.  

Toronto will then play three games the following week. They host the Utah Hockey Club for the first time on Sunday night. Then they head to Florida to take on the Panthers the following Wednesday and the Tampa Bay Lightning the following Saturday. 

Hopefully, the rest will give Auston Matthews time to heal and return to action. We also know that Max Domi has been dealing with something. While he hasn’t missed a game, he has missed the last two practices. The following week will give Domi and any other Maple Leafs dealing with anything a chance to heal.  

Related: Darnell Nurse Hurt as Oilers Lose in OT to Marner and Maple Leafs