A lot happened while the Leafs were away.
The Maple Leafs went home Saturday night after losing five in a row. They lost in overtime in Nashville, but finished 3-1-1 on the road and bounced back well from their first loss in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers.
After eight games, Toronto sits in second place in the Atlantic Division, behind Boston, with 11 points and a record of 5 wins, 2 losses, and 1 loss.
What is a little surprising is that Montreal is tied with Detroit at 11 points. From the Maple Leafs’ perspective, it couldn’t be a better time.
It’s interesting how they got here. A lot has happened in the ten days since I left home.
First, Joseph Wall passed Ilya Samsonov as Toronto’s starting goaltender.
Wall stopped 95 of 97 shots in games against Tampa Bay, Washington and Dallas with Samsonov on the bench.
Samsonov came back and lost on Saturday.
He gave up a weak goal by Ryan O’Reilly in the first half – the puck went straight through Samsonov’s legs – but got stronger as the game wore on.
“He made a big save in the third period that cost us the loss,” veteran defenseman Mark Giordano said.
Samsonov conceded three goals on 24 shots, an improvement after a difficult start to the season, but has since disappointed.
“He’s going to feel good,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said.
“He did his job and helped us win.
We didn’t score enough goals for him.”
The next biggest development is William Nylander who continues his good start.
He scored his first goal for the Maple Leafs and is now six goals away with six more to go. He also scored in his eighth game to start the season, tying a franchise record shared by Frank Mahovlich, Lanny MacDonald and John Anderson.
He will have a chance to set a club record when the Los Angeles Kings visit Scotiabank Arena at 8 p.m. early tuesday
There are some concerns about the Leafs defense. Timothy Liljegren went down Saturday with an upper-body injury.
Behind the team was quarterback Jake McCabe. It was Toronto’s second straight game with five players healthy. As a result, Morgan Rielly played nearly 28 minutes and T.J. Brody played 25:33.
