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With the Grey Cup in the building, the Maple Leafs and Vegas Knights played much of Wednesday in the trenches and goal-line stands.
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Matthew Knies was a casualty for Toronto on a heavy hit from Zach Whitecloud in the second period, the seventh Leafs forward currently out of the lineup, but his team hung in for an emotional 3-0 win.
While Joseph Woll made 31 saves for his second career shutout, while teammates blocked 25 shots, including a bunch on the first three power plays of the night assessed to Toronto.
William Nylander’s power-play goal in the third period provided the necessary breathing room as the Leafs won their sixth of seven games and improved to 10-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes.
Pontus Holmberg potted an empty-netter with 3:19 to go, his first of the year.
It was a hit by Nikita Grebenkin in his first NHL game that set the rough-house tone at Scotiabank Arena. He buried Shea Theodore close to the boards and got chirped by the entire Vegas bench as he skated by.
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Whitecloud put a shoulder into Knies mid-ice early in the second period, but the hit was deemed legal and the extra penalty in the fray went to Simon Benoit for jumping the Vegas D-man.
The fired-up Leafs killed it, but retaliatory hits followed and four players wound up in the box after one scrum, including John Tavares in a wrestling match with Alexander Holtz. When the teams took a breather after 40 minutes, Woll had stopped 26 shots, thanks in part to Steven Lorentz’s shot-blocking,. He had four in the game, including two in succession during a penalty kill.
In his fifth NHL game and first this season, Fraser Minten broke through for his first big-league goal in the first period. Two Swedes assisted in 2022’s top pick, the last a great backhand drop pass into the slot by Nylander past a couple of Knights that the on-rushing Minten one-timed past Adin Hill.
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Berube and many Leafs have commented on Minten’s hockey sense and take-charge attitude on the bench.
Minten centred Nick Robertson and Grebenkin, the latter making his debut after Max Domi was the latest Leaf to go on injured reserve. The 6-foot-2 Grebenkin had chances to score himself and was a little lax with the puck, but certainly got the attention of the Vegas bench when he rammed Theodore. He led the Leafs forwards with four hits.
It seems every Canadian goalie coming through town these days is mentioned as a possibility for one of the spots at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and Wednesday was Hill’s turn. He faced 26 shots as the Pacific Division leaders began a season-long five-game road trip.
While the Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup in 57 years, members of the champion Argos brought their trophy to a pre-game ceremony.
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