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Preseason Game Notes: Ottawa Senators 3 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 1 | Maple Leafs Hotstove
Jordan Schmaltz stood out positively in his preseason
Leafs debut. He played with a lot of urgency to his game — got back on pucks quickly, broke pucks out quickly — looked poised in possession, and moved the pill well throughout. It’s definitely too early to be making these kinds of statements, but he certainly outshone
Justin Holl in this one.
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Frederik Gauthier was among the best Leaf forwards. As is tradition, he left with nothing to show for it offensively. The ice was consistently tilting the right way with him on the ice; he was gathering speed through the neutral zone, extending plays on the cycle, was all around the net for tips and rebounds, and could’ve easily scored a couple in this game. Goat’s limitations in finishing plays is always going to be his downfall, but a major credit to him for coming out and looking hungry/prepared for the challenge with his 4C job from last season very much in peril. He skated really well throughout and — mandatory mention — was 6’5 every shift.
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Egor Korshkov skated on a line wth Goat, and you can see the flashes of potential there. There’s quite a bit of skill to go along with the big frame, but he really fades in and out of games. Curious to see where he’s at after a full season with the
Marlies.
Obviously a nothing tune-up game for
Tyson Barrie (reflected in his effort on the Senators’ empty-netter), but it’s going to be enjoyable to watch him each night as the games pick up. He’s a silky-smooth operator breaking out with the puck on his stick as well as manning the offensive blue line, and he’s highly aggressive pinching down the walls knowing he can recover so well with his feet. There was one really nice shift in particular where Muzzin and Barrie hemmed the Sens in for a minute-plus along with the Spezza line, leading to a power play for the
Leafs late in the first period.
We knew this from the end of last year, but
Trevor Moore is going to be a useful player this season; you can throw him on either wing on whatever line and you know what you’re going to get from him — boundless energy, consistent second and third efforts, lots of puck pressure all over the ice.
Mason Marchment’s gumption for going to the net and getting on the body is a refreshing sight and it definitely leaps off the page on this
Leafs team. He also covers ice deceptively well. The biggest area for improvement for him might be adding some strength/bulk and more stability in his lower half. He made some moves to protect the puck and take it wide only to get thrown off balance a number of times in this game.
In Dallas,
Jason Spezza was often tasked with breaking the zone on the power play for his unit; he could take up the role for the second unit in Toronto, but it might depend whether William Nylander is a part of that group. Given the chance to gain a head of speed, Spezza’s hands are obviously his best asset, and it’s one area where he looked good in this game. Remains to be seen if he can penalty kill; the one time he played a notable role there was in 2010-11 with the Senators (1:52 per game), and to a lesser extent in 2013-14 (47 seconds/game). Otherwise, he hasn’t done it throughout his career.