Hockey. Is. Back. The Maple Leafs complete the first week of the season 2-1-0, and it’s in classic Maple Leafs fashion.

Maple Leafs 0, Canadiens 1 – October 9th, 2024

Before the game could even get underway, Leafs fans were stunned by the news that the supposed starting goaltender Joseph Woll would in fact, not be starting the opening game of the season due to “lower-body tightness”. This opened up the door for the newest Leaf goaltender Anthony Stolarz, to make a strong debut with the club. He would have been slated to start the next game against the Devils, but the Buds needed to count on him earlier than we had thought.

Toronto got off to a hot start, with a couple chances early and control of the puck. All before a couple penalties on both sides, the game started to slow down just a little. Soon enough, Conor Timmins takes a penalty putting Montreal on the powerplay, and just like that, Montreal goes up 1-0. Cole Caufield puts one in on the powerplay.

From there, the Buds had their chances, but could not capitalize. Stolarz was very sharp aside from the one goal allowed, and unfortunately the Leafs couldn’t back him up enough to give him his first win as a Maple Leaf. This game broke an NHL best 227 game streak without being shutout, marked by Habs goaltender Sam Montembeault’s 47-save performance.

The scoring chances came, and went. The powerplay, was never there. Going 0-4 on the night, it didn’t look much different from last year. This game marked the first time Toronto has been shut out since Nov. 20, 2021, when the Pittsburgh Penguins beat them 2-0 on home ice. The only bright side here is the performance of Anthony Stolarz, but again, the boys couldn’t get him his first Leafs win. Toronto looks to bounce back tomorrow night against New Jersey, and former head coach Sheldon Keefe.

Maple Leafs 4, Devils 2 – October 10th, 2024

Watching the first two games, you’d think you were watching a completely different team. As a whole it looked like there was more urgency this game, and the most noticeable part of this team was the fourth line. Berube is known to balance out his four lines more evenly, giving the bottom six more ice time.

This game is the most notable of the week, as Leafs Nation got to see the NHL debut of Dennis Hildeby, the 6-foot-7 Swedish goaltender. Hildeby has been a talking point all throughout last season in the minors, for his excellent play in net and his noticeable size. He was the backup for a couple games last year when the Buds dealt with injuries, but he was never able to get any in-game action.

Before we know it, the Leafs grab their first goal of the season, from none other than Max Pacioretty. A great way to start your tenure with a new team is to get the first goal of the year. It didn’t stop there, however. Soon enough, Bobby McMann came up along the wall and just threw it on net, seeing the traffic in front, but Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom couldn’t see the puck as it squeezed by for McMann’s first of the year, and extending the Leafs’ lead to 2-0.

It sure was a game for firsts. Later in the first, another newly signed Leaf and a good old Toronto boy, Steven Lorentz bounced on a loose puck and fired a backhand passed Markstrom to add to the Leafs lead, and a very strong first period for the Buds.

Over the rest of the game, it saw former captain John Tavares score an absolute beauty of a goal, as well as some penalty trouble, most notably from William Nylander. William took a horrible holding call and he touched up, he shot the puck down the ice (something that you’d likely get another penalty for). Early in the season, but you can’t have your star players taking dumb penalties, it’ll eventually cost you when it matters. Before we knew it, the goal horn sounded and it was officially Hildeby’s first NHL win.

Other than that, the game was a great bounce back from the Leafs, and they’ll head into the weekend with their home opener against Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 2 – October 12th, 2024

The Leafs’ home opener, facing off against former GM Kyle Dubas, on Hockey Night in Canada, what could be better than this?

A couple statistics here early: Auston Matthews had 8 shots on net and still could not find the back of the net. The Leafs first line of Knies, Matthews, and Marner had an expected goals percentage of 98.4%.

Toronto entered the game without star forward John Tavares, who missed the game due to an illness. Ryan Reaves drew in for Tavares, bringing Pontus Holmberg to fill in the 2C spot for the game. After the first period, Pittsburgh held a 1-0 lead heading into intermission. Penguins defender Kris Letang ripped a shot past Stolarz at 10:58 of the period, taking advantage of open space due to a misstep from Holmberg.

Nylander was the star of the show, as he finished the game with a pair of goals, his 29th 2-goal game. One of the two was an empty netter to bring the Buds up 4-2. Early in the second period, Pittsburgh made an errant pass which left Domi and Nylander all alone on a 2-on-0 break, which Nylander scored for his first of the season.

At 2:53 into the second, Matthew Knies gave Toronto the lead after the puck ricocheted off the end boards, off the net’s side, and onto his stick. Knies beat Penguins goaltender Blomqvist with a quick shot for Knies’ first of the year. The top line for Toronto looked amazing this game, generating a ton of chances and overall looking really good.

One of the newest Leafs signings must be highlighted. Through these first 3 games, defender Oliver Ekman-Larsson has looked amazing. Going on a cup run last season with Florida, Toronto signed him to a multi-year deal, and he has not fallen short of any expectations, rather exceeding everyone’s expectations. OEL is pushing for PP1 time, as well as consistently notching over 20 minutes a night on the ice.

Toronto has a couple days off over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Look for the Leafs next game back at home on Wednesday, October 16th, against the Los Angeles Kings.