Toronto Maple Leafs

Leafs rebound after rout with win over Lightning, sign KHLer Aaltonen
March 17, 2017, 3:16 PM ET [108 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
For the latest Leafs updates or on Twitter

The Toronto Maple Leafs were taught a painful lesson after a 7-2 loss to Florida, as that bad performance allowed the NY Islanders and Tampa Bay to vault past them in the race for the second Eastern Conference wildcard spot and Boston to extend their lead on third place to six points with a road win in Calgary.

The club’s fortunes took a turn for the better, as the Islanders lost their second straight on home ice to Winnipeg, Florida lost 2-1 to Columbus, Edmonton powered past the Bruins and most importantly, the Leafs showed up and played an effective two-way game against the Lightning, winning 5-0 at Amalie Arena on Thursday.




“With the way we played the other night, we wanted to bounce back – we were embarrassed.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said following the win. “Guys did a good job of scoring timely goals early and did a good job in front of the net. I thought that was important. [Andersen] was real good and the penalty kill was real good.”

Roman Polak, Morgan Rielly, Matt Martin, Connor Brown and James van Riemsdyk scored and Frederik Andersen made 33 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, as Toronto moved back into the final wildcard spot with the victory.




Tampa Bay came out with energy early in the first and managed a series of good scoring chances on Andersen, but it was Toronto who scored first on Polak’s high shot that flipped over Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shoulder and past the goal line.

The Leafs took a commanding lead early in the middle frame, as Rielly and Martin scored 15 seconds apart and Brown added a power play goal just under four minutes later to make it 4-0 and chase Vasilevskiy from the net.

Babcock leaned heavily on four defensemen, as Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner saw their normal allotment of 20+ minutes, and were joined by veterans Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak.

Nikita Zaitsev, after a season-worst -4 against the Panthers, played almost 19 minutes and newcomer Alexey Marchenko saw less than 12 minutes.

Rielly had a goal and an assist and was +3 on the night, while Gardiner continued to show signs of his propensity for giveaways when he is not protected from top line matchups.

“I thought Rielly had a real good game for us, which is important for him too. It hasn't gone quite as smoothly of late so great for him. He's had a real good trip here – the game in Carolina, the game tonight – so that's positive. “ Babcock said

The Leafs return to Air Canada Center on Saturday to take on the Chicago Blackhawks.

The club will honor an early part of their history as part of the Centennial season celebration by donning the green uniforms of the Toronto St. Pats on Saturday.



*******

The Maple Leafs dipped into the free agent market on Friday, signing Finnish forward Miro Aaltonen to an entry-level contract.

The 23-year-old Aaltonen was a 2013 sixth round pick of the Anaheim Ducks who played for Finland in the 2012 and 2013 IIHF World Junior Championships(he broke his ankle in his first game in 2013) and four seasons in the Finnish SM-liiga before playing this season for Vityaz Podolsk in the KHL.



Aaltonen scored 19 goals and 25 assists in his first KHL season and finished third in scoring on Vityaz, the highest point total for KHL skaters 24-and-under this season.

The 6’0, 185-pound native of Joensuu, Finland is described by Elite Prospects forward who can play center or the wing, with good skating, puck handling and playmaking-ability.