St. Louis Blues beat their former head coach Craig Berube and the Maple Leafs, 5-1.
Toronto, Ontario- Scotiabank Arena- Attendance= 18,414.
ST LOUIS BLUES PROJECTED STARTING GOALTENDER:
Goalie: Jordan BINNINGTON #50
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS PROJECTED STARTING GOALTENDER:
Goalie: Joseph WOLL #60
Pre-Game Info: This is Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube first game against his former team the St. Louis Blues since sighing with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the off season.
1st Period (Puck Drop): Leafs Domi line starts the game and Max wins the face-off to start the game as leafs gain possession of the puck. Game is evenly paced back and forth.
GOAL= ST. LOUIS BLUES: Phillip BROBERG #6 (Time: 4:07)
Defenceman Broberg shot from the point as Leafs goaltender Woll is double screen by Blues forward Buchnevich and Leafs own teammate.
1-0 St. Louis Blues.
Power play for the Maple Leafs- Auston Matthews makes some nice dekes, takes a shot but its stopped toe/skate save by Binnington. Still on the power play, Leafs pass the puck around and Knies fans on a shot. Leafs still pressing and anther shot by McMann stopped by Blues goalie. The Leafs fail to score on the power play.
GOAL= ST. LOUIS BLUES (PPG): Dylan HOLLOWAY #81 (Time: 10:31)
Scrum in the corner in the Leafs zone while the Blues are on a power play and a quick pass out from the corner boards to the front of the net where a wide open Holloway who slots it in.
2-0 St. Louis Blues.
Anther Leafs power play and Leafs have more chances to score but can’t put it in the net, Matthews shot is blocked in front of a wide open net, then the play breaks the other way with a breakaway for St. Louis and Woll comes up with a big save.
End of 1st Period.
2nd Period:
GOAL= TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (PPG): Oliver EKMAN-LARRSON #95 (Time: 6:20)
Leafs move the puck around well in the Blues zone on the power Tavares pass to Reilly who makes a nice cross ice pass and beautiful one time from Ekman-Larrson to put the Leafs on the board.
2-1 St. Louis Blues.
Play resumes and action in the St. Louis zone shot comes in and Bennington makes kick save and Ryan Reeves almost score in front of the crease puck in-between his skates. Moments later Domi misses on a one-timer.
GOAL= ST. LOUIS BLUES: Alexandre TEXIER #9 (Time: 7:58)
Loose puck in the Leafs zone along the corner boards, draws 2 Leaf players, Blues player grabs it and backhands it out front and Texier is there to puts it past Woll.
3-1 St. Louis Blues.
A broken stick by leafs Beniot leads to a 2 on 1 for the Blues and Woll comes up big again with the a save. Later in the period now the Leafs are on a 2 on 1 and just before Marner is about to shoot the puck on net he gets his pocket picked. End of the 2nd Period.
3rd Period:
GOAL= ST. LOUIS BLUES: Jake NEIGHBOURS # 63 (TIME: 3:45)
Play gets underway, Leafs Nylander enters Blues zone and is stripped of the puck by Neighbours and the Blues come back the other way and he rips it top cheese that Woll should of stopped.
St. Louis 4-1.
Play resumes and a scrum ensues pushing and shoving and finally Knies and Neighbours lock horns and fall to the ice rolling around after a whistle. Both get 2 minutes for roughing. 4 on 4. Leafs have a great chance to score as 2 on 1 with Domi making a nice saucer pass to Rielly but Bennington makes a big save.The Boo Birds started to come out with 6 minutes left in regulation.
GOAL= ST. LOUIS BLUES: Dylan HOLLOWAY #81 (Time: 16:42).
Time is ticking away the Leafs net is empty now and Leafs shoot the puck in around the boards it goes and is chipped out off the boards by the blues and a racing Holloway picks it up and shoots it into the empty net to put the game away.
St. Louis 5-1.
End of Game:
FINAL SCORE: St. Louis Blues 5-1 Toronto Maple Leafs.
Shots on Goal:
STL: 27 vs TOR: 41
RECAP: You would think the Leafs would come out firing on all cylinders after their flat performance against Columbus Blue Jackets last game. Leafs coach Berube even tried shuffling the lines starting in the 3rd period to shake things up with no success.
TAKEAWAY: St. Louis Blues were without their centre Robert Thomas due to a broken ankle and is expected to miss 6 weeks. Its Joseph Woll first start of the season.
KEY MOMENTS: Leafs failed to score on the Power Play and were 0-3 tonight and when they did have scoring chances there shots were blocked 24 times. Joseph Woll should of stopped 2 out of the 5 goals he let it.
For more information on the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club visit: https://www.nhl.com/mapleleafs/
