Déjà Vu

Last night marked the first time we got to see Auston Matthews in the 2019 season and he looked just as good as always. Matthews was playing with Tyler Ennis and Patrick Marleau. The line up was definitely missing William Nylander playing next to Matthews (in my opinion). Ennis has a good game but seemed to be gripping the stick a little tight and passing a little too much at the beginning of the game. 

Speaking of passing: 

I think I speak for all leafs fans when I say that I will not get tired of watching Marleau and Matthews play tic tac toe every night. 

Jeremy Bracco doesn’t look like he has a spot on the big league roster quite yet since he was a healthy scratch for some regular season and most play off games for the Marlies last year but he was able to take a nice pass from Calle Rosen in the slot and opened up Mike McKennas legs for the 2-0 goal. He made the goal look easy but it is tough to make a goalie open up that easily. 

 Ennis found his groove later in the game and was able to score a beauty bar down goal to allow the leafs to maintain a two goal lead after the Sens scored a power play goal. He was also able to add a second goal on an empty netter in the dying seconds of the game. 

We also got to see the defence pairing of Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin and I thought both players looked pretty good. Sandin made some nice plays in his own zone to be able to help the leafs break out easily and Liljegren seems like he could easily step into the line up at some point this year or 2019-2020. 

The leafs face off against the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night at 7:30 with our look at Buffalos first round pick Rasmus Dahlin.  

Reminder: John Tavares is a Maple Leaf

Just a friendly reminder to everyone that John Tavares is a Maple Leaf. Now, you’re probably thinking “he signed with the team in July, this is a little late” and I completely agree. However, until last night I refused to believe it. I’ve been rejecting the idea because it seems impossible that the Leafs could lose JVR and still manage to land an upgrade. It seems impossible that a star player would choose to come to the team and put up with the media. It seems impossible that the captain of a team would leave in free agency and sign with his home town team. I saw all the photos of him as a kid, him signing the contract, him getting his jersey, him in team skates and training camp. But, last night we got to see this:  

Let me repeat myself: “JOHN TAVARES IS A MAPLE LEAF!” 

And man, did he look good:  

Welcome to Toronto, @91Tavares.#TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/rHq2pURqSe

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) September 19, 2018

Now, I’m not going to get my hopes up over one preseason game but, it sure is hard not to get fired up after watching the chemistry him and Mitch Marner already have. 

Tavares has averaged 0.93 points per game in his NHL career so far, if he can maintain that along with Matthews and Marner continuing to put up numbers (and Willy Nylander hopefully) this team is going to be scary good for a long, long time.  

As for the actual preseason game, the Leafs beat the rebuilding Senators 4-1. Speaking of the Senators, how about this beauty from Pierre Dorion: 

"We're a team." Game 2 of the preseason goes tonight in Ottawa, our first look at 2019 Auston Matthews.