MONTREAL — If Monday was a dress rehearsal for the season opener, the Maple Leafs are looking sharp, while the Montreal Canadiens still need help in wardrobe.
A Toronto lineup nearing completion, behind Matt Murray’s 28 saves in a 5-1 pre-season win, gave the hometown Habs a taste of what could happen in nine days when the NHL schedule for both sides begins at the Bell Centre.
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe had expected his best players to dominate on Monday night. Iit was the bubble boys he was scrutinizing.
Nick Robertson all but removed himself as one of those question marks, with a three-assist night. His speed drew the first penalty that William Nylander and the league’s No. 1 power play last year quickly buried. Robertson was setting up on the left side with Alex Kerfoot and Nylander, Kerfoot subbing in for injured centre John Tavares.
“He’s moving his feet, he’s competing, he’s on the puck creating turnovers, making good decisions,” Keefe said of Robertson. “Whether that’s to make a play, shoot it or put it in a good spot for someone else, he’s doing things he needs to do to show he’s ready to play in the NHL.
“As he continues to stack these games up, of course we’re paying attention.”
Keefe was also high on Murray’s first full game as a Leaf. Solid positionally, Murray stared down a few slot chances and a 5-on-3. Some of those opportunities were the result of new Leafs being too creative and Keefe seemed less enthusiastic about the play of some bottom-six players and defencemen.
Still, there were no major concerns from Monday that would affect the main body of players that will head to Gravenhurst, Ont., on Tuesday for a three-day team bonding exercise, a golf outing and two practices before the final home-and-home exhibition series this weekend versus Detroit.
Robertson keeps piling up the points (seven in four games) after it seemed early in camp he’d be lost in the crowd of veteran newcomers.
“This would be nice if it were regular season, but I’m still trying to make the team,” Robertson said. “It starts with my feet, a really strong part of my game. A couple of those assists (digging out a puck for a wide-open Nylander and one of two helpers on late Kerfoot goals) was me forechecking and trying to keep the game simple.”
Winger Zach Aston-Reese enhanced his profile with a goal, but also put the Leafs down two men when he boarded Canadiens’ first overall draft pick Juraj Slafkovsky, who turned at the last second. Aston-Reese’s PTO contract is reaching the critical stage.
It’s no secret that Montreal’s to-do list is a long one after a 32nd-place finish last season and a winless pre-season so far, but the Leafs spared few horses Monday. When the Canadiens did break through, Murray was there, having now stopped 45 of 46 shots in his two outings.
“As a team, it was nice to get the guys together tonight,” said Murray, who had to love how Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Michael Bunting, Morgan Rielly and Nylander were snapping the puck around just prior to the first power-play goal. “We’re trying to build each and every day. It was good to see a 5-on-3 in pre-season because you know they’re going to come.”
Jonathan Drouin finally cashed in on a 5-on-4 later in the game, though as Keefe noted, Murray made the initial save on that, too.
For what it’s worth, the Leafs guaranteed themselves a winning record in pre-season (4-1 so far), though surviving the Eastern Conference in real games against playoff contenders is going to be a harder seven-month grind.
Other Leafs looking to impress in Monday’s tune-up were Aston-Reese’s linemates Pontus Holmberg and Nicolas Aube-Kubel. The latter had a second-period brain cramp trying to stickhandle through traffic, a situation that Murray alleviated.
Adam Gaudette, slowed by a shoulder injury last week, was on the left side of centre Denis Malgin and Alex Steeves.
Defenceman Victor Mete did well as he hears the footsteps of the returning Rasmus Sandin and the soon-to-be recovered Jake Muzzin.
On the Habs’ side, Slafkovsky needed to show something after a couple of ordinary exhibition games in which the first overall pick didn’t score or threaten much. That has not provided a good tail wind to his first week as an NHLer, but was all around Murray and got the assist on the Drouin goal.
Montreal coach Martin St. Louis gave the 18-year-old some lively linemates such as Kirby Dach as well as some power-play minutes.
“I think he’s right in the middle of (getting acclimatized),” St. Louis said Monday morning. “This will be a real test for him as we progress here, you’re going to see deeper NHL lineups. I’m looking forward to seeing what that looks like for him. But he’s been exposed to al lot and is trying to put his best foot forward.”
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