The Toronto Maple Leafs lost a close, tight battle against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, blowing a 3-0 first-period lead. Despite the loss, Maple Leafs goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky had his strongest outing of the season, getting Toronto into the extra frame.
With the loss, the Maple Leafs’ record falls to 2-2-1 during the team’s first road game of the season. Bobrovsky turned aside 40 of the 43 shots he faced in the shootout loss. The Russian netminder will need to wait until Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche for the opportunity to earn his first win with his new club.
Following the contest on Thursday, Hiller backed his Vezina-winning goalie, saying the team needs to put forth a better effort in front of the 37-year-old.
Bobrovsky’s Strong Performance Earned the Maple Leafs Point
“He got us a point for the most part,” Leafs coach Jim Hiller said after the game. “He gave us a chance to win, and ultimately, in the end, he probably got us a point, right? So, that’s what great goalies do. The nights when you’re off a little bit, like we were in the second, particularly, he was able to hold it for us. So, yeah, I mean, you need those saves. They could have got three or four, and the game’s over. So, important for him.”
“You know, it is what it is,” Bobrovsky said postgame. “Obviously, you know, you play, you put the gear on, you want to win every game. But it’s, we got to play good players against us. And everybody works hard. So we just keep grinding, keep chipping away one moment at a time, and we keep building.”
The Maple Leafs defensively have had strong performances during the early portion of the season, especially on the penalty kill. The Golden Knights, who have scored on the man advantage in each of their four games heading into Thursday, went 0-4 against Toronto, improving the Maple Leafs’ record to 14-15 on the season.
“We need to be better and help out Bob,” defenseman Chris Tanev said post-game. “He was great. Some huge saves in the second when things sort of got off-kilter a bit. He gave us a chance to win in overtime and shootout. So obviously we want to get a win for him badly. So we got to learn from what we did today and then get better.”
Maple Leafs Strong Penalty Kill
“I mean, good for the most part,” Tanev said of the team’s penalty kill. “We had that one really long shift for Bob, who made an amazing save and bailed us out, but for the most part, good. We still have some areas where we want to work on, but against a really good power play, we’ll take that.”
The Maple Leafs were forced to manage the Golden Knights’ storm in the middle frame of the second, after scoring a goal late in the first, and scored twice in the second, while also registering 21 shots on net.
“They had the push,” Bobrovsky said. “We stood strong. There will be some periods like that, so it’s okay. But again, it’s a big point, an important point. I know it’s a lot like the losers lose, but it’s still, you know, it’s a big point.”
The Maple Leafs head to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.
Maple Leafs Goalie Gets Honest Message After Blowing 3-0 Lead