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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – Andreas Johnsson had been working all season for a night like Saturday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ winger put a slow start to the year behind him with an emphatic first period hat trick against the Philadelphia Flyers, the first three-goal game of his career, en route to a 6-0 Leafs' win. Johnsson needed only 2:12 of ice time (and 12:20 game time total) to accomplish the feat, making him the first Leaf to tally a first period hat trick since Tyler Bozak on Dec. 21, 2015. 

“It kind of felt unreal. It’s hard to explain,” Johnsson said. “I had the first goal and then the second goal and then the third goal and I was like, ‘what’s going on?’ I didn’t expect this before the game [but] it’s nice to score.” 

Putting pucks in the net hadn’t come easily to Johnsson this season, as evidenced by his meager two goals and one assist in 18 games prior to Saturday. On paper, it looked like he was helped to the outburst by an intimate knowledge of Flyers’ goaltender Calvin Pickard, a former teammate of his with the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies. Pickard played one season in the Leafs' organization before Toronto placed him on waivers in October, and saw him subsequently claimed by Philadelphia.

Johnsson potted each of his goals in the same five-hole spot on Pickard, but said it wasn’t insider knowledge that sent him in that direction. 

“On the first one, I kind of had seen some other guys do that,” Johnsson said of his move. “But the rest was just instinct.” 

It was his speed more than anything that aided Johnsson entering Philadelphia's zone on that opening goal, and then he used a double-clutch move to fool Pickard, ending the Leafs’ three-game run of giving up a game's first goal in the process. 

On his next shift, Johnsson blocked a shot from Christian Folin at the Leafs’ blue line and took off after the loose disc, beating Folin back and burying it five-hole again on Pickard for his second goal. By his fourth shift, Johnsson had scored a third, coming at Pickard from beside the net and slipping the puck in off his backhand. With that, Johnsson chased Pickard from the net, after a dismal three saves on seven shots.

“His speed is very dynamic, and then how quick he is with the puck…the plays he made today, being able to open the goalie up and slide the puck five-hole was just tremendous,” said John Tavares. “Today was great for him and great for his confidence. Early in the year, it’s always getting your confidence and feeling yourself out and finding out what you need to do to be successful.”

In a single frame, Johnsson not only more than doubled his scoring output from those previous 18 games, but began putting to bed a glacial start he didn't see coming after posting 24 points in 16 Calder Cup playoff games with the Marlies last spring, earning him the AHL's Most Valuable Player designation after Toronto claimed the franchise's first title.

And before that, Johnsson had played nine regular season games and six playoff contests for the Leafs last season, but the experience still didn’t immediately translate into a new campaign.

“You think you [know how to play], but you find out when you get here you didn’t have many details because the [AHL] didn’t need as many details because the players weren’t as good,” said head coach Mike Babcock. “So that’s the biggest process for you. It takes your confidence away; the players are too good and you never touch the puck. But for Johnny tonight’s a big step. Now, can he turn it into something and get some rhythm in his game and get going? Ideally he can.”

Given the Leafs’ impending lineup changes in the next week, Johnsson couldn’t have picked a better time to flip the switch offensively. Toronto is closing in on the Dec. 1 deadline to get restricted free agent winger William Nylander under contract for this season and Auston Matthews is projected to return from a shoulder injury any day now. 

Fitting either or both players back in will require Babcock make some tough decisions, a fact not lost on skaters like Johnsson, who started the season alternating on Toronto’s fourth line and was a healthy scratch in five games before Matthews’ absence offered him a big role on the Leafs’ third line with Par Lindholm and Connor Brown.

“I don’t think they’re sensing [that change coming], I think they know it,” Babcock said of his bottom six wingers. “They’re smart guys. It’s my assumption we’re getting both [Matthews and Nylander] back. Obviously we’ll be a better hockey club when we have them both.”

Yet in the aftermath of his best NHL performance to date, Johnsson was focused only on building from it, to whatever end. 

“I feel good. I felt like the last couple of games I’ve had a couple scoring chances here and there but I missed basically everything,” he said. So to feel like I can do a move and score, it boosts my confidence. This is only one game, so I have to play more and more games and feel confident every game.”

Takeaways 

Personal connection sparks Sparks

In a game the Leafs were winning 4-0 so early on, it was easy to forget Garret Sparks was at the other end of the ice putting together a 35-save shutout, his first of the season. The outing was a highly personal one for Toronto’s back-up, since across the ice was Pickard, Sparks’ back-up with the Marlies last season on that Calder Cup run. He beat out Pickard and Curtis McElhinney for the Leafs’ season goalie spot this season, and Saturday was a chance for Sparks to show why Toronto made the right choice.

“There were definitely times where we both doubted we would find our way back to this league,” Sparks said of his good friend. “We always told each other we would get to this moment where we got to square up.”

Sparks’ expectation of a goalie duel was quickly circumvented by Pickard’s early exit, but the Leafs’ netminder continued to stay the course. Philadelphia didn’t test Sparks at nearly the same level through the first 40 minutes that Toronto was peppering Pickard and then his replacement Anthony Stolarz. The Leafs had 13 high-danger scoring chances on the Flyers’ in the first two periods while Philadelphia had only two in the same stretch, while also being outshot 31-20 overall. In the third, Sparks had to be at his best to preserve the shutout, turning aside all 15 shots from a Flyers’ team boasting 62 per cent possession.

The shutout was Sparks’ second consecutive win, moving the goaltender to 4-1-0 on the year (and 3-1-0 in back-to-back situations. It was back in his NHL debut, on Nov. 30, 2015, that Sparks had last recorded a shutout, and he hoped the effects would be far-reaching on his mindset going forward. 

“Hopefully this one means I can just relax and play goalie, not worry about anything, not worry about what anyone is saying,” Sparks said. “Hopefully settle in and play hockey and do what I do best: Stop pucks.”

Teamwork makes the dream work

It was late in the second period when Mitch Marner forced a turnover in the neutral zone, and took off for the net with his linemates racing to catch up. Marner proceeded to toe-drag through two Flyers before defenceman Radko Gudas halted his momentum – but not before Marner made a pass for Tavares to shoot past Stolarz and put the Leafs up 6-0. 

As it’s been all season, Tavares was once again the recipient of Marner’s hard work and shining individual skill. Marner has now recorded the primary assist on 10 of Tavares’ 15 goals this season, while Tavares has helpers on three of Marner’s six goals. The third year winger was terrific throughout the night, knotting an assist on Josh Leivo’s second period goal as well to make it a two-point night, the 10th multi-point game for Marner of this year. 

For Tavares, who is tied for the league-lead in road goals this season at 11, it was his third straight home game with a goal, a run started on Nov. 9 that prior to which Tavares hadn’t score on home ice since the season opener. 

Secondary scoring keeps rising

Lost in the midst of Johnsson’s first period hat trick is that Patrick Marleau also registered a goal, his fifth of the season that came through a chaotic scene around the Flyers’ net. The veteran’s goal-scoring has been inconsistent this year – Saturday was his second score in 10 games – but with his speed, Marleau can threaten the opposition at any time. That’s how he came through with multiple quality scoring chances against Philadelphia, winning foot races and finding soft spots in the Flyers’ coverage to exploit. In the first period alone, Marleau had a couple partial breakaways swatted away, but was hovering around 60 per cent possession in the game’s first half. 

He (and Johnsson) weren’t the only dormant scorers who came to life on Saturday, either. Leivo tallied the other goal in the 6-0 victory, his second marker in the Leafs’ last 18 games. The fourth line of Leivo, Tyler Ennis and Frederik Gauthier has continued to play well of late, with Gauthier’s hard drive towards the net setting up the three-on-two rush that allowed Marner and Leivo to connect. 

Nicest rink in the league?

There were zero penalties assessed on either side in Saturday’s contest, the second time in two straight home games that’s occurred for Toronto. 

Lately there’s been no place like home for the Leafs. While they’ve stumbled with two consecutive road losses, Saturday was their fourth straight win on home ice, after they started the season 3-5-0 at Scotiabank Arena. 

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With Saturday’s victory, the Leafs are now 5-0-0 in the first game back home from a road trip, winning by a combined score of 20-6. 

Next up
Toronto continues its three-game homestand on Monday against Boston. 

Last word
“[Leafs general manager] Kyle [Dubas] shows faith in guys who do things on a daily basis to instill that faith in him, it’s not a trivial placement of faith in certain individuals. It’s based on what they do on a daily basis, the kind of people they are at the rink, how much they care about what they do.” - Garret Sparks on former Marlies’ general manager Kyle Dubas helping to shepherd him and Johnsson from the minor league into full-time NHL jobs