Anthony Stolarz put up the worst save percentage of his NHL career.
asserted
Stolarz → put → career
The Maple Leafs produced their worst finish in a decade.
asserted
Leafs → produce → decade
But in the long off-season that followed, Stolarz said he found an easy way to get over it.
asserted
he → follow → it
“Just forget about last season,” Stolarz said.
asserted
Stolarz → forget → season
The organization had the same idea, to the point where there are relatively few familiar faces remaining in Leafland.
asserted
organization → have → Leafland
“There’s a lot of fresh blood” is how Stolarz put it after he backstopped the Leafs to their first win of the season on Wednesday, 2-1 over the New York Islanders.
asserted
he → ’ → Islanders
Said Easton Cowan, the 21-year-old sophomore who is leading the team with three points: “The vibes are great.
asserted
vibes → say → points
Everyone’s positive.”
asserted
Everyone → ’ → ?
That’s in no small part due to Cowan, who has quickly made a case for top-six minutes with his combination of relentless puck tracking and considerable skill.
asserted
who → ’ → tracking
The problem with promoting him to one of the two top lines, of course, is that it would break up what’s so far been a compellingly effective third line on which Cowan has commanded possession against tough matchups alongside veteran newcomers Colton Sissons and Nick Paul.
asserted
Cowan → promote → Sissons
Cowan has been among the forwards featured on another out-of-the-gate positive: a penalty kill that’s a perfect 6-for-6.
asserted
that → feature → positive
“What I like most of all is, he’s really determined.
asserted
he → like → all
He’s early at the rink.
asserted
He → ’ → rink
He’s really taking this seriously at a real young age,” coach Jim Hiller said of the 21-year-old Cowan.
asserted
Hiller → take → Cowan
“That’s a real positive for us.”
asserted
That → ’ → us
It’s only two games, but the Leafs look like a far more energetic group than they did a season ago.
asserted
they → ’ → group
“Everyone’s laughing, having fun,” Cowan said.
asserted
Cowan → laugh → fun
“Some young juice and some veterans, it goes a long way.”
asserted
it → go → way
Auston Matthews, after two statistically subpar seasons under Craig Berube, has zero points and four shots on goal in the Hiller era.
asserted
Matthews → have → era
Perhaps that’s to be expected given he has primarily played with Jack Roslovic, an old friend who’s new to the team, and Kirill Marchenko, a welcome injection of talent acquired Monday in the Matthew Knies deal.
asserted
who → ’ → deal
The line has looked dangerous enough to expect an imminent breakout.
asserted
line → look → breakout
Toronto’s power play, which limped out of the gate last year before spurring the pre-Christmas firing of assistant coach Marc Savard, is an underwhelming 1-for-7, the only goal coming courtesy of a second unit quarterbacked by Morgan Rielly.
asserted
goal → limp → Rielly
Again, it probably didn’t help that Marchenko was immediately inserted into the top unit upon his 11th-hour arrival.
asserted
Marchenko → help → arrival
After taking Thursday off, the Leafs will get a chance to buff out some of the scratches in a Friday practice before Saturday’s home game against the Ottawa Senators.
asserted
Leafs → take → Senators
After scoring on the season’s first shot before adding a goal in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Montreal, Nylander’s put on a less flattering display in Wednesday’s win.
asserted
Nylander → score → win
After coughing up a turnover on a third-period power play, he was outhustled to the Toronto net front by fellow Swede Emil Heineman.
asserted
he → cough → Heineman
As Heineman potted a short-handed goal and crashed into Stolarz in an ensuing collision, Nylander was an uninvolved bystander.
asserted
Nylander → pot → collision
With Nylander on the ice at five-on-five Wednesday, mostly on a line with John Tavares and No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna that has often looked like a defensively liability, the Islanders produced 90 per cent of the expected goals.
asserted
Islanders → look → goals
For all that, as Cowan said, the vibes are great.
asserted
vibes → say → that
Certainly the vibes around Toronto’s oft-maligned defensive corps improved in game two.
asserted
vibes → malign → game
After a giveaway-strewn opening loss, new-in-town top-pairing blueliner Darren Raddysh looked more in control on Wednesday playing mostly alongside Rielly.
asserted
Raddysh → strew → Rielly
Even as the club continues to search the trade market for more help on the blue line, especially after shipping off 24-year-old defenceman Emil Andrae in the Marchenko trade, there’s belief the existing talent can mesh.
asserted
talent → continue → trade
“It’ll take time, there’s no question, we’ve talked about this,” Hiller said.
asserted
Hiller → take → this
We’re trying to get this thing together as quick as we can, but we all know it’s going to take a little bit of time.
asserted
it → try → time
We just want to shrink that time.
asserted
We → want → time
So I can’t put a date on that, but everybody will get better together.”
asserted
everybody → put → that
Everyone will look better if the goaltending is stellar.
asserted
goaltending → look → ?
So it helped that Stolarz, in his first start as a clear No. 2 to newcomer Sergei Bobrovsky, was reassuringly solid in Wednesday’s win.
asserted
Stolarz → help → win
In an off-season that saw former platoon mate Joseph Woll traded away, Stolarz said he took his survival of the roster purge as “a vote of confidence.”
asserted
he → see → confidence
“You look at the turnover, they wanted to keep me around.
asserted
they → look → me
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
