Leafs-Stars takeaways: McMann-Domi-Robertson are here to stay, Woll with a dominant effort

After getting hemmed in completely during the first period, the Toronto Maple Leafs came roaring back to defeat the Dallas Stars 5-3 on Wednesday evening. Nick Robertson and Max Domi with goals in back-to-back games. If this Leafs team can get any form of secondary scoring while playing with sound defensive structure, look out. —…

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Dec 20, 2024 - 14:11
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Leafs-Stars takeaways: McMann-Domi-Robertson are here to stay, Woll with a dominant effort

After getting hemmed in completely during the first period, the Toronto Maple Leafs came roaring back to defeat the Dallas Stars 5-3 on Wednesday evening.

William Nylander scored twice, but the real story for the Maple Leafs was the new-look third line. Nick Robertson and Max Domi both scored for the second consecutive game, while Bobby McMann also notched a single, while Joseph Woll was tremendous throughout the contest, making 38 saves on 41 shots.

Domi received the team belt, awarded to Toronto’s best or most impactful player in a winning effort.

Here are five takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ 5-3 victory over the Stars: 

  • You could discount the new-look third line during Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, as the Sabres have become the butt of the joke across North American professional sports, but Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Nick Robertson are here to stay. McMann-Domi-Robertson were Toronto’s only line to arrive on time, culminating in Domi’s second goal in as many games. Domi took advantage of Stars defenceman Brendan Smith flubbing the puck into the neutral zone, then raced up the ice with Robertson cutting to the net, looked off his teammate and wired it home. He’s been a reticent shooter during his tenure with the Maple Leafs, but Wednesday’s tape will welcome an invitation to get more pucks on net. Robertson was evidently motivated by a matchup against his brother, Jason, and did some excellent individual work to drive the net, retrieve his own loose puck and fire away to score. And McMann, whose elite speed has unlocked the potential of the line, scored in large part due to Robertson’s excellent work. Robertson stretched out to pick off a pass from Roope Hintz — one of the NHL’s best defensive forwards with elite straight-line speed — and then found a cutting McMann who beat Oettinger for the line’s third goal of the night and a 4-2 lead. Toronto has been desperate for secondary scoring and ahead of the Christmas break, it has found its third line.
  • William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were paired together for the second consecutive game, and the expectations are reasonably through the roof. Nylander-Matthews-Marner had an awful start to the first period, as Dallas’ Sam Steel raced past Matthews for the game’s opening goal, after some miscommunication with Jake McCabe in the neutral zone, with Nylander and Marner nowhere to be found. And right when the turbocharged line appeared to be a doomed experiment — being on the ice for Dallas’ first two goals is an unacceptable outcome — Nylander raced up the ice for his first of two goals — Marner dug a puck out of the defensive zone, Matthews waited at centre-ice, and flipped it over to Nylander, who made no mistake. Matthews almost had another goal, but the puck trickled dangerously off the line. It was Nylander who was Toronto’s best player on the Money Line (a work in progress) and with the game on the line, he raced past Miro Heiskanen — another elite skater — for the empty-net insurance marker. Nylander-Matthews-Marner are expected to dominate in all situations, it was an uneasy 25 minutes, but they came alive when it mattered, and it’s the 20-goal man who should get top marks Wednesday.
  • Joseph Woll and Jake Oettinger have been friends since their shared tenure with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program and won a gold medal together at the 2017 World Juniors. They were in diametrically opposite form on Wednesday night. Oettinger, one of the NHL’s best goalies, was chased after two periods, while Woll kept the Maple Leafs in the contest, after a rocky first period, while making several highlight-reel saves. It’s no wonder why Craig Berube said Woll was Toronto’s best player after the game! Dallas outshot Toronto 15-4 in the first period, and after Woll let in a shaky goal from Evgenii Dadonov (he wasn’t the lone player at fault as Morgan Rielly allowed Dadonov to walk in without real contest) he was outright dominant. Woll robbed Miro Heiskanen with an amazing glove save with 10:52 left in the third period and he didn’t allow Jamie Benn and Jason Robertson to jam home dangerous chances at the net-front. Toronto’s net-front defence was sub-standard on Wednesday, Woll held his ground and saved nearly a goal above expected. He looked every bit the part of a true No. 1, while Oettinger had a night to forget.
  • Conor Timmins struggled badly throughout the game, and though he wasn’t on the ice for any goals, Toronto was outshot 13-5 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. It’s not just the shot differential, as Timmins took two bad penalties during the first period, which made it nearly impossible for the Maple Leafs to get into the flow of the game. Simon Benoit didn’t do Timmins many favours either, but little details stood out from Timmins’ game, including an unforced icing in the third period. Timmins’ excellent preseason is in the rearview, and the No. 6 spot is a real open competition. It wouldn’t be a surprise for Philippe Myers to factor back into the lineup for Friday’s game against the Sabres.
  • Congratulations to Ryan Reaves on his 900th NHL game! Reaves threw a game-high six hits, he was a useful part of a quietly underrated night for the fourth line, working well in tandem with Steven Lorentz, as Toronto outshot Dallas 6-3 when he was on the ice. We’re not going to over-exaggerate Reaves’ impact for dramatic effect: Fraser Minten should still be getting reps over Reaves, as should Pontus Holmberg. Reaves was a positive contributor during Wednesday’s victory and that should be highlighted, especially when his mistakes are aggressively analyzed to a microscopic degree in this market.

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