Fans in the East's playoff race wondered whether the Toronto Maple Leafs would fall off without a suspended Morgan Rielly. Tuesday night suggested that won't be the case.
Bobby McMann high-fives teammates after scoring a hat trick against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.Anytime you give up 15 shots in a game against a team that has won seven of its previous eight, you know you’re doing something right. When you do it without your best defenseman in the lineup, now that’s a chef’s kiss.
Hours after learning Morgan Rielly had been suspended five games for his cross-check to Ridly Greig of the Ottawa Senators – and minus John Tavares and Mitch Marner, who had the flu – the Leafs got contributions from up and down the lineup. And their much-maligned defense corps held up just fine. Their opponents had a good transition game, but the Leafs managed to snuff out opportunity after opportunity for the Blues. They did a good job of keeping the Blues to the outside, and even though they had 44 shot attempts, only 15 hit the net.
It also helps when a minor leaguer, in this case Bobby McMann, chips in with a hat trick. But it was the Leafs’ work in their own end of the ice that was the biggest concern coming in.
“The game looks different,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “You’ve got to play a little different. The mindset is a little different. There were a lot of reasons for us to take care of the game. I thought we defended well.”
In the end, the Maple Leafs know there’s not much they can do about the sentence. Rielly has the right to appeal, but it would go directly to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, so there’s not a huge chance for success.
“I’m not going to sit here and b---- and complain about it,” Jake McCabe told reporters. “It sucks missing one of your leaders and one of your key guys for that amount of games, but we got one win for him here tonight, and hopefully, we can continue to carry that on.”
The Leafs have proven they can do just that. Since last season, they’re actually 15-2-1 without him in the lineup.
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