It is that time of the year again, the NHL season has commenced. Many Toronto Maple Leaf fans have been excited to see this young team play in a new season. Although the Leafs had a good season last year, speculations were made that they are nowhere near Stanley Cup contention. But, only time will tell with this team, as a new season begins. The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a season opener since the 2013/2014 season, but this has now changed. The Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets with a final score of 7-2 on October 4th, 2017. Things did not look like they were going the Leafs way, as Winnipeg was continuing to get power play opportunities.

But luckily the Leafs were able to kill the penalties. The Leafs showed strong power in terms of their penalty kill, defense, and offense.

A strong team

After the first period, the Leafs had already scored three goals and were showing that they came out to play. It was a combined team effort, as goalie Frederick Anderson stopped 35 of 37 shots and made some spectacular saves during the game. In addition, with the help of Anderson's teammates, the defense was on point. Blocking shots and making it very hard for players to shoot and get into the crease of Anderson. The Leafs used to always have a problem with their defense and letting the opposing team come straight to the net. But this was not the case with this game.

Patrick Marleau

It was exciting to see Patrick Marleau make his debut with the Leafs and as expected, he did not disappoint. Marleau scored two goals in the game and they were both beauties. The first goal was definitely memorable as he got a clean pass from his teammate Auston Matthews.

This game will definitely become a fond memory for Marleau and for the rest of the team. As many fans expressed on Twitter, 'the leafs are killing it tonight,' and this is only the beginning for this team.

Game overview

It is important to note that the Leafs first four goals of the 2016/2017 opener were all by Matthews.

And now in 2017/2018, the goals were scored by Nazem Kadri, James Van Riemsdyk, William Nylander and Patrick Marleau. Clearly this year there is a more balanced unit, which shows the teams depth and diversity. Three goals were scored on ten shots for the Leafs in the first period. Additionally, Nylander got his first of the season, unassisted.

Furthermore, the intermission couldn't of come sooner for the Jets. The Jets ‘upgrading’ their goaltending with Mason, doesn't really look like an upgrade anymore. Honestly, he didn't look sharp at all. The goal that made Mason look bad, was definitely the goal by James Van Riemsdyk, where he scored right off the face-off.

In the game, Auston Matthews redirected a Connor Carrick shot to put the Leafs up 7-1. In addition, Andreas Borgman got his first NHL point. To say the least, it was a very sloppy play by Steve Mason. The Toronto Maple Leafs inevitably opened the season by crushing the Winnipeg Jets.
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