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Maple Leafs report cards: John Tavares had a 2-point night in his 1,000th NHL game

Everyone loves a nice bounce-back game.

The Maple Leafs looked much better in a 5-1 win against the Washington Capitals on Sunday night after a poor showing against Ottawa on Friday.

Ilya Samsonov had a better start. Five different skaters scored a goal and 13 had at least one point for Toronto. Oh, and John Tavares played in game no. 1000 with a nice pre-game ceremony and his family in attendance.

To the grades!

First Star

John Tavares

It’s only natural to give the first star to John Tavares, who had two points in his 1000th NHL game. He didn’t score in his big game, but Tavares was solid from the drop of the puck, which might be more fitting for a guy who has been so consistent and reliable over his career.

He made a nice play to Bunting within the first 30 seconds of the game.

He was effective in getting to the net front, taking away the eyes of Darcy Kuemper on Michael Bunting’s power-play goal. And was working the boards behind the net with Bunting on Morgan Rielly’s goal.

Second Star

TJ Brodie

The Leafs are a better team — at least on the blue line — when Brodie is in the lineup. Not only does he act as a stabilizing presence on the back end, but he also allows Sheldon Keefe to keep the other proven, solid pairs — Sandin-Liljegren and Giordano-Holl — together.

With Brodie on the ice, the Leafs are clean and quick in transition and spend far more time in the offensive zone than playing defense. Rewind a few seconds on several scoring chances tonight, and you’re likely to find a Brodie play that started it deep in the Leafs’ zone. Like here:

Or here:

Brodie’s presence next to Rielly was noticeable, too. They displayed great chemistry in the way they moved the puck up ice and out of the zone. Rielly also looked good jumping up into the play with Brodie holding the line behind him.

Third Star

Ilya Samsonov

This was a nice bounce-back game for Samsonov after a tough — and somewhat unexpected — start against Ottawa on Friday night. It was also a solid start against the team that did not qualify him last summer.

He made 23 saves on 24 shots and made all 17 saves at five-on-five. This was Samsonov’s seventh-straight game and he has five wins in that span. With Matt Murray out with an ankle injury, it’s Samsonov’s crease, and it looks like he’s up to the task.

Player reports

A

Morgan Rielly

Rielly scored his first goal of the season — as he promised yesterday at the annual Easter Seals event. He looked confident jumping into the play all night and had all the space in the world in front of the net on his goal.

He and Brodie were excellent in all three zones. Shot attempts were 16-7 at five-on-five with those two on the ice, and Toronto outscored the Capitals 2-0.

Michael Bunting

Bunting scored Toronto’s first goal of the game, cleaning up the rebound from his own deflection that was initially stopped by Kuemper.

He finished the game with five shots on goal and was going to work on the boards and was consistently annoying at the net front.

Pierre Engvall

Engvall was clearly feeling it tonight. He was moving his feet, making plays and scoring the goal that chased Kuemper out of the crease in the second period. On that goal — Toronto’s fourth — he used a quick burst of speed to create some separation on the cycle and used that space in the slot to go top shelf on Kuemper.

He made a particularly nice feed to Nylander late in the second period, and another pass to Kämpf, who missed wide in the third.

A-

David Kämpf

Kämpf had a good faceoff night (73 percent), was a puck hound and didn’t let Washington get much going on offense. He made the nice play to Joey Anderson — that he missed — and also missed his own open net later in the game.

B+

William Nylander

The Leafs won a game-high 91.8 percent of the expected goals with Nylander on the ice at five-on-five. Simply put: He was living in the offensive zone for most of the night.

He kick-started an odd-man rush in the second period — arguably made one too many passes — and ultimately scored the Leafs’ third goal of the game, cleaning up the rebound.

He wasn’t as flashy in this game, but once again, with Auston Matthews out of the lineup, Nylander stepped up to produce. In 10 games without Matthews in the lineup, Nylander has 10 goals.

Mark Giordano

He was on the ice for the Capitals’ only goal — on the power play — but I thought Giordano had a better game than his partner and the Game Score reflects that. He walked the line well and was calm, cool and collected in the D-zone.

Calle Järnkrok

Järnkrok had a few good looks in the first five minutes of the game and was credited with the primary assist on Nylander’s goal. He wasn’t that noticeable in the second half of the game, but the Leafs lived in the offensive zone with Järnkrok on the ice. Washington only managed one shot on goal when he was out there at five-on-five. It was a nice rebound game for him after tough minutes and getting caved in against the Senators the other night.

Rasmus Sandin

Sandin was physically engaged in this game. In the first period, he was aggressive on the forecheck and physical along the boards. At one point, he made a hit on the boards, gained possession of the puck, and went D-to-D with Liljegren, who got them out of the zone with control.

In the third period, he stepped up on Conor Sheary and dropped him as he tried to come across the line. It was one of his team-high five hits.

It wasn’t a perfect game, as Sandin made some mistakes. But when he did, I thought he recovered well and stayed calm under pressure, even if sometimes that pressure was self-inflicted.

B

Mitch Marner

Marner’s best moment came on the power play in the second period. He controlled the puck and put his impressive edge work on display, too, cycling through the zone on one skate. Once Marner got an open lane, he put the puck on net with Bunting and Tavares on the doorstep, leading to Bunting’s goal that — at the time — tied the game 1-1. It was the first of five unanswered goals the Leafs would score.

Timothy Liljegren

Liljegren wasn’t as noticeable as his partner, but he looked solid to me in 21 minutes of ice time. He didn’t grade out well — was last in Game Score — and was outchanced by the Capitals at five-on-five. But, he hasn’t been on the ice for a goal against in 10 straight games. That has to count for something.

The fourth line (Pontus Holmberg, Zach Aston-Reese, Wayne Simmonds)

They played very Low-event hockey for most of the game. The line didn’t get a single shot on goal until the third period, but they also didn’t get scored on. There was a lot of work along the walls, puck battles won and play in the trenches.

Holmberg drew another penalty — he seems to do that a lot. And Aston-Reese showed off some nice hands on his goal in the third period to make it 5-1.

Overall, the fourth line did their job. No complaints.

B-

Alex Kerfoot

Kerfoot started the game as the second-line center again tonight, playing with Järnkrok and Nylander. The line was noticeable in the first period with several solid scoring chances, including this nice pass from Kerfoot to Järnkrok early in the game.

He was solid in all three zones, with some particularly good play in the defensive zone in the third period. Midway through the third, for example, he did well to break up a centering pass from Alex Ovechkin right on the doorstep.

Joey Anderson

Anderson had a wide-open net after a nice seam pass from Kämpf. He fanned at it and missed. He graded out well by most metrics, but that was the main takeaway I had. I’m sorry!

Justin Holl

Wasn’t a great game for Justin Holl. He made a few questionable plays, including the delay of game penalty he took in the second period right after the Leafs tied the game. Washington didn’t score on the power play, but it was still a momentum killer after the Bunting goal.

Game Score

Final grade: A

The shot totals were somewhat even (27-24), and Washington did score the opening goal, but Toronto appeared to be in control of this game from the jump. They had a ton of energy right at the drop of the puck, got the lead in the second period and didn’t let Washington get back in it. Toronto got offense from up and down the lineup, Samsonov was steady in the crease and the Leafs improved to an impressive 31-12-8 record.

What’s next for the Leafs?

They’ll be back in action on Wednesday against the league-leading Boston Bruins at 7:30 pm on Sportsnet.

(Top photo: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)

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