SAINT NICK: Robertson’s two goals, OT winner in season debut lift Leafs past Stars
Nick Robertson #NickRobertson
One day, Nick Robertson could be a consistently elite player for the Maple Leafs.
On Thursday, the winger took a nice step toward that potential impact.
In his first Leafs game of the season, Robertson scored two goals, including the winner in overtime, giving the Leafs a 3-2 victory against the Dallas Stars.
Before a crowd of 18,488 at Scotiabank Arena, Robertson hammered a pass from Auston Matthews behind Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood at 3:46 of the extra period.
That came after Robertson made a fine play in the defensive zone, taking the puck from Stars captain Jamie Benn and leading a rush with Morgan Rielly and Matthews. A return pass from Matthews, who drew Wedgewood’s attention away from Robertson, resulted in the winner.
“You kind of dream of this stuff, to score in overtime in the NHL,” Robertson said. “Now for me, it’s just keep going, keep fighting and earning every day.
“A week ago if someone said I would get the OT winner, I’d say you were crazy. You never know what can happen in this industry.”
As one might have expected, the 21-year-old Robertson brought energy in his 2022-23 debut. Demoted to the Toronto Marlies because the Leafs were afraid of losing Denis Malgin on waivers, Robertson was summoned from the minors once some money cleared up when goalie Matt Murray went on long-term injured reserve.
Maple Leafs’ Alexander Kerfoot (15) scores a goal on Dallas Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. COLE BURSTON/THE CANADIAN PRESSThere’s no reason for the Leafs to deny Robertson, who played on a line with captain John Tavares and William Nylander, a healthy opportunity to prove his worth.
“Excellent to see Nick come into our lineup and make a difference,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.
“He was feeling it. I thought he had a good game. He has the ability to finish. He had two really good looks, couple others that were close.
“He also did a lot of little things really well. He was on the puck, forechecked, got back on defence. It was a real good performance for him.”
Said Mitch Marner: “His two goals stand for themselves, but his competitiveness on the puck, he won a lot of 50-50 battles. Great to watch and a massive two goals for us.”
The Leafs, who are in Winnipeg to play the Jets on Saturday to start a five-game trip, improved to 3-2-0. Dallas lost for the first time, falling to 3-0-1.
The game was the first for the Leafs since Keefe called out his elite players on Monday after a loss against lowly Arizona. While the coach walked those comments back on Wednesday, they were not off the mark as the Leafs’ top players continue to try to find a steady rhythm.
It wasn’t the Leafs’ best game from start to finish, but it certainly was better than what the team put forth versus the Coyotes.
“Honestly (the past four days) have probably been pretty normal,” Keefe said. “It has been different in here (with the media), it has not been in different in there (the dressing room).
After Robertson fired a shot past Wedgewood at 1:59 of third — aided by a terrific pass by Michael Bunting — the Leafs had a 2-1 lead.
Dallas tied the game at 7:21 on a power play on a goal by Tyler Sequin that originally had been called off.
The call on the ice was incidental contact with goalie Ilya Samsonov and Stars coach Peter DeBoer challenged.
After a lengthy review and meeting between referees Ghislain Hebert and Michael Markovic, the goal stood. On the original call, it appeared that Seguin might have pushed Samsonov, or pushed Marner into the netminder.
“I did have a good feel (about it), but it didn’t go the way I felt,” Keefe said. “We feel pretty strongly Mitch was pushed in and the goalie didn’t have a chance to make a save. Of all the goalie interference situations, those are some of the tougher ones to call. You never know which way it’s going to go.”
Toronto had some increased hustle in the second period and partly as a result, drew five Dallas minors.
The Leafs scored during one of them when the second power-play unit came through at 2:31. Alex Kerfoot, parked to the right of Wedgewood, had an open net to hit when the puck changed direction and found its way to Kerfoot’s stick.
Dallas was the better team in the first period and had a 1-0 lead.
Luke Glendening scored at 14:45 when he smacked a rebound into the net under the right arm of Samsonov.
tkoshan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/koshtoronto sun