Last night was an exciting night for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as there were two new Leafs debuting against the Montreal Canadiens in depth forward and PK specialist Connor Dewar and grizzled veteran defenseman Joel Edmundson.
The Leafs got back into the win column last night, with captain John Tavares scoring just past the 13-minute mark of the 3rd period to take a 3-2 lead. Thankfully, the team was able to close out the game, protecting their lead through the final 6:46 of the game, even with the Canadiens drawing a power play with 2:59 to go.
There was a moment in this one, however, where everyone had to hold their collective breath, including Edmundson, who accidentally redirected a puck right on his own goal in the 3rd period last night. Thankfully, Ilya Samsonov was in good position and was able to react quickly to make the stop.
Edmundson was surprisingly poised in this one and looked largely very comfortable in his first game as a Leaf, even with his momentary lapse in judgement. Edmundson skated 19:03 last night, which was nearly 3 minutes above his average time on ice (ATOI) with Washington this season. It was also half a minute above his career-long ATOI, which currently sits at 18:30.
Keefe had Edmundson out there during plenty of key situations, which shows that not only is he attempting to give his new defenseman some rope, but also that he views him as a trustworthy defender, including late in the game. Let's try to remember which jersey we're wearing, though, Joel.
