If fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t dealing with conditioned pessimism following the horrendous first seven weeks of the season, it would have been all-too predictable.
With Tyson Barrie, Pierre Engvall and Auston Matthews scoring the goals in a 3-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night, the Maple Leafs’ offense in a successful NHL coaching debut from Sheldon Keefe came from:
the player most representative of the irreparable divide between previous coach and management
the most recent graduate from his talent pipeline with the Marlies
the superstar player who never seemed to have the rosiest relationship with his predecessor
It wasn’t perfect, which Kyle Dubas promised when he explained his rationale for firing Mike Babcock yesterday, but Frederik Andersen was until the final minute.