Tyson Barrie scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf in Thursday’s game against the Coyotes. It was a big moment for a player who arrived here as an alleged high-octane offensive defenceman who would provide a boost to the Leafs power play. That didn’t happen.
Barrie didn’t score any goals at all in the first 23 games of the season. Then Sheldon Keefe replaced Mike Babcock as head coach and, boom, there it was. He scores. The timing evoked an almost deus ex machina element to the story through Keefe arriving as the head coach.