And what brought it out were many of the things we have seen from the Leafs all season long.
Matthews and Nylander combined for a beautiful goal. Frederik Andersen was fantastic. Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey played against the other’s team top line (not Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev), JVR scored a power play goal, and the Leafs transition game was in full force.
But there was something new, too – Tomas Plekanec was the primary matchup centre. It has been a tough transition for the career Montreal Canadien, who still hasn’t registered a goal as a Leaf and has primarily been used as the team’s fourth line centre.