TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Score: Toronto 1 at Vegas 3
Date: Monday, October 24, 2022
TOR Goals: Nylander
VGK Goals: Roy (PPG), Stephenson, Amadio
TOR Goaltender: Samsonov, 30/33, .909 SV%
VGK Goaltender: Thompson, 22/23, .957 SV%
TOR Power Play: 0-for-2
TOR Penalty Kill: 2-for-3
Team Notes: – With his second period goal, William Nylander extended his point streak to five games where he has recorded five points (3G, 2A).
- John Tavares registered the primary assist on Nylander’s goal. Tavares has recorded three points through his last two games (2G, 1A) and has posted eight points (3G, 5A) through his last seven
games. - Nick Robertson posted the secondary assist on Nylander’s goal and set a single-game NHL career-high with three blocks recorded during Monday’s game.
- Michael Bunting tied a single-game NHL career-high with five hits registered during Monday’s game.
TONIGHT’S GAME
2022-23 Matchups vs. San Jose: First of Two
2021-22 Record vs. San Jose: 1-1-0
Toronto Season Record: 4-3-0
Toronto Road Record: 1-2-0
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
The Maple Leafs will take on the San Jose Sharks tonight in the first of two matchups between the clubs this season. The Sharks will visit the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on November 30th for their second game of the season. Toronto went 1-1-0 against the Sharks during the 2021-22 season, with the Maple Leafs earning a 4-1 win on the road. The Maple Leafs are midway through a five-game road trip, that will conclude with a back-to-back against Los Angeles and Anaheim this weekend (Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, respectively).
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
October 26, 2022 The Maple Leafs recalled defenceman Filip Král from the Toronto Marlies (AHL). Forward Kyle Clifford has been placed on injured reserve.
October 22, 2022 The Maple Leafs recalled forward Kyle Clifford from the Toronto Marlies (AHL). Defenceman Filip Král has been loaned to the Marlies.
INJURY REPORT
Kyle Clifford Shoulder (IR)
Carl Dahlström Shoulder (IR)
Matt Murray Adductor Injury (LTIR)
Jake Muzzin Neck (LTIR)
ALL-TIME VS. SAN JOSE SHARKS:
First Matchup between Clubs: November 4, 1991 (Toronto 4 vs. San Jose 1)
All-Time Record: 25-23-5-2 (55 Games)
All-Time Record at Home: 15-10-2-2 (29 Games)
All-Time Record on the Road: 10-13-3-0 (26 Games)
Last Road Win vs. Opponent: November 26, 2021 (Toronto 4 at San Jose 1)
ACTIVE LEADERS VS. SAN JOSE SHARKS:
Games Played: Mark Giordano (51), TJ Brodie (37), Wayne Simmonds (34)
Goals: Wayne Simmonds (11), Auston Matthews (9), John Tavares (9)
Assists: Mark Giordano (23), TJ Brodie (14), John Tavares (13)
Points: Mark Giordano (27), John Tavares (22), Wayne Simmonds (18)
Penalty Minutes Mark Giordano (49), Wayne Simmonds (30), TJ Brodie (16)
ON THE PK IN 2022-23
Penalty Kill: 80.8%
Shorthanded Goal Leader: N/A
Shorthanded Point Leader: N/A
2021-22 Penalty Kill: 192/234 (82.1%)
FAST FACTS
Thursday games 3rd of 15 (7 home, 8 road)
Back-to-Backs played 1 of 14
Record in first game of back-toback 0-1-0
Record in second game of back-toback 1-0-0
October games 8th of 10 (4 home, 6 road)
SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
Game 9 – 10/25 – SJS 2 vs VGK 4…Nico Sturm (1g, 0a) scored to take the team lead in goal scoring this season. Matt Nieto (1g, 0a) scored his first goal of the season and now has three points (1g, 2a) in his last four games. Phil Kessel (1g, 0a) set the NHL ironman record by playing in his 990th consecutive game. The forward also scored his 400th career NHL goal.
SJ Goals: Sturm (4), Nieto (1)
SF: 31
SA: 31
SJ PP: 0-2
SJ PK: 1-1
W: Hill
L: Reimer
10/18 Activated F Alexander Barabanov off IR
9/30 Signed D Scott Harrington to a one-year contract
The San Jose Sharks continue their six-game homestand with a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both teams enter tonight’s contest on the heels of losses to the Vegas Golden Knights (SJS 2-4 L on Oct. 25; TOR 1-3 L on Oct. 24). The Maple Leafs are amid a five-game western conference road trip, with upcoming games against Los Angeles (Oct. 29) and Anaheim (Oct. 30). The Sharks and Maple Leafs split the season series last season, with each side earning a regulation road win. Logan Couture (2g, 1a) paced San Jose in points in the season series. Including Couture (Guelph, Ont.), five Sharks hail from southern Ontario (Couture, Mario Ferraro, Jonah Gadjovich, Scott Harrington, Steven Lorentz).
Oct. 27, 2022, 7:30 p.m. PT
SAN JOSE SHARKS vs. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
2-7-0 (4 pts), 6th in Pacific 2022-23 RECORD 4-3-0 (8 pts), 6th in Atlantic
2-3-0 LAST 5 GAMES 3-2-0
First game SEASON SERIES First game
25-24-5-1 ALL-TIME RECORD AGAINST OPPONENT 25-23-5-2
2022-23 PLAYER STATS
12 players (9) GAMES PLAYED LEADER 13 players (7)
Nico Sturm (4) GOALS LEADER William Nylander (4)
6 players (3) ASSISTS LEADER Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly, John Tavares (5)
DEFENSE TO OFFENSE…Erik Karlsson (3g, 3a) leads San Jose in scoring through nine games. The defenseman earned a pair of points (1g, 1a), including the game-winning overtime goal, and logged a team-high 23:54 on Oct. 20 at New York (Rangers). He opened the scoring with the eventual game-winning goal on Oct. 23 at Philadelphia. Radim Simek lit the lamp for the first time this season to tie the game for the Sharks against the Rangers. Jaycob Megna has six assists in his last 11 games dating back to last season. In all, a defenseman has earned a point on 13 of the team’s 17 goals on the season.
PRIME PENALTY KILL…San Jose killed off their first 22 penalties of the season before finally allowing a power play goal on Oct. 22 at New Jersey. San Jose has been operating at a league-best 88.8% shorthanded efficiency since the 2022 NHL All-Star break, and the Sharks have the league’s third best penalty kill percentage since the start of the 2020-21 season (83.8%).
REIM TIME…Sharks goaltender James Reimer earned his first shutout of the season on Oct. 23 with a 30-save performance at Philadelphia. Reimer’s shutout, his fifth as a Shark, moved him into a tie with Aaron Dell for eighth on the franchise’s all-time shutouts list. Reimer also owns a .938 shorthanded save percentage since joining the Sharks at the start of the 2021-22 season, the best in the NHL in that span (min. 10 games played) and the best two-season stretch by a goaltender since the NHL began tracking the statistic in 1997-98 (min. 30 games played, second best is Cory Schneider from 2010-12 with a .936 SV% in 58 GP).
QUICK START KUNIN…Sharks forward Luke Kunin tallied points in each of his first two regular games with the Sharks, recording the secondary assist on Tomas Hertl’s goal on Oct. 7 and scoring his first goal as a member of the Sharks the next day. Kunin’s 21:23 minutes of ice time on Oct. 7 is the second highest he’s logged in his career and the most he has logged since 2019. His power-play marker on Oct. 8 was the first power-play goal of his career and the first special teams goal scored in the 2022-23 NHL season. Through nine games, the winger is averaging 17:43 of time on ice per game, more than one minute higher than his previous highest average (2018-19 w/ MIN, 15:53). Kunin has points on both Sharks power play strikes (1g, 1a) this season, matching his career high for power play points in a season. Including exhibition and preseason, Kunin scored one point in each of the first six games he played with the Sharks.
SHARKS IN EUROPE…On April 21, the NHL announced that the Sharks would be one of four participants in the 2022 NHL Global Series, with San Jose competing in an exhibition game in Germany and two regular season games in the Czech Republic. Newly acquired Nico Sturm is a German native and has represented them internationally at the junior level while prospect Liam Gilmartin was born in Heidelberg, Germany. Czech members of the Sharks organization include Tomas Hertl, Radim Simek, Adam Raska and Ales Vladyka (Europe scout). The Sharks last played overseas in the 2010 NHL Premiere in Stockholm, Sweden, facing off against Adler Mannheim (DEL) in exhibition play and the Columbus Blue Jackets in regular season play. San Jose played in an exhibition match against reigning Deutsche Eishockey Liga champions Eisbaren Berlin at Mercedes-Benz Arena on Oct. 4. The Sharks defeated Eisbaren, 3-1, led by their top line of Timo Meier (0g, 1a), Tomas Hertl (1g, 0a) and Luke Kunin (1g, 0a). James Reimer (saved nine of nine) and Kaapo Kahkonen (saved nine of 10) split goaltending duties for San Jose. The Sharks played a home-and-home set with the Nashville Predators at O2 Arena in Prague on Oct. 7 and 8. San Jose dropped game one of the series, 1-4, as the away team. Tomas Hertl (1g, 0a) scored the Sharks lone goal, becoming the 16th player in NHL history born outside North America to score a goal in his birth country, per NHL PR. Mario Ferraro (0g, 2a) led the Sharks in scoring on day two as the club was defeated, 2-3, while serving as the home team. Newcomers Oskar Lindblom (0g, 1a), Steven Lorentz (0g, 1a) and Luke Kunin (1g, 1a) all recorded points for the Sharks in Czechia.
GRIER’S GAMEPLAN…On July 5, Sharks president Jonathan Becher and assistant general manager Joe Will introduced Mike Grier as the team’s fifth General Manager and first black general manager in NHL history. The 47-year-old appeared in 221 games with the Sharks from 2006 through 2008 as part of a 14-season, 1,060 game NHL playing career. Just two days later, Grier was with the team as they selected center Filip Bystedt with the 27th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. On July 13, the Sharks traded longtime defenseman Brent Burns and signed Matt Benning, Oskar Lindblom, Markus Nutivaara and Nico Sturm on the first day of free agency. A full list of players under NHL contract that have joined the organization since July 5 is below:
PLAYER CONTRACT HOW ACQUIRED
Luke Kunin Two years Acquired from Nashville in exchange for John Leonard and a 2023 third-round selection on July 8; Signed on July 18
Oskar Lindblom Two years Signed in Free Agency on July 13
Steven Lorentz Two years Acquired with Eetu Makiniemi and a conditional 2023 third round selection (lower of two selections) from Carolina in exchange for Brent Burns (34% {$2.72M} retained) and Lane Pederson; Signed on July 22 Eetu Makiniemi One year remaining
Acquired with Steven Lorentz and a conditional 2023 third round selection (lower of two selections) from Carolina in exchange for Brent Burns (34% {$2.72M} retained) and Lane Pederson
Matt Benning Four years Signed in Free Agency on July 13
Nico Sturm Three years Signed in Free Agency on July 13
Markus Nutivaara One year Signed in Free Agency on July 13
Aaron Dell One year Signed in Free Agency on July 14
C.J. Suess One year Signed in Free Agency on July 14
Andrew Agozzino Two years Signed in Free Agency on July 14
Evgeny Svechnikov One year Signed in Free Agency on Sept. 6
Scott Harrington One year Signed to a PTO on Sept. 9. Signed to a one-year deal on Sept. 30
Erik Karlsson’s overtime game-winning goal on Oct. 20 at New York (Rangers), assisted by Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl, was the first goal the Sharks scored this season that did not feature at least one of Grier’s offseason additions.
QUINN FOR THE WIN…On July 26, Grier introduced David Quinn as Head Coach of the Sharks and later named Scott Gordon, Ryan Warsofsky and Brian Wiseman as Assistant Coaches, Thomas Speer NHL Goaltending Coach and Nick Gialdini Video Coach. Quinn, who most recently served as head coach for Team USA at both the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 World Championship, spent three seasons as head coach of the New York Rangers from 2018 to 2021, earning a 96-87-25 record. In his three years, the Rangers held the league’s eighth-best power-play percentage (22.1%), ranked seventh in team blocked shots (4,195) and takeaways (2,244), and were tied for tenth in wins when trailing first (52). Adam Fox, who made his NHL debut under Quinn in 2019-20, was awarded the Norris Trophy following the 2020-21 season. Quinn’s first NHL win was a 3-2 overtime victory against the Sharks at Madison Square Garden with the Rangers on Oct. 11, 2018. His first NHL win with the Sharks was a 3-2 overtime victory against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 21, 2022. The 56- year-old is two wins shy of 100 as an NHL head coach.
PROSPECT OF THE WEEK (10/24)…Ethan Cardwell (Barrie, OHL) found a fast start to the season with the Barrie Colts, recording at least a point in each of his first three games (1g, 5a). The center leads Barrie in scoring despite only playing in three of their first eight games.
