In Toronto, the Maple Leafs gained a split in their set with the Calgary Flames when Jack Campbell made 31 saves in a2-0 win on Saturday night.
“It’s been a frustrating season personally with my health, but I felt really confident coming into the game tonight,” Campbell said. “I prepared really hard when I’ve been able to skate. I thought I’ve done a good job preparing. A lot of that is because of (goaltending coach) Steve Briere and talking to Frederik Andersen and (goalie) Michael Hutchinson too gets me ready, picking their brains to stay sharp. Ultimately though, when the team plays that well in front of me, it makes my job so much easier, so I felt great.”
Jason Spezza put the Leafs ahead with a goal in the first period.
“It was just a really gritty effort from our group,” Spezza said. “Probably the best thing that could have happened to us was getting a chance to play the next night, not having to sit on last night’s game. Jack coming in and shutting the door, he made a lot of great saves for us, which was great.”
The Maple Leafs snapped an ugly three-game losing streak.
“It was incredible, it was a huge goal from Spezza to kick things off for us,” Campbell said. “We were already playing a pretty solid first period and it was great to see, but anytime you can put the first one on the board, it gives the team a big spark. Hyman, he works so hard, I think everybody in the world knows that, and he led again tonight with his work ethic and got rewarded on the scoreboard, and I love seeing that for him.”
Zach Hyman potted a marker in the middle frame for a 2-0 and take much of the heat out of the Flames’ efforts.
“I don’t think we gave up very much in the first period, so to get out of it up 1-0 was really important,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.
Calgary dropped to 15-14-3.
“Toronto plays with a lot of structure,” Calgary head coach Darryl Sutter said. “They play a firm game in the neutral zone. There’s a lot of chip plays, and you have to be able to recover pucks. Their defense was up to the task tonight.”
David Rittich made 31 saves in the loss.
“I think we played a really good hockey game defensively,” Rittich said. “We did [make] some mistakes, but it’s part of the hockey game, the team who makes less mistakes wins. I would rather say I outplayed Jack Campbell today, but he outplayed me and he was very good.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.