“You don't win games early in the season - two or three games - and it's a huge deal,” said Giordano, a blue-liner with plenty of experiences navigating highs and lows from his time as Calgary's captain.
The Leafs are already without netminder Matt Murray and defenceman Jake Muzzin - both players have long lists of past ailments - but responded Thursday with a 3-2 overtime decision against Dallas, which entered a perfect 3-0-0. Toronto has yet to really find its rhythm at 5-on-5 or on the power play. The Leafs sat 20th in goals for heading into Friday's action after finishing second last season, while the man advantage is clicking at 18.2 per cent compared to a league-best 27.3 mark in 2021-22.
“Early in the season always seems one day: are we really that good or are we not really that good?” Leafs captain John Tavares said with a smile. “It's a difficult league, the challenge is tough.Matthews had the day off after the star centre played nearly 27 minutes against Dallas, blocked two shots, drew a penalty, took what Keefe called a “sneaky crosscheck” from Jamie Benn, and assisted on Nick Robertson's OT clincher.