ICYMI – The Kids Stole The Show As The Maple Leafs Dummied The Islanders
Source: The annual fathers’ road trip with the Toronto Maple Leafs began with Wednesday night’s home game against the New York Islanders.
From there, the dads will tag along for Thursday’s game in New York against the Rangers and finish the trip on Saturday in Boston against the Bruins.
Judging by the way the sons played in a 5-0 win over the Islanders, the Leafs’ third consecutive win, head coach Mike Babcock may insist the parental supervision remains in place for the rest of the NHL season, not to mention the playoffs. Despite the fact the Leafs were forced to use three rookies on defence when illness struck the unit, they played one of their most complete games of the season and dominated the Islanders in helping goaltender Frederik Andersen record his fourth shutout of the season.
There was no official word on the Leafs’ record when the dads (or the moms) are along for the ride. But before the game Leaf centre Nazem Kadri was pretty sure “with them in the stands our record is pretty good from what I remember.”
No matter what happens in New York and Boston, this trip will still be special for two of those rookie defencemen, Travis Dermott and Justin Holl. Both scored their first NHL goals Wednesday night.
Babcock, though, declined to commit to having the fathers’ attendance mandatory, even if he did see the value in it.
“It’s like anything: when your dad’s here, your family’s here, you always put your best step forward,” he said. “You want your parents to be proud of you. I’m 54 and I still want my folks to be proud of me so why wouldn’t these guys?”
Holl was only called up from the Toronto Marlies farm team on Wednesday afternoon when veteran defencemen Ron Hainsey and Roman Polak fell ill with intestinal problems. Dermott was promoted to the Leafs on Jan. 5 but played so well he was moved to the top four when Morgan Rielly was injured.
Thanks to Hainsey’s illness (Polak was to be the spare defenceman), Dermott and Holl made up the second pairing against the Islanders. While they were teammates on the Marlies for most of this American Hockey League season they did not play together much until Wednesday night.
“You can’t write it up any more perfect than this,” Dermott said. “How it’s all come together this season, a Stanley Cup race, you can’t put words to it.”
Dermott’s promotion earlier this month ensured his father Jimmy would make the trip and then Dermott made it extra special with his first NHL goal in the final minute of the second period. Since Dermott grew up just north of Toronto in Newmarket, Ont., his mother Paula was also in the crowd at the Air Canada Centre to see the goal.
“It was crazy having him here and being able to point up to him at the end of the game. That was for him,” Dermott said. “I’m not sure [Paula] was sitting with my dad but I’m pretty sure they were both pretty close to tears.
“Yeah, it’s a crazy feeling. It all kind of came together perfectly tonight.”
Paula Dermott had a good laugh earlier in the day when she texted her son about Jimmy’s packing for the big trip.
“My mom sent me a text saying my dad took a couple hours at least to pack his bags, making sure he’s bringing all the right stuff,” Dermott said after the game-day skate. “He’s pretty excited. I owe him all my hockey career. Just being able to bring him along here is a bit of give-back. It’s the biggest treat in the world, having him here.”
The Dermotts were a typical hockey family – Jimmy helped coach his son and a few other youngsters in the area and Paula, a figure-skater, taught Travis a few things about skating when he was a toddler.
But there wasn’t anything typical about the team Travis Dermott played on for several years, the York-Simcoe Express. Jimmy Dermott was the assistant coach and Brian McDavid was the head coach. You may have heard of McDavid’s son, Connor, who was the top centre. Another future first-round NHL draft pick, Sam Bennett, was also on the team.
Travis Dermott looked every bit as skilled as his childhood friend Connor McDavid on his first NHL goal even if the play started when he lost the puck in the Islanders zone. But he caught the Islanders’ hot rookie Mathew Barzal from behind as he tried to carry the puck out. Dermott swatted the puck away from him and right to Leafs forward William Nylander. They went in on a two-on-one rush with Dermott redirecting a feed from Nylander past Isles goaltender Thomas Greiss.
It was a far better first NHL goal than Dermott ever dreamed of when he was growing up.
“I kind of made a bad play coming in, I turned the puck over,” he said. “But lucky enough I got the puck back, gave it to Willy [Nylander] and he gave me a perfect pass right on the slate. I put my head down, went to the far post and took a swing.
“I always thought growing up it would probably be some rebound, go off someone’s shin-pad, no highlight-reel goal. It was set up perfectly. A perfect pass, all I could do was not miss the net.”
Holl got his goal early in the third period, jumping into the rush to beat Griess with a wrist shot to give the Leafs a 5-0 lead. It was a nice cap to a whirlwind day that began with a phone call from the Leafs in the afternoon.
Getting to the NHL was a much longer fight for Holl, 26, than it was for the 21-year-old Dermott. The native of Tonka Bay, Minn., was a second-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 but could not stick with them. Since his draft year, Holl played in the NCAA, the ECHL and the AHL before signing with the Leafs as a free agent last summer.
Adding to the fun was scoring his first goal along with Dermott, his Marlies teammate.
“It’s pretty surreal when it happened,” Holl said. “I was pretty fired up for [Dermott’s] first goal, real excited for him. When [mine] happened we both looked at each other, like, is this real?”
Holl called his parents and his girlfriend after the surprise promotion by the Leafs but only his girlfriend managed to make the game. But Holl is hoping his dad will be able to pick up the fathers’ trip Thursday in New York.
“I’m sure he would have liked being here and I think we might figure out if he can come on this trip,” he said. “So we’ll see. It was a really fun night, a great experience and a big win.”
Dermott was supposed to play with Nikita Zaitsev on defence, with Zaitsev making his first appearance since sustaining a broken foot on Dec. 15. But with Hainsey a late scratch, Zaitsev was moved to the top pair with Jake Gardiner.
The third pairing was rookie Andreas Borgman and Connor Carrick, who have now played three games together.
While Islanders star John Tavares had the two best chances to get his team into the game – he slid one into a sprawled Andersen and was robbed on the other by a great glove save – Kadri and his linemates Mitch Marner and Patrick Marleau did an excellent job keeping him in check.
Marner scored his eighth goal of the season while the others went to Auston Matthews (23rd) and Kasperi Kapanen (third).
Here are some highlights from perhaps, one of the best and most complete Leafs wins of the season. See what happens when Roman Polak doesn’t play and Leo is on the fourth line…..:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Beos96NBw5d/?taken-by=mapleleafs
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeotFZvhfyd/?taken-by=mapleleafs
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeozdynBIgL/?taken-by=mapleleafs
https://www.instagram.com/p/Beo2URdhTss/?taken-by=mapleleafs
https://www.instagram.com/p/Beo4gKnhXdA/?taken-by=mapleleafs
Shug McSween
Shug McSween is a veteran here at DeanBlundell.com and has been contributing since day one. A sports nut with a sophisticated opinion, expect McSween to cover any and everything he's passionate about. When he's not busy writing and editing for our crew, McSween likes to get away via fairways and greens. He also contributes to The Hockey Writers, NHLTradeRumors.me and BballRumors.com