Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid drives to the net in Toronto on Sunday against the Maple Leafs.Frank Gunn/The Globe and Mail
The Toronto Maple Leafs did not have Auston Matthews to counter Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid on Sunday night.
He was out of the lineup after taking a shot on the chin the night before in an accidental collision with teammate Morgan Rielly. But that was okay. The backup goaltender stepped up instead.
Yes, you read that correctly. Curtis McElhinney drove McDavid to distraction Sunday night, robbing him twice on the way to a shutout as the Leafs capped a successful weekend by all of Toronto's professional sports teams in taking a 1-0 win from the Oilers.
"Mac played unbelievable," said Leafs winger Zach Hyman, who scored the only goal of the game 34 seconds into it. "He's a veteran guy who does his job every night."
McDavid seemed to be all over the ice, constantly rushing the puck, but he never managed to get anything behind McElhinney.
"Well you can see him coming a mile away," the goaltender said. "When he's 200 feet away he starts building speed. It's just like a freight train coming in.
"You know he has the ability to dipsy-doodle and walk right through guys. It's pretty impressive. I've never seen anything else like it. Thankfully, I don't have to go 200 feet with him. I just have to match him the last little way and I did it tonight."
The Leafs' third consecutive NHL win was their second of the weekend, as they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Saturday. Their corporate siblings also did well. The Raptors won Friday and Sunday to make it six NBA wins in a row. And Toronto FC became the first Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment team to win a major title by beating the Seattle Sounders 2-0 on Saturday for the Major League Soccer championship, making it five wins for MLSE teams over the weekend.
Stealing wins is getting to be a thing for the Leafs' goaltenders. McElhinney stopped 41 Oilers shots for his first shutout in just his fifth start of the season. This matched No. 1 goaltender Frederik Andersen's pilfering of a shootout win against the Calgary Flames last week.
Front and centre among McElhinney's many big saves as the Leafs scored on their first shot of the game and then hung on for dear life in the second and third periods, were two on McDavid. Late in the first period, McDavid casually blew past Leafs defenceman Ron Hainsey and went in alone on McElhinney. But the Leafs goalie just as casually poke-checked McDavid and slapped his catching glove on the puck.
Or maybe it wasn't so casual. McElhinney was asked if he thought he surprised McDavid with the move.
"Probably surprised myself more than anyone," McElhinney said. "It was just a desperation move at that point and it worked out."
Even better was McElhinney's stop in the second period during a Leafs power play. Just after the Leafs hit the post, McDavid wound up with a shorthanded breakaway. McElhinney refused to bite on the deke, made the save and again had to be honest – it was a lot harder than it looked.
"You're just trying to stay with him," McElhinney said. "Hopefully he doesn't deke you out of your pants."
McElhinney did get some help. There were his goalposts, which stopped four Oilers shots. That was a welcome break, as McElhinney didn't get any luck in his last appearance, a 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Nov. 25.
"Sometimes you get lucky," he said. "I think there were about four of them [posts]. I'll take those breaks. My last game was a tough one for me so this is a nice bounce-back game."
The other big boost came from Leafs penalty killers Leo Komarov, Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev. They stayed out for almost an entire two-minute, five-on-three power play for the Oilers late in the second period and snuffed the visitors, aided by several big saves by McElhinney.
That gave a lift to the tired legs of the Maple Leafs who, like the Oilers, were playing the second game of a back-to-back weekend set.
The Leafs started the game strong and scored 34 seconds after the opening faceoff. William Nylander, who took Matthews's spot at centre on the first line, set up defenceman Jake Gardiner for a point shot. The puck got caught up in Edmonton goaltender Laurent Brossoit's pads, thanks to Hyman's stick and slowly trickled into the net.
Leafs head coach Mike Babcock hopes Matthews will be able to play on Tuesday when the Leafs open a three-game road trip against the Philadelphia Flyers. But it sounds less than certain.
"Nice to win without him," Babcock said. "He has an upper body ... whatever. I think he'll be ready to go, but not sure."
Nylander, though, received a passing grade from his coach in filling in for Matthews. Babcock said he gave Nylander the option of playing the wing but "he wanted to play in the middle. Gave him a chance and it was good."
Before the opening faceoff, the Leafs saluted Toronto FC for its MLS Cup win. TFC president Bill Manning, general manager Tim Bezbatchenko, head coach Greg Vanney and six players, including Sebastian Giovinco, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, marched to centre ice.
Proving himself to be a thoroughly modern millennial, Altidore took a selfie video all the way to the faceoff circle, walking right past Komarov's attempted handshake. And, of course, amends were made on social media. Altidore posted the following on Twitter:
"Hey, @LKomarov. Just wanted to apologize and let you know I was caught up in the moment at center ice trying to show all of #Toronto and the @torontofc fans how amazing it was being there. Congrats on the win! Best of luck to you and the @MapleLeafs this season!"
Komarov replied: "Don't worry about it."