Minten makes good on toughest test yet, stars find rhythm in Maple Leafs win

Ten hours before the biggest test of his young career, before he got his shot to prove himself alongside the big-league regulars, and see how he might fit into the lineup that will take the ice on opening night, Fraser Minten looked every bit a wide-eyed teenager as he thought back on his past week with the club.

“It's surreal,” the 19-year-old said on Thursday morning, reflecting on his journey to cottage country with the squad earlier this week — his invite to join the team-bonding trip a reflection of just how close he is to legitimately making the big club out of camp. “Like, you're looking around and seeing who's sitting at a table with you. You're like, 'Oh, my God. This is pretty cool.' 

“If you told me two years ago I'd be here, I wouldn't believe you.”

It took just a minute-and-a-half into Thursday night’s pre-season tune-up for Minten to show, once again, precisely why he is still here.

From the Vancouver, B.C., native’s first shift, he was a headache for the Detroit Red Wings, starting his night off by going to work deep in the offensive zone, where he and fellow young gun Matthew Knies have lived throughout this pre-season.

As the first period of the eventual overtime win wore on, the pair kept finding themselves back there, chipping pucks in, chasing them down, winning battles and funnelling everything to the net. Simple, dogged, effective.

“He’s just really solid all-around,” said Auston Matthews of young Minten after the final buzzer had sounded. “A very smart player. I think him and Kniesy feed off each other really well, and it’s been really cool to see that chemistry grow. They’ve both been playing really great here in the pre-season — it’s fun to watch. 

“You just want them to continue to push, continue to get better. And he’s going to — he’s got a great motor, and he’s a great kid. He works extremely hard.”

That limitless motor was on display all night Thursday, the Kamloops Blazers product pushing til the tilt’s final whistle. While his line’s methodical approach to keeping pucks at the far end of the rink didn’t translate to the scoresheet as it has on other nights, there might not have been a more consistent trio in the game than the Knies-Minten-Calle Jarnkrok unit. 

It was an important one for Minten. While the young centreman’s been the story of camp so far, surviving cut after cut, drawing waves of praise from his coach and looking more like a big-league talent than anyone would’ve predicted two weeks ago, this was the test that could’ve seemed a step too far.

This was the chance to prove he could fill a role. Not simply thrive in the mess of AHL-heavy lineups and low-stakes top-six minutes, but anchor a third line, chip away at the opposition and be effective as a cog in a larger machine.

As far as proof could be found in a Thursday-night pre-season matchup with a Red Wings squad missing its top talent, he proved he could.

“He was good, just like he’s been,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said of the teenager post-game. “He played smart, he competed, he had good pace, good speed on the puck, he did well on faceoffs — probably better than he’s done in some other games actually. He did a good job.”

Still, the coach isn’t lost in the clouds with what his club’s got with Minten, well aware that pre-season performance is an imperfect predictor of regular-season success. Even so, he sees promise in the young pivot’s approach over these past weeks.

“With the pre-season in general, it’s hard [to evaluate young players]. But it’s what you have, so you’ve got to be able to sort through it,” Keefe said. “The thing with Fraser is he really hasn’t taken a step back, at any time. That’s really what you’re looking for with young guys. So, we’ll continue to look at him. He’ll be back in on Saturday, and we’ll continue to work through it.”

Chemistry keeps building for Leafs’ new top-line trio

Back in the lineup for their final pre-season appearance before the real games begin next week, the Maple Leafs’ heavy hitters all managed to shake off the rust and find their offensive touch Thursday. 

Mitch Marner and William Nylander led the way, the former dancing around defenders and flipping inch-perfect passes through traffic all night, the latter opening and closing the game’s scoring with two displays of all-world patience with the puck on his stick. 

Matthews and Tyler Bertuzzi tallied the other two goals of Toronto’s evening, the former Red Wing snagging his first goal in a Maple Leafs sweater off a gift of a turnover in front of his former club’s net.

While the stat lines mean little until Oct. 11 arrives, the greater cohesion from the club’s new top line was a promising sign, their coach said.

“I thought today was [Bertuzzi’s] best game,” Keefe said of his team’s star off-season acquisition post-game. “Not just because of the goal, but I just thought he had a little more pace. And I thought that line was a little more connected, especially as the game went on. That third period was our best period, and the best period for that line. So that’s encouraging.”

“I think each game, [each] practice, each day, it’s just been getting better,” said Matthews of the growing chemistry between him, Bertuzzi and Marner. “It’s going to take a little bit of time, but I think we’re starting to get a feel for each other out there, starting to create more offence and have extended offensive-zone shifts, where we’re really working the puck down low and wearing on their team.”

All told, the trio had a combined eight shots at five-on-five on the night, Marner leading the way with five of those.

Samsonov ends pre-season with a stumble

In what was at times a hectic, haphazard performance from the group overall Thursday night, one aspect of their performance that didn’t necessarily round into form by the game’s end was the play of netminder Ilya Samsonov.

Suiting up for his third appearance of the exhibition schedule — his second featuring a full night’s workload — the 26-year-old left more to be desired on a night that saw him beaten clean on a shot from the right circle early in the game, and bested again a period later after giving away the puck behind his own net. That he was caught swimming without his stick more than a few times over the course of the night didn’t help matters much, either.

It’s been a rocky pre-season for the man who emerged unexpectedly to claim the No. 1 role from presumptive starter Matt Murray last season, Samsonov giving up five goals on 26 shots last time out before allowing three on 23 Thursday.

It’ll mean little if he finds his 2022-23 form once the real games begin. But Keefe made clear there are issues to address before those games come.

“He didn’t get tested a lot,” the coach said of his starter after the overtime win over an AHL-heavy Red Wings squad had wrapped. “But there are some things there we want to get him to tighten up on, for sure.”