Toronto Maple Leafs beat Los Angeles Kings 3-2: Observations

2) Fourth line buzzing

Speaking of Martin, this was probably the best game he’s ever played with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was noticeable from the moment the puck was dropped, mainly because he fought two minutes into the game.

Nic Dowd levelled Dominic Moore in open ice with a clean body check, so naturally, a scrum ensued. Instead of dropping the gloves with Dowd, however, Martin grabbed the first Kings player he could, which was Andy Andreoff.

Martin opened the scoring for the Leafs’ first goal of the season off assists from Roman Polak and Marner:

Marner had his best performance of the season in this game. He finished with two assists on the night and was given first-star honours for his efforts.

Moore was a great compliment to the line and was completely fine after taking the hit.

If the fourth line can keep up solid performances like this on a regular basis, teams are going to have trouble matching up.

They don’t have to pitch in a goal every game, but that kind of effort in every zone would be great.