Did anyone miss Max Domi?
Eh, forget about him. I want to talk about Easton Cowan and how tepid the reaction to him has been. Yeah, sure the Leafs play tepid a lot of the time, so it's natural even the good players get a muted reaction. But it has to be the points thing.
Before that tying goal against the Blue Jackets, he only had one goal, and hadn't seemed to be a real offensive threat. Except he is. Offence creation is his game, and realistic assessments of his play say he is a legitimate top-six NHLer. He's 20 years old. And he only has 15 games played, so it's fair to wonder if a lull will come – sure, and then it will go away and he'll be better than he is now, and I mean in this season this can and will happen. He is at that age where a month is a year and a season is an entire degree in NHL hockey.
But the thing is, he's very good right now. Not great in his shot choice, but blowing away the rest of the team in volume. Well, not the entire rest of the team Auston Matthews and John Tavares shoot a little bit more than he does.
There's still a little bit of OHL "you can score from there" choices being made. But that's the thing, he can and will and seemingly enjoys driving the net. He can shoot from less junior locations.
I mean, sure, I imagine Craig Berube isn't exactly using him the same way he does his other big-minute players.
Okay, this bit of business is not a thing you use to make excuses for a player's bad results or to call them "sheltered". It's how the coach sees the player. And sure, Cowan is more of a need to score guy than he is a defend a lead guy. Not that that comes up all that often with the Leafs. But a guy who isn't trusted and just gets some offensive zone minutes would be trending more towards the waiver claims.
And for those of you who love zone starts:
You bet his usage has been offensively tilted. But who gains if Easton Cowan is sent out to do the spin cycle in the defensive zone? Nick Robertson, I guess?
Anyhow, he's a baby, and he's legit right now for what he's asked to do. If everyone forgets he's a rookie, then he'll be on the team for good. You don't have to wait for more points to be sure. Berube had him out in the last minute and he was in on one of the best scoring chance the Leafs had had all night.
Now about last night. They started out absolutely awful. Washington scored a goal that was only disallowed because the ref blew the play dead too soon. And while the Leafs had a 2-0 lead, they squandered the gift of a terrible second period by the other team (when does that happen!) and allowed a goal and then... fell over dead.
The not a goal:
no goal pic.twitter.com/JZ5SlBGGOQ
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 28, 2025
The Mo Goal:
MORGAN RIELLY 🚨
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 28, 2025
Leafs take the early lead! pic.twitter.com/nrU9pZzEEh
The Knies Goal:
MATTHEW KNIES 🚨
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 28, 2025
Matthews with the dodge and dish to Knies pic.twitter.com/udeo2CWmwO
The comeback:
Connor McMichael scores after an extended shift in the offensive zone pic.twitter.com/jYM2m6sIUI
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 28, 2025
The other Mo goal:
Anthony Beauvillier ties it pic.twitter.com/FaTdZpbtvF
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 29, 2025
And another "end of the shift" goal:
Jakob Chychrun gives Washington the lead pic.twitter.com/Zrtff64HVP
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 29, 2025
And for all of that, it was a better game than many had been. The offensive system, if I can use that word for something that looks like chaos, was very poor in the first period, but they defended well against a very vibrant offensive team in the Capitals for part of the game. But even if this is a good Leafs effort from this team as they are right now, it's not good enough to beat a team that functions as a coherent group.
That is more than enough, because there is another game tonight vs the Penguins, so how much Leafs can you take in one day?
Dennis Hildeby will start, and William Nylander should be good to go, but that's to be confirmed.
