TORONTO — Justin Holl probably thought he’d seen the last of Marlies defence partner Travis Dermott for the rest of this season when the latter was promoted to the Maple Leafs.
Instead, they both were posing with their first-goal NHL pucks on Wednesday night at the Air Canada Centre, part of a shockingly one-sided Toronto win. The two blue-liners were paired and playing well at both ends in a 5-0 Leafs win, witnessed by 19,267, including most of the players’ fathers, gathered for the annual dads’ road trip.
“You can’t write it up any more perfect,” Dermott said. “Hollsy as my defensive partner and all this coming together.”
Career minor-leaguer Holl was up on emergency recall after a virus came through the dressing room the past couple of games and took out Ron Hainsey and Roman Polak. With Morgan Rielly already missing with an arm injury, that was 2,000 NHL games of blue-line experience that goalie Frederik Andersen no longer had.
But the night unfolded perfectly for the Leafs, led by Dermott and Holl’s milestones.
Toronto won in regulation at home for the first time since Dec. 19 and has its first three-game win streak since earlier that month. They fired 50 shots at the Isles, who’d played, lost and travelled Tuesday night.
“Good for those kids,” said head coach Mike Babcock of Holl and Dermott. “It (a first goal) only happens once. I saw a few tears between periods. It’s a family accomplishment.”
Holl was travelling back from the AHL all-star game in Utica, N.Y., on Wednesday, where he’d replaced Dermott as a Marlies rep after his callup, when his GM, Kyle Dubas, put him on alert he might be needed.
Three hours before puck drop came the order to get to the ACC, followed by a text from Dermott.
“(It said): ‘We’re playing together, I’ve had chills for the last five minutes, let’s go’,” Holl laughed.
“There was anxiousness for me to start the game. The first two shifts, you don’t want to do anything too stupid, then you get in a groove. It’s nice to play with Travis. We’re two guys on the same page.”
Holl’s arrival ended a long day of lineup pieces moving around the board. Nikita Zaitsev came back on defence after almost seven weeks away with a broken foot, reunited with Jake Gardiner. Babcock had made the decision to sit Matt Martin a third straight game, logical when the back-to-back road wins before the break were factored in, but tough nonetheless for Martin, a former Islander who relishes the chance to play against his old team.
Babcock’s conscience was eased when Kasperi Kapanen, whose scoring touch on the farm put him in ahead of Martin, banged in his third of the year from a crease scramble after goalie Thomas Greiss lost sight of a rebound. Then came Auston Matthews’ 23rd, Mitch Marner’s tip of Nazem Kadri’s feed and Dermott’s steal with give-and-go help from William Nylander. Dermott’s helmet strap wound up in his mouth in the ensuing pile on of celebrants.
Holl was so comfortable jumping into the play by the third period, that he came down the right side and beat Greiss, with Matthews and Dermott assisting, the latter the first to jump into his arms.
“We just built off that (last pre-break game) in Dallas, skated well and didn’t allow them to track well,” said Matthews. “That was a special moment for a couple of fathers in the stands. I saw Dermott’s dad (Jim) on the Jumbotron. He was pretty excited.
“Those two stepped up big tonight, not only on the scoresheet, but with little plays defensively.”
The Leafs will now be in the same boat as the Isles on Thursday, with a back-to-back against the Rangers at MSG.
Andersen was both good and lucky at the start of his first game in a week, with a couple of screen shots hitting him and another blooping over and landing atop the net. But he made 28 saves for his eighth Leafs shutout.
Matthews didn’t miss on his fourth goal in five games, expertly converting a bouncing Zach Hyman rebound while another assist stretched Gardiner’s career-best six-game streak to a total of 10 helpers.
“What better way to say ‘thank you’ to your dad,” said Babcock of the trip concept, begun years ago by other teams. He lost his own father at any early age.
“He gets to be in the NHL for three days and sees everything you do. You wouldn’t be here without your parents. Just enjoy it. Before long, your dad’s not here.”
Kadri’s father Sam is a regular on the trip.
“It means a lot,” said the younger Kadri. “It’s important for them to get a bit of the spotlight. I know how he enjoys being on the inside and seeing how things work.
“With them in the stands, I think our record is pretty good from what I remember. Hopefully, they give us that little bit more of an incentive. My dad (and grandfather also named Nazem), they were the first guys at the glass, cheering me on, taking me to my tournaments. Sometimes hockey is expensive and, financially, it would have been hard and easy for them to throw in the towel. Fathers have to have more, if not the same, determination that the players.”
The appearance of potential UFA John Tavares in his GTA home was rather muted, with the Isles’ over-50 club of himself (57 points), rookie star Mathew Barzal (51) and Josh Bailey (55) held off the board.
Tavares made an extra move to stuff in a power-play goal opportunity and was foiled by Andersen, shortly after taking a retaliation high stick on Connor Carrick. Andersen also squirmed to get back in position to deny a Tavares backhand on an empty net.
LEAFS BLUELINE BUGGED BY THE FLU
The Maple Leafs didn’t need a flu bug sweeping through their dressing room on the eve of a road trip.
So when head coach Mike Babcock got word that Ron Hainsey and Roman Polak were quite ill at home, he called up Justin Holl from the Marlies to make sure he had six defencemen and gambled the wall would hold on Wednesady at home against the New York Islanders. Toronto made it through with a 5-0 win and Babcock was not keen on bringing the two ailing blueliners to New York Ciy and Boston.
“They had upset stomachs the whole day, with their whole families,” Babcock said. “We thought they were getting regrouped (as the day wore on) but they weren’t. I don’t think they’ll be flying with the team (while) contagious.”
A decision on them travelling separately to will be made later. At least Babcock did have workhorse Nikita Zaitsev back Wednesday after seven weeks out with a broken foot from a shot block, the danger of falling below six defenders.
Holl, from Tonka Bay, Minn., and a friend of Leafs blueliner Jake Gardiner, has 20 points in 39 AHL games. He was originally a second- round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, but has played more than 200 games in the minors. He has been under NHL contract to the Leafs the past two years.