It became clear early on last night that the game was going to live and die by the play of Karel Vejmelka. The Arizona Coyotes had a few good chances early in the opening minutes, but it didn’t take long for the Toronto Maple Leafs to start dictating the game’s pace and dominant possession.
Unfortunately, as we have seen time and again, if the Coyotes get trapped, they start taking penalties. Midway through the opening frame, the Coyotes took two penalties almost back-to-back, and the Leafs did everything they could but score. Toronto has the league’s best power play, and they indeed showed it, making goaltender Karel Vejmelka make 11 saves while the Yotes were down a man.