Leaf Takeaways: Kirill thrills, Gavin’s gaffes, more on loss

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Through a short training camp, the Maple Leafs embraced the idea that change was a good thing.

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On opening night, all the moves might have been a drawback in a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena.

“We had a lot of new guys and looked a little bit like a new team,” coach Jim Hiller said. “We just weren’t connecting with our passes. I don’t know if that was nerves or (some guys) being in the building for the first time. We weren’t clean as a team.”

Toronto brought part of that on itself with a last-minute trade for Kirill Marchenko, though he did well for a guy who slept just four hours Monday night after flying in from Columbus in the Matthew Knies trade.

Our takeaways, as the Leafs went 0-1 to start an 84-game season:

Kirill turns a new Leaf

It was decided to play Marchenko after his immigration issues were fixed, but not to move Jack Roslovic off the right side with Auston Matthews. With no practice, Marchenko had no problems switching to the left as the line generated eight of Toronto’s 27 shots.

Matthews did his homework on the Russian.

“I remember telling people about three years ago, I thought he was the best unknown player in the league,” Matthews said.

He also was impressed to hear Marchenko had worn 34 in Russia in homage.

Exiting the ice on his first shift, Marchenko took his man out to allow William Nylander room to set up the game’s opening goal and got his first Leaf assist.

“Happy to be here,” Marchenko said of donning No. 86 and settling a $75 million US, six-year contract extension earlier in the day. “Now I can focus on myself, my game.”

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School just got tougher for McKenna

The first overall pick in the NHL draft, Gavin McKenna had not looked out of place all camp, but his first live-fire game was a challenge.

The possession and creativity he was allowed in two exhibitions against split Montreal and Ottawa squads was denied by the tight checking Canadiens’ regulars. A couple of his passes were picked off, one that resulted in Alexandre Carrier’s game-winner.

“Not great,” he assessed. “It was a little bit of an adjustment, maybe nerves or something. It’s fast out there and you have to make do with what you’ve got. I’m glad we’re playing again (on Wednesday, a home against the Islanders), so I can bounce back.”

Centre John Tavares was quick to have his young tenant’s back.

“It wasn’t my best either and not the cleanest of games. Sometimes if you’re Gavin or myself (1,300-plus NHL appearances) you learn to adapt to the flow of the game.”

McKenna did hear a huge ovation during his intro and the evening was no doubt memorable for about 14 people who came from Whitehorse, Yukon for him.

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There will be better nights ahead for McKenna, who Hiller noted made greats strides in his second exhibition after being too tentative in his first and expects the same against the Isles.

What about other new kids on the block?

Sergei Bobrovsky had to be alert on a few repercussions of Toronto’s 22 giveaways, five chalked up to defenceman Darren Raddysh in his first night as a Leaf and partnering Morgan Rielly. The best of Raddysh’s big shots pinballed off a couple of sticks before one of many nice stops by Jakub Dobes.

Raddysh, one of two GTA natives with Nick Paul, made no excuses for himself or teammates about the short September runway.

“Training camp is over and you just have to be ready. Regular season is a lot different than pre-season, a lot of bigger boys. It was good to finally play a real game with Morgan and build off the chemistry we’ve had.”

The Leafs, whose faceoff numbers remained strong despite last year’s struggles, won just 40 per cent on Tuesday. Fourth-liner Teddy Blueger lost seven of eight, though the rebuilt third and fourth units brought the desired energy.

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby

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