I Watched This Game: Here's to the Next 100 Years

In a rare occurrence, there was a mid-afternoon weekday game that wasn't on a holiday. Why? It marks the first game of the next 100 years of the NHL's existence, as on this day, the first two games of the NHL's existence happened on this date in 1917, as the Montreal Canadiens and original Ottawa Senators squared off, as well as the Montreal Wanderers and the then-Toronto Arenas. The Canadiens and Senators had their Centennial game outdoors at Landsdowne on Saturday, and now, it's the Maple Leafs' turn today. Unfortunately, there is no team that can actually imitate the Wanderers, so the Carolina Hurricanes will have to do. Yes, I watched this game.

• In case you were wondering about the Arenas-Wanderers game, it ended up being a 10-9 affair that went the Wanderers' way. Remember that, as it will be important later.
• The Leafs, who are wearing sweaters similar to what you see above, are once again without Auston Matthews, who has been sidelined for the past few games.
• Despite Matt Martin in the box for holding, the Leafs get on the board first, as Leo Komarov nets a short-hander past Scott Darling to give the Leafs the lead.
• Shortly after Martin gets out of the box, Roman Polak puts a hit on Marcus Kruger. Josh Jooris takes exception, and both he and Polak scrap. Both get five, but Jooris gets the extra two minutes, putting the Leafs on the power play.
• Mitch Marner finally decided to break out of a scoring slump on the ensuing power play, wristing one past Darling after making a few Hurricanes look like pylons.
• Komarov and Justin Williams decide to have a scrap of their own, and both sit for five minutes each.
• Jeff Skinner dangles half the team, and beats Frederik Andersen to cut the lead in half. Andersen should have stopped that one.
• Brett Pesce decides to be a perp and slash. His reward is two minutes in the box.
• A mad scramble in front of the Hurricanes net saw Darling make a pretty good save. Unfortunately for him, James van Riemsdyk was on the other side of him and he found the puck, which he puts past him to make it 3-1.
• Remember when I said Marner picked the perfect time to break out of his slump? Well, he decided to put together the best individual effort of the game, leading the Hurricanes on a merry chase around their own zone before finding Tyler Bozak in the slot. Bozak makes no mistake and makes it 4-1 Leafs.
• That 10-9 score from 100 years ago? The Leafs may very well be matching that total at this rate.
• van Riemsdyk misses a chance to put the Leafs up by four, and breaks his stick on Victor Rask's stick. That's no good, and he sits for two minutes. 
• Shortly after that penalty was killed, Nazem Kadri gets careless with his stick, and has to sit for two minutes for getting his stick too high.
• 4-1 after one period, and the Hurricanes get carry over power play time, but they better find offense fast.
• The second period was uneventful, as nothing happened, and it remains 4-1 Leafs.
• A van Riemsdyk cross check puts the Hurricanes on the power play, but they do jack all and it remains 4-1.
• Leafs' passing gets rewarded with a goal, as Patrick Marleau manages to bank a shot from behind the net off of Justin Faulk and into the net to make it 5-1 Leafs.
• Before I could begin typing that last sentence, the Hurricanes bungle the faceoff, and Kasperi Kapanen takes the puck and lets loose a laser past Darling to make it 6-1.
• William Nylander decides to get in on the scoring, as he too, wrists one past Darling. 7-1 Leafs.
• Sebastian Aho holds, so he is sitting for two minutes.
• Connor Carrick scores with 90 seconds left in the game, making it 8-1 Leafs, and the possibility of them matching the Arenas' score from 100 years ago.
• Game over, and the Maple Leafs have to settle for eight. They needed this game to break out of a recent drought offensively, and Marner's performance was especially needed, as he had his drought broken this game, as well.

The Maple Leafs fans were treated to a great game, and many of the school children took some time off to catch this game. Here's to the next 100 years of the NHL.