I thought Sparks was better, but still not great. He did a great job making the initial save, but he was still swimming around in his net a fair bit. He did seem to manage to largely control his rebounds, which really impressed me given his questionable positioning. Regardless, huge bounce back game for him, and he did his part to keep us on top.
I didn't think the Leafs played great, but it's not really like the Kings had that many good chances to score. And they really do lack foot speed and talent. There is no way this version of the Kings win anything of significance in the coming years.
Auston continues to look beastly. I thought that was the worst game of the year for the Tavares line, although they still managed to score.
Kadri and Lindholm continue to look awesome, and I thought Leivo carried the fourth line (LOF, this is my eye test, hope you approve
)
And yeah, Kapanen is a player. Poor timing for his break out from the team perspective with his pending free agency, but I'll take it. The Kessel return is actually looking much more palatable now... Kappy and Andy, essentially. And we pay part of his salary.
This team is pretty impressive though. There is just so much talent that we can get away with firing on only some cylinders and still win handily. Gonna be a fun season.