New York. Ryan O’Reilly’s Toronto story began as it should.
He immediately participated in the winning classic duel against Montreal – and answered for an assist.
“It was a crazy day, but this was exhilarating,” says the new Maple Leafs star after a 5-1 victory in which Swedes William Nylander and Pierre Engvall each contributed a goal.
It’s really fast paced in the NHL sometimes.
Late Friday night, news broke that Toronto had traded star centers Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Cardinals. Lewis Blues.
Last night, less than a day later, they both debuted with their new team – in a heated derby against the Montreal Canadiens at the Scotiabank Arena.
The past 24 hours have been absolutely crazy. I woke up in St. Louis, played this game with my new team in Toronto and fell asleep in Chicago (where the Leafs flew right after the last mention of the new game on Sunday), the 32-year-old Canadian smiled.
– I hardly understand what happened, but at the same time it’s nice to throw myself straight in and start the process, and playing the match was really exciting.
“Very good team”
It went well too. Admittedly he missed his first chance to score after just a few seconds, but later in the game he assisted on a goal scored by Michael Ponting and above all else: the Leafs won 5-1
– This is a very good team and you can tell from the boys that they really want to win. It’s great to be a part of it, notes O’Reilly.
One of them being William Nylander, who was again great, scoring his 31st goal of the season to take back the scoring lead. Pierre Engvall also scored and even played one. Rasmus Sandin, for his part, had two assists and Cal Jarnkreuk for one.