Nikita Grebenkin and Fraser Minten made brilliant debuts in the victory over the Maple Leafs

Nikita Grebenkin and Fraser Minten were given big opportunities with the Toronto Maple Leafs and not only made an impact, but excelled in their debuts against the Vegas Golden Knights. It also marked Grebenkin’s NHL debut, coming to the league after being selected in the fifth round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

Minten scored the first goal of his NHL career, finishing off a brilliant feed from William Nylander to open the scoring. Matthew Nice, who left the game in the second period and did not return after being hit by Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud, excelled in all situations throughout the evening.

“There’s a lineup change and sometimes when you come off the bench in a hurry, they don’t catch you. So I just tried to stay there in the quiet ice. And I know Willie sees everything, so I was just waiting for something, and he made a great pass,” Minten said of his goal after the game.

The 20-year-old was promoted to Toronto’s top power play unit when Knies left the game. He created a good shorthanded chance, working in tandem with Mitch Marner, created four individual scoring chances overall and finished third in the table. The Maple Leafs scored individual expected goals using Natural Stat Trick. Minten created chaos from the start and created a dangerous chance that was blocked by Golden Knights defenseman Kayden Korczak before the goal.