Jake Muzzin, who signed for the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this ear, put up a display of his strength in the preseason game against Buffalo Sabres. Entering his 10th NHL season, Muzzin might not be one who need to showcase anything special to earn a place in the team, but his performance in his first full pre-season match was worth catching an eye.

Most notably, he gave heavy blow to Victor Olofsson along the boards and then completely dumped him into the Leaf’s bench. This created an overload for the Sabres and they conceded on the counter as the Maple Leafs came shorthanded to score in transition.

Speaking after the match about the incident, Muzzin said that he saw it only in the replay, and felt it was “awkward.”

“I didn’t see it. I was in the middle of a change, but I saw a replay. (It was) kind of an awkward hit I think. Thankfully, no serious injury. We just got to have an eye on, when guys are stepping up like that. But I didn’t really see the hit, so I don’t really want to get into it.”

The Maple Leafs eventually lost the match 5-3, but Muzzin felt that his team played well enough and he also accepted a mistake on his part that led the opponent to the goal.

“We started really well, controlled most of the play,” he said. “(We) let them back in late the first period and then we threw a stinker throughout the second. A lot of turnovers allowed them to get four checks in zone play. We took penalties, they scored. Costly mistake by me late in the game turns into a goal for them.”

“I thought we had good start and we are looking to do that.”

He was also hugely impressed with their goalkeeper, without whom, the Canadian thought, things could have been lot worse.

“Couple of big saves. He settled things down on their powerplay,” Muzzin said. It felt safe. Even though the got one, he made a lot of big saves and it could have been a lot worse.”