Month: January 2022

Atlantic division and age-old rivals Detroit and Toronto went head to head as part of the Hockey Day in Canada festivities.  The Red Wings were coming off a shootout road win against the Penguins on Friday, moving their record to .500 at 19-19-6.  Tonight’s games was played in Detroit where the Wings sport a respectable 13-7-3 record.

The Maple Leafs have had a very light COVID related schedule lately, having played only 9 games since December 14.  That pace steps up considerably as they play 3 in 4 and then 11 games in the following 21 days.  Jake Muzzin was still out, while Liligren passed concussion protocol to rejoin the lineup and Petr Mrazek playing his first game of 2 in the next 4 days.

Most observers would have thought that the well rested/short travel Leafs would be the ones to come out guns a blazin’.  Unlike the Wings who had a late-night flight back from Pittsburgh.  Opposite.  The Red Wings started very assertively and took the lead with less than 2 minutes gone.  Captain Dylan Larkin took a nice breakaway feed to roof one on Mrazek after a deep pinch went bad for Morgan Rielly.  About halfway through the first, Coach Sheldon Keefe put on his juggling hat and in a span of about 5 minutes of playing time, he had combos like Bunting/Kampf/ Kase, Nylander/Marner/Mathews and Tavares/Mikaev/Kerfoot out there.  I always loved the genius of Scotty Bowman back in the 70’s and how he would juggle all that talent up front !

The only line Keefe didn’t mess with was the 4^th and they came through with a cheapie off Engvall from Reilly and Spezza to tie it at ones after one.

The Toronto squad tried to play off their late period momentum with a couple of close in chances to start the second.  But a HUGE 5-hole score moved the Wings back in front.  Not :55 seconds later Tyler Bertuzzi capitalized, undressing Marner at the Leafs line to move in with a wrister up top. 3-1.

Detroit didn’t stop there, pounding the Leafs with a rather embarrassing d-zone shift that had Sandin and Holl on for a mammoth 2:45 seconds.  Bunting tipped in a clever point shot to make it interesting but then a too many men on the Leafs allowed Larkin to pump in his 14^th on the ensuing power play.  4-2 end of second.

OK, who amongst Leafs’ Nation would have thought Toronto would win a 7-4 game after going in to the third down 4-2.  Core 4 – zero – no cohesion – questionable goaltending.  And yet, here’s this nice Scarborough boy pounding in 2 more to score his hat trick, Marner/Mathews and Taveres coming out of their slumber and Coach Keefe going back to his old standbys to make it all happen.  At around the 12 minute mark Keefe had seen enough.  Back he’d go to what brought him there to date.  Bunting with amazing eye/hand co-ordination put Leafs back in the game at 10:32 and then “bunts” in his hat trick goal to tie it from his mates Mathews and Marner.

Rasmus Sandin got on the scoreboard with the winner, Marner puts in an empty netter and then Captain Johhny flipped one in to make the final 7-4.  Great comeback.

HOPPER NOTES:  Sad to hear about HNIC Pioneer Ralph Mellanby’s passing.  He was THE Emmy winning executive producer, innovator of all things hockey production related and respected throughout the industry.  As some of you know, I got my start in local cable TV sports production and I finally got up the nerve to send Ralph a demo tape of my work to date.  I got the interview, and I was in heaven.  So, I’m waiting in his office and who should drop by but Mickey Redmond, Gary Dornhoffer, Don Cherry and a bunch of his other stars.  Our interview was short but he told me they were looking for a studio floor manager.  I got a call later from Frank Seke Jr. saying that they had “gone in another direction”.  One of the most devasting days of my life.  Anyways, is it just me or does Ilya Mickaev seem a little accident prone…a lot of the pundits seem to be feeling sorry for Nylander moving “down” to the third line….if anyone should be whining, shouldn’t it be Mathews who lost his best little pal in Marner ?…I just LOVE the Hockey Day in Canada initiative…call me old school, but why does Dylan Larkin wear his “C” on the wrong chest ? …guys I wish I had on my team (take your choice)  Meritz Syder or Lucas Raymond – BOTH future d-man stars…looks like Stevie Y’s patience is starting to pay off….

Cheers-thanks for tuning-comments welcome !

The Anaheim Ducks rode into Toronto tonight posting a rather impressive 21-16-7 record for 49 points in 44 games.  They are coming off solid road wins in Tampa Bay and Boston.  And although Head Coach Dallas Eakins and nasty D-man Josh Manson were missing under COVID protocol, this club sports a pretty good looking roster led by the ageless Ryan Getzlaf, steady goaltending from John Gibson and an array of young potential stars like Troy Terry (23 goals), back of the net “flipper” Trevor Zegras and future star D-man Jamie Drysdale.

The host Toronto Maple Leafs meanwhile debuted their newly realigned forward combinations, basically playing musical chairs with their right wingers.  Coach Sheldon Keefe’s objective was to distribute the goal scoring more amongst the top three lines.  Ondre Kase was moved up to play alongside Mathews and Bunting, Marner moved in alongside Tavares and Mikaev and Nylander was installed to the “third” line to lead the offence in combo with Kampf and Kerfoot.  Pre-game, I liked it a lot.

 The Leaf new alignments were a little tentative and lacked cohesion during their first real test against NHL level, hi test competition.  In fact, they had an own goal just 3 minutes in.  Later in the period as the Leafs applied their dominance, Anaheim’s desperation caused some dumb penalties.  A great dive by Mickaev led to Mitch Marner actually shooting and surprising Ducks’ Gibson on a power play, to tie the game up.  That goal signified Morgan Reilly’s 100^th career PP assist.  With just 38 seconds left, Nylander popped in his 17^th on another PP goal from Captain John Tavares and Mathews.  SOG 17-5 for Toronto – 2-1 after 1.

The second period followed a similar pattern to the first in that the new Toronto combos were still feeling each other out.  A standout was the low cycle game of the Tavares, Marner Michaev line.  The Leafs eventually got out with their familiar PP compliment to move the score to 3-1 as Tavares roofed a nice feed from Marner and Mathews.  Shortly thereafter, Jacob Silverberg came right out of the penalty box to make things close again.  The Leafs were probably happy to get out of that period with the 3-2 lead.  Goalie Gibson was full measure for holding his squad in the game despite the 31-11 SOG disadvantage.

Kevin Shattenkirk made life very interesting for all concerned after a rather soft goal to tie it at 3’s.  The Ducks weren’t about to quit either as they pressed the Leafs despite being outshot 40- to 19 at the end of regulation.  3 on 3 solved nothing even though Tavares, Mathews, Nylander (x 2) and Sandin (goal post) were all over Gibson.  The ensuing shootout went thusly, Spezza goal, Zegras goal, Mathews goal, Campbell save, Gibson save, Campbell save.  Final 4-3 Leafs.

HOPPER NOTES:  About the new line combos for the Leafs ?  Well, as Jim Carrey said in “Dumb and Dumber”  I like it a lot…hadn’t mentioned the LEAFS 4^th line, but they are at their strongest now with Spezza centering Engvall and Simmonds…PP and PK units were also strong throughout…especially like the PK combos of Kase/Engvall and Marner/Kampf…always enjoy the clever use of Tavares, Nylander and Mathews immediately following the PK…Guys I wish I had on my team, Jamie Drysdale…

Cheers – enjoy – feel free to comment !

Be honest, if I had told you 12 months ago that the New York Islanders would be struggling to get out of the Metropolitan Division basement at the end of January, you’d have thought I was joking/crazy right ?  But here we are, in our miserable COVID world and the top 4 in that division (Carolina, Rangers, Capitals and the Penguins) are only 3 points apart jockeying between 56 and 53 points.  The “bottom 4” Phillly, Islanders, Columbus and the Devils are lounging around in the 33 to 37 point range.  Granted the Islanders, the worst hit by injury/COVID have only played 33 games, by far the lowest in the division.

The good news for the Isles is that they are nearing full strength health wise (still without Kyle Palmieri and steady d-man Ryan Pulloch).  They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 and looking to make up ground in a hurry with a ton of home games in the coming weeks/months.  For tonight’s game versus the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, they also had the sentimental motivation of playing for their former Captain Clark Gillies who died yesterday at the age of just 67.

The Leafs are coming off another blown lead against the Rangers and some minor controversy about some post game comments made by Sheldon Keefe.  Petr Marazak was in goal at the state of art UBS Arena and of course the still disappointed Islander fans were out to spew their anger at Johan Tavares.  The Muzzin/Holl combo was out and newbie Carl Dahlstrom was given a chance to show his value.

Nice tributes to Clark Gillies both before and during the game.  Well deserved – loved the guy !

Mitch Marner continued his impressive return to the lineup with a five hole blooper shorty with 6:35 to go in the first.  Zach Parise scored his second to tie it up with a last minute chip in over Marazek’s shoulder.  But, the Leafs third line of Engvall, Mikaev and Krampf would bury one with only .02 to go to make it 2-1 going into the room.

The most significant thing that happened in an uneventful second period was Toronto going up 3 to 1.  A huge uh-oh could be heard from around Leafs nation.  A strong forecheck allowed Reilly to convert a nice short sider from Nylander.  This was all despite the big Islander forwards just pounding the Leaf D young’uns every chance they got.  Would they be able to handle that pressure for the last period ?

The visitors came out assertive in the final stanza motivated to lose that “softness” tag.  They were diligent on loose pucks and won the majority of the 50/50 battles.  Petr Mrazek had his best showing as a Leaf to date, standing tall especially in the closing minutes.  The Leafs were outshot 26-23 by the home team.

HOPPER NOTES:  Question:  should active players be allowed to endorse betting sites (even when they’re playing in that night’s broadcast game) ?  Guys I’d like on my team:  the entire Islanders 4^th line…in my opinion, the Toronto defence as it stands, will not stand up to playoff pressure….here is my solution: send Justin Holl, Nick Robertson and Topi Niemeca to Dallas for John Klingberg…send Travis McDermott to Seatle for Marc Giandarno…new pairings would be:

                        Reilly               Klingberg

                        Giordano        Brodie

                        Muzzin            Sandin

                                    Liligren

Discuss – Cheers – Comments Welcome !

Tonight’s matchup between the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs in Manhattan is the final of 3 between these top contending teams.  The first 2 games ended in identical 2-1 scores, each team winning one.  Rangers’ goalie sensation, Igor Shesterkin had 71 shots fired at him by the Leafs and they only got 3 past him.  Igor has won 12 of his last 14 games.

The very competitive Metropolitan Division sees the Rangers in tough against Carolina, Washington and Pittsburgh with only 3 points separating the top clubs.  The Rangers have won 6 of their last 8 contests.

The Leafs were without Jake Muzzin (concussion symptoms) and Justin Holl (COVID protocol).  Adjustments were pairing the young Swedes Sandin and Liligren and bringing in Alex Biega to play with Dermott.  The always steady pair of Morgan Reilly (17 points in his 13 games) and TJ Brodie got a lot of ice time in this one.

Leafs Nation is starting a love affair with that third line !  Another strong forecheck goal opened the scoring at the 2:44 mark as Ilya Mikaev popped in his 6th goal in 8 games from Pierre Engvall.  Lo and Behold, Mitchell Marner got the monkey off his back by scoring a power play goal shortly thereafter, 2 zip Leafs.  Some diligence of their own netted the Rangers a goal by Ryan Reaves (his first as a Ranger). To make things interesting Michael Bunting “bunted” one in off his knee from Liligren and Mathews to close out the scoring.  Was it just me, or were there a lack of pee breaks throughout that period.  As a hockey fan I loved – my bladder, not so much.

The Rangers slowly crawled there way back in the game throughout the second period.  First, scoring juggernaut Ryan Reaves put one up over Soup’s shoulder to make it close.  After a nice stand up hjt by Jacob Trouba on Reilly in open ice, the Rangers Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox tied it.  A penetrating Leafs power play in the last 2 minutes went for not and the period ended at three’s.

Ryan Strome broke the tie with 9:10 to go off a fortuitous bounce from Panarin.  This came after several top level saves from Jack Campbell.  Despite the Leafs relentless pressure, NYR goalie Shesterkin made consecutive breakaway saves off Nylander and Engvall amongst his 18 consecutive saves since falling behind.  Chris Kreider scored his 25^th (to tie Mathews) to make it 5 to 3 before Adam Fox put away for good with an empty netter with 2:24 to go.  Make the final Rangers 6 the Leafs 3.

Hopper notes:  Austin Mathews ended his road goal scoring streak at 9…if you were Jack Campbell (and/or his agent) would you be asking for $5 or $6m next year ? …Holy crap that Kreider is a big dude… I think we all take TJ Broadie for granted…guys I wish I had on my team, Jacob Trouba…

Discuss – Cheers – Comments welcome !

There wasn’t really much to choose between tonight’s combatants from Toronto and St. Louis.  Both clubs are top 10 offensively and defensively, they both have 49 points although the Leafs have 2 games in hand and 1 more win and both have been rather on a roll lately with the Blues winning 10 of their last 13 and Toronto 5 of 7.

What Leafs Nation was looking for was a bounce back from that horrific outing in the dessert and watching Mitchell Marner’s return to see how he could help Austin Mathews score in his 10^th straight road game.  The Blues still have some of their old standbys: Victor Taresenko, Ryan O’Reilly, Robert Thomas, Jordan Binnington and Coach Craig Berube from that 2019 Cup team and made the significant addition of Tory Krug to replace the departed Alex Pietrangelo.

I guess that “playing down to your opponent” saying is true.  You’d be hard pressed to compare tonight’s Toronto Maple Leafs team to the one from the other night in Arizona.  Similar to their strong showings in Colorado and Las Vegas, the LEAFS came out flying despite going down 1-0 on a clever give and go to O’Reilly at the 4 minute mark.

But just 1:45 later Michael Bunting got his first goal in 10 from Mathews and Morgan Reilly (his 30^th point of the season).  And then, another 1:49 later, Marner pulled a slick O-Zone steal to pot his first goal since November to put the Leafs in the lead.  As if that wasn’t enough, John Tavares who has been a little sleepy the last couple of games roofed another to give some insurance from Kerfoot (his 20^th A).  Coach Berube immediately called a timeout to settle his squad.

A little nastiness resulted from some “tit for tat” hits creating a spirited 4 on 4 to set the stage for what would be an interesting second stanza.

As predicted, both teams came out firing, but as proven throughout the season the second is the St Louis Blues strongest period.  They tied the game up in the first 5 minutes on goals by O’Reilly and Brandon Saad.  They were well on their way to taking the lead with another goalmouth assault when the Leafs finally got a whistle.  This prompted Coach Keefe to take his turn at a timeout to settle his squad.

Not long after, the David Kampf line with Pierre Engvall and Mikahev put on a dazzling display of high pressure forechecking which led to Timothy Liligren’s first goal as an NHLer in his 34^th game.  The Blues All-Star candidate is 23 year old Jordan Kyrou.  He’s had 37 points in 33 games.  He shovelled a lovely back door feed to linemate Mike Thomas to tie the game up at fours at 16:13.

The Blues showed their grit with a slam dunk rebound to take the lead less than 3 minutes in.  Unlike recent 3^rd period collapses the LEAFS kept plugging away with a PP goal from (who else?) Austin Mathews.  This was his 10th road game goal in a row and his 25^th overall on the season.  Lady luck shone down on the visitors tonight as a “cheap ass” goal line tally from Mickaev snuck in for the winning goal with only 3:15 to go.  WOW – what great Hockey game !

HOPPER NOTES:  The Blues are well worth the prize of admission.  Their somewhat depleted line-up had Parenko and Taresenko  out – at full strength they could well be back to challenging for the Stanley Cup this June.  Guys I’d like on my team – #77 Niko Mikkola…final SOG 40-25 Leafs…I like Garry Gailey as a colour analyst…Liligren was out there in the last minute on two occasions !

Discuss – Cheers – Comments always welcome !

Should we all throw a pity party for the pathetic Arizona Coyotes ? 

Oh sure, they’ve been around for 20 years, they stole our original Winnipeg Jets, went to one conference final, have gone through a billion uniform/brand changes, ruined Wayne Gretzky’s coaching career and have generally sucked.  But pity ?

We don’t get to see them much here in the east, but most of the news is bad.  Who’s in as coach, who’s the latest GM, do they even have a rink to play in ?!?   Can they even afford Austin Mathews if/when he becomes available ?

The bright side is a new General Manager in Bill Armstrong who will benefit from a full cupboard (2 first rounders, 5  seconds) of draft picks this summer.  Add to this the trade bait of scoring warrior Phil Kessel, solid D-Man Jacob Chychrun and 2-time Canadian Junior Champ Lawson Crouse and the future looks OK.  This year – not so much.

What can you say about a lackluster period played at half speed to a half capacity house ?  A cheap goal off the stantion on only their 3^rd shot of the period gave the Desert Dogs a 1-0 lead.  This despite being outshot 20 to 6 by their guests.

This gives me an opportunity to cautiously support my old pal Glennie’s theory that maybe the Leafs don’t really need Mitchell Marner and his boat anchor $11m hit against the cap.  Trade him and Holl for a tough/stud, 2nd team RD and Dubas has just found himself with the $5-6m to pay Soup and still give raises to Kase and Rasmus Sandin.  Hmmmmm.

I may be the only one in Leafs Nation that was still awake when the second period buzzer sounded.  A late Leaf flurry only added to their 33-12 SOG advantage, to no avail.  As Chandler Bing used to say : “Could I have BEEN more bored ?!?”  Not one of the Leafs “secondary scorers” (nor supastas) stepped up.  Granted the Coyotes had a special eye on Mathews, but come on !  The only ones I felt sorry for was the broadcast team.  They probably needed a smack in the head every now and then just to keep them awake.

And then, just 14 seconds in, Austin Mathews buries his 24^th and more importantly his Leaf team record 9^th road game goal in a row.  Frank Mahovlich, Babe Dye and Daniel Marois step aside.  That well known sniper Dzingal got his second of the night to assure the Coyotes got their 3^rd home win of the season.

HOPPER NOTES: Great interview by Renatta Fast pre game indicating that the Women’s Team Canada has already started isolating in anticipation of Bejjing…always love to hear the original Hockey Night in Canada theme used on TSN…second most boring story on the sports docket: Novaxx (thank you Dave Hodge) Jokovitch at the Australian Open…who would ever thought that Phil Kessel would be playing his 934^th  consecutive NHL game, closing in on current Iron Man Doug Jarvis ?…Just finished my first Christmas gift book, Mark Messier’s “No One Wins Alone” – great read…next is Hayley Wickenheiser’s “Over the Boards”…And, for the second game in a row, where was Captain Johnny T ?…final shots on goal 46-18…

Cheers – Discuss – comments always welcome !

The Toronto Maple Leafs escape the snowy, COVID affected north to drop in on “Sin City” for their second and final game versus the 23-14-1 Las Vegas Golden Knights, the Pacific Division leading team.

Vegas has not exactly lit up their home record this year, sporting a middling 12-9-1 record.  Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theadore form the top pair and some guy named Chandler Stephenson from Saskatoon is leading their offence with 35 points in 37 games.

The visitors were hoping that energetic winger Ondre Kase could rejoin for tonight’s game and perhaps even move into Mitchell Marner’s role on the right side with team leading scorer Austin Mathews.

Both teams were coming off one goal losses, so there was plenty of motivation.  The Toronto squad got off to a pretty fast start with William Nylander deking in to score his 16^th off a great lead pass from Morgan Rielly.  That was Reilly’s 11^th point in his last 8 games.  With Max Pachiority (wrist) and Theadore (COVID) out, the Vegas power play still came to shine as Keegan Kolesar pounded in a short side rebounder from Stephanson to tie it up at the 11^th minute mark.

The hometown Golden Knights came out to start the second period with some serious jam.  They kept the visitors hemmed in for what seemed like forever.  Desperate Leaf icings didn’t help.  Morgan Reilly for example was on the ice for 2 minutes and 49 seconds.  Vegas continued to press with 11 straight shots but Jack Cambell held the fort.  Even after Jake Muzzin put it out over the glass, the ensuing power play did not help the home team.

Austin Mathews continued his dominance with his 23^rd goal from Kase and Bunting.  It was his 8^th consecutive road game goal.  Rasmus Sandin stood his opponent up with a perfectly timed shoulder check at the Leaf line.  Ilya Mikaev tapped in a beauty off the backboard for his 4^th from Wayne Simmonds.  3-1 Leafs after two.

William Karlsson, he of the $6m contract, scored his 5^th goal of the season to start off the third stanza.  That was followed by a power play goal by superstar Alex Pietrangelo to tie the game up at 3-3.  Since the Leafs had only 17 shots on goal all game, the thought of coming back for a win in regulation was rather slim.  An exciting 3 on 3 overtime (have you ever seen a dull one?) solved nothing.  Save, Save, Save, Save and another Save left it to Nylander to close it out.  Leafs 4 Vegas 3.

HOPPER NOTES:  It was so obvious from the first period coverage that TSN had some serious audio challenges.  At first, I thought that Gord and Ray were off site (COVID?) doing the call.  The “international” sound didn’t match the coverage…is there a more boring story than Evander Kane getting a “second” chance ?  What in the H E double hockey sticks is OZEMPIK and why should we care ?  A very strong looking Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey team was announced today…Nick Ritchie had some solid hits tonight…is there a bad NFL Playoff game this weekend ?  Found it curious that the Leafs bench coaches were not wearing masks….Players I wish I had on my team – Alex Pietrangelo (over 30 minutes of ice time tonight…

Discuss – Cheers – Comments always welcome !  

In one of the more anticipated games in early 2022, top NHL contenders came into the Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday pitting the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs and the red hot Colorado Avalanche.  With so many postponed games recently, it’s really not fair to measure teams by point totals but rather winning percentage to date.  The Avs are at an impressive .666 while the Leafs come in at .687.  Top teams indeed.  (BTW Carolina leads at 24 and 7 for a .750)

And why not – the Colorado squad presents a very deep roster lead by Nazem Kadri with 42 points, returning winger Mikko Rantanen with 36, Captain Gabriel Landeskog (coming off a hattrick) and superstar Nathan MacKinnon both with 33.  That is not counting superstar in the making D-Man Cale Makar with 28.  Makar and his mates on defence have in fact contributed 33 of the Avs 129 goals to date, including 14 of his own.  He and Devon Toews contribute over 25 minutes of ice per game.

As advertised, both clubs came out with a fierce pace to open the game.  A huge goalmouth save by Jack Campbell at the 6 minute mark showed he was in his zone.  Alex Kerfoot had been moved up to play with Austin Mathews and Mark Bunting due to the COVID related absence of Mitchell Marner.  It didn’t take him long to prove his worth as he floated in a beauty backhander to move the Leafs up 1-0 over his former team.  The Mathews show took over at the 5 minute mark as the Rocket Richard Trophy winner pumped in his 21^st and 22^nd in less than :30 seconds.  The first, from Reilly was another well-placed backhander and the second from Kerfoot was a typical sniper in off the post.  Coach Jared Bodnar gave starter Darcy Kuemper a “mercy” pull after the 3-0 goal, despite his recent 7-0 record.

You just can’t leave a team that has a ton of 7 goal games alone to sit around feeling sorry for themselves.  Sure enough, a sloppy, over passing play by Toronto lead to a MacKinnon goal on a nice 3-way passing play from linemates Landeskog and Rantanen.  3-1 after one.

The Leafs had to scratch Kase, Marner and Engvall.  In came Clifford, Seney (who ?) and the recently banished Nick Ritchie.  Guess who shows up with his second of the year on a second unit PP from dependable Wayne Simmonds ?  Daz right !  4-1 Tranna.  When was the last time you heard this ?  The Leafs have the second best defensive record in the entire NHL.  Soup Campbell of course has had a huge say in this remarkable stat with a slash line GAA 1.87 and a save percentage of .939.  None the less, the never say die Avs kept it interesting with a patient “walk the line” goal from Maker to make 4-2 after 2.  This game wasn’t over !

You can only rely on your goalie for so much.  The Leafs Jack Campbell had 49 shots sent his way and despite his herculin effort, it just wasn’t to be.  First it was Landeskog finally pounding in a rebound to make it 4-3 less than 10 minutes in.  The Avs relentless pressure did not subside until Comfer tied it up with 8 minutes to go.  The Leafs had been outshot 15 to 2 at this point.  Overtime !

Devon Toews put it away 5 hole to allow the Colorado club to win its 11 game in a row on home ice.  Great Game !

HOPPER NOTES: HNIC gave great support to the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) throughout the broadcast.  Somewhat surprising to hear that a lot of high-profile hockey celebrities of colour did not show up for support.  Kadri, Dumba, Simmonds et al have led the way – it’s time for those “brand conscious” people to fall in line…great skating analysis (edges etc) from Kevin Bieksa pre game using Makar and MacKinnon as examples…so nice to hear “live” cheers from Colorado…could really do without that dumb KIT KAT TV spot from Brent Burns…gotta love the versatile Kerfoot – @ $3.5 mil, he’s a bargain…I was OK with Mikahev  on the left side with Tavares and Nylander…it doesn’t get any easier for Toronto, with future dates in St. Louis, Vegas and Madison Sq Garden…guys I wish I had on my team:  Devon Towes.

Discuss – feedback welcome – cheers !

Since the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs last met on December 14, neither team has seen much game action due to COVID and The Christmas break.  The Oilers have just 2 wins in their last 12 games.  A lot of blame has been laid at the feet of their goaltending tandem.  The “other” team has scored first in 9 of their last 11. 

Also on the hot seat is Oilers Coach Dave Tippett.  His team got off to a fabulous start, flirting with first overall and now they’re barely hanging onto a wild card placing in the west.  His frustration came out during a post game presser in New York the other night when he was less than supportive of that night’s netminder Mikko Koskinen.  Hard to believe Tippett would be on the block after only 33 games, but rumours persist that the Oilers have Mike Babcock on speed dial.

The Leafs came out as if this was to be another dominant performance over a wavering Edmonton squad.  They peppered 9 shots at Westport’s Mike Smith before the game was 9 minutes old.  Lo and behold, the Leafs scored on a fluke off the backboard to expose the dreaded 1-0 score against the visitors who have suffered the same fate 24 times this season.   This reporter started to think:  has this club really quit on Dave Tippett ?

The second half of the first showed some backbone emerging from the Edmonton squad with strong forecheck pressure forcing the home squad to scramble and chase the puck.  First, Brenden Perlinni tied it at the 10 minute mark up after some poor defensive zone coverage.  Later, league leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl popped in his 26^th after an even worse job of d-coverage from the Leafs top pair.  Were Leafs showing fatigue from only playing 2 games in the last 22 days ?  They did tie it up at the :30 second mark on a crease jamming deflection goal for the sudden scoring machine TJ Broadie.

The second period decided nothing.  The Oilers dug deep to try to control the breakout power of the Maple Leafs.  While missing McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, Tyson Barrie and Derek Ryan, the foot soldiers seemed to be stepping up.  Missed chances by Marner and Ryan Macleod were the only real excitement.  Mike Smith showed his superior puck handling skills throughout this stanza.  Anytime you have a 22-17 SOG usually implies a bit of a snooze fest.

Both clubs started better in the final period making for a great showcase.  In only his third game back from a broken thumb Ilya Mikheyev showed the Leafs’ faith in him by lifting in the winner for their 8^th consecutive PP goal.  Alex Kerfoot put it away with an empty netter at :15 seconds.  Leafs 4 Oilers 2.

HOPPER NOTES:  The Leafs missed right winger Ondrej Kase due to a minor injury…Leafs Nation agree it will be nice to see him, Mikheyev and David Krampf rocking that third line…the “Mic’d Up” segment only proved to show what a class act Zach Hyman really is…after 13 days off due to COVID, Jake Muzzin did not look out of place…other than basic inactivity, Austin Mathews has fallen behind in the Rocket Richard goal scoring race…as games began tonight, Leon Draisaitl lead the way with 25, followed by Ovie with 24, Anaheim’s Terry (with last night’s hat trick) @ 21 and Chris Kreider of the Rangers at 20 alongside Mathews, also at 20…if Tippett does get fired after tonight, does he immediately get hired by the Winnipeg Jets ?  Mitchy, Mitchy, Mitchy must you ALWAYS pass? 

Since my last report on December 14^th, a couple of things have changed:  the World was taken over by a fast moving variant of COVID, shutting down all kinds of activities – including the NHL, the lucky ones had pre-tested family gatherings, arenas were cut to a 1000 seat capacity, the World Juniors were cancelled and I put the final touches on my blog site hopperonhockey.ca

Pre-game reports said that both Toronto and Ottawa would ice near full rosters for tonight’s contest.  Exceptions for the Leafs were Jake Muzzin, Timothy Liligren and Nick Ritchie (healthy scratch).

As for the Senators, most notable missing were Josh Norris, Tyler Ennis and Shane Pinto.  Goalie Matt Murray has been down in Belleville for a couple of games and got the start tonight.  Tim Stutzle had moved into the centre spot with the number line along side Brady Tkachuck and Drake Batherson.

Well, as you might expect from 2 teams that have been off (Ottawa 13 days – Leafs 18 days) for a while the rust was very evident to start the game.  Passes weren’t sharp, breakouts were pitiful.  It took the Ottawa club 11 minutes to get their first shot goal.

 A fantastic defensive play by TJ Brodie sent David Krampf away on a short handed situation.  He waited patiently as d-man Justin Holl caught up to pump in is first of the season.  Just :27 seconds later, still short handed, Ilya Mikheev finished off a nice play with his superior speed to convert another Brodie play.

One of the major unsung heroes through this latest Toronto Maple Leafs renaissance has been some guy from Calgary, goes by the name of TJ Brodie.  Oh sure he’s steady, supported all those Marc Giordano years in Calgary.  He came to Toronto on a cap friendly deal and settled in.  Who knew ?

Brodie swoops in a wrap around for the only real hilite of the second period.  3- 0 Leafs.

A pretty tepid third period started with a beauty from Nylander followed by a power play from a re-sergeant Mikheyev – a guy who really wants to prove some folks wrong.  And who says Nylander hasn’t benefitted from those computer games ?  Bangs in another to make it 6 zip.

Hopper notes:  I didn’t think 33 year old Alex Biega looked out of place in his limited ice time…Kerfoot had 3 points to bring him to 100 – like the guy ! …SOUP comes up with another shutout on a kind of laid back night – stood tall when required…got to respect the job they’re doing in Ottawa – building a team with strong, fresh talent…they really need a big Policeman (Chara, Pronger type) to hold the fort….missed doing this…HAPPY NEW YEAE EVERYONE !!

Discuss – Cheers !