Month: February 2022

Have you ever  ?

The great Detroit Red Wings/Toronto Maple Leafs rivalry heated up again tonight at Detroit’s Little Ceasars Arena.  Who could have possibly imagined such an outcome ?

GM Stevie Yzerman’s re-build is nearing completion as his club hovers around .500 and boasts some offensive strength from Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi,  an outstanding rookie defenceman in Moritz Seider (32 assists – tops amongst rookies) and right winger Lucas Raymond.  Stevie Y has plenty in the prospect cupboard as well that he can use once they become a fully legitimate contender.  Tonight’s game did not get off to a traditional 7pm HNIC start because the Pistons played an afternoon basketball game.

The Leafs had been fighting a stomach flu bug that affected players like John Tavares, Ilya Michaev, Pierre Engvall and others.  This was part of the reason we got our first look at 20 year old prospect Nick Robertson.  Some say it’s to show him off as trade bait – others, including Coach Sheldon Keefe, believe the youngster has earned his shot with 8 points in his last 9 Marlie games after returning from a broken leg.

The Leafs “started on time” with strong forechecking and superior use of their speed.  William Nylander placed a perfect slapper upstairs to get his squad on the board at the 3:52 mark.  Coach Keefe mixed up his d-pairs again tonight, putting Justin Holl with the now left d-man TJ Brodie, Liljgren with Reilly and newly acquired Lubushkin with Rasmus Sandin.  That seemed to pay off as Holl was in on the next 2 Leaf goals.  First it was Michael Bunting jamming in a Holl pass from behind the Detroit net.  After the Red Wings briefly got back into it with a goal from Raymond (his 40^th point to lead all rookies) off a juicy Campbell rebound, Holl sent a point shot that David Kampf deflected in just :33 seconds later.  Detroit pulled starting goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for Thomas Greiss right after that play.

One wonders what all those Marner haters are thinking these days.  The no shoot, always pass superstar has completely changed his approach.  Witness tonight’s “true” hat trick when Mitchell pumped in 3 in a row to start off the second stanza.  He almost looked embarrassed as his good fortune (and positioning) allowed him to score his 18^th, 19^th and 20^th.  These were his 30^th points in his last 17 games.  All 3 goals were assisted by his trusty line mates Mathews and Bunting.  Sam Gagner stopped some of the bleeding to make it 6-2 with Campbell way out of his net.  Not to be outdone, NHL goal scoring leader Mathews jumped back into the lead with his 37^th off a laser feed from TJ Brodie.  That put Brodie +5 on the night !  7-2 Leafs.

Detroit obviously didn’t appreciate the sh** kickin’ it was being handed.  Two soft deflection goals got the Wings back within shouting distance just as third was barely 2 minutes old.  By the time the carnage was over, the Red Wings had scored 4 goals in just over 5 minutes to shock the home crowd into believing their team actually had a chance.  Campbell gone – Mzaerk in.  Ilya Michaev had been his usual dormant self until he turned on the jets and put Toronto up by two.  The aforementioned rookie of the year of the candidate, Lucas Raymond, made it 8-7, (Mzarek’s second GA in 3 shots).  A shorty by Kase from his pal Kampf made it 9-7.  Bunting copied the famous Marner play from a couple of games ago to take his opponent out while leaving a kick in for Marner’s 4^th of the night.  What an amazing game – the likes of which I cannot remember seeing – even back in the ‘80’s !

HOPPER NOTES:  my headline must have changed about 3-4 times…among my original thoughts were Marner/Bunting/Matty Get ‘er Done , to Holy “CRAP” Jack and Get Out the Calculator….Leafs top troika combined for an amazing 15 points….speculators may be thinking that Nick Robertson to Dallas to play with his big brother Jason might be part of a good package to obtain John Klingberg…Leon Draisitl scored his 36^th this afternoon vs Florida – I’m sure that put a little extra pep in to Mathews’ step…Captain Johnny where are you ? question for Coach Keefe – how’d those new defensive pairings work out  ?

CHEERS – Discuss – comments always welcome !

Two pretty solid teams went at it tonight at the Scotiabank Arena amid Black History Month celebrations.  Neither have been setting the world on fire lately.  The Minnesota Wild hold a down a playoff spot in the central with a respectable 31-14 and 3 record even though they have lost 3 of their last 4.  The Toronto Maple Leafs sport an almost identical 32-14 and 4 record despite losing 3 in a row and 5 of their last 7.

The WILD started sophomore goalie Kappo Kahkonen in his 18^th game to take advantage of his handsome .921 save percentage.  The Leafs on the other hand are embroiled in (dare I say ?) a goaltending slump. Coach Keefe decided to start Petr Marazek who is 6 and 4 on the year. Was this try and get Jack Campbell off the snide having dropped to 11^th in GAA, sinking to .897 in in the past 3 months and allowing 4 goals in just 30 shots vs the Columbus Blue Jackets?  The Leafs Coach also decided to switch Kase and Kerfoot on the second and third lines, moving Nylander to the left wing in an attempt to shake John Taveres from his recent malaise.

After a very uneventful first period in which only 11 shots were exchanged, you could get a sense of caution from both teams.  Lots of high speed back and forth with no results.

The Leaf defence depth and roster have become an issue (again).  The Jake Muzzin LTIR status confirmed some cap space and a heightened need for Kyle Dubas to get on the phone.  There is still a need to strengthen the right side and maybe now, the left as well.  Remembering that during his Norris Trophy season, Mark Giardino had a “silent” partner named TJ Broadie, here are my dream LEAF pairings heading in to round one of playoffs in April:

                                                            Reilly                                   Mystery Stud

                                                            Giardano                            TJ Brodie

                                                            Muzzin  (Sandin)                Lyubushkin (Liljgren)

During the second period, the pace picked up considerably, both teams throwing caution to the wind.  Witness a strong power play by Minnesota in which shots were fired from every angle.  Mrazek came up strong to keep the game tied.  This heightened tic for tac approach resulted in the WILD going ahead 1-0 only to have Austin Mathews responds with one of his top shelf rips :27 seconds later for his 35^th.

These very evenly matched teams went chance for chance, hit for hit and save for save throughout a hard fought third period.  The difference ?  Petr Mrazek and Austin Mathews, the first two stars of the game.  Mrazek went post to post and stayed on his toes throughout that final stanza.  The ferocious back checking of Mathews led to a steal at the WILD blueline, a give and go with his best pal Marner and the winning goal.  That was Mathews’ 36^th putting him in the Rocket Richard lead for goal scorers ahead of Leon Draistital (35) and Chris Kreidel (34).  Much maligned Alex Kerfoot put in the empty netter to make it a 3-1 Leafs win.

HOPPER NOTES:  Nice to see (and hear) Ray Ferraro back between the benches…great TV spot from Turkish Airlines featuring Morgan Freeman…why do opponents seem to hate that nice boy (Michael Bunting) from Scarborough (our answer to Brad Marchant ?)…new recruit Lyubushkin is not exactly a gazelle with the puck, but I kind of like him so far….in addition to all the other hype around Mathews, shouldn’t he be getting on the Frank Selke radar as well ?  My heart is with the Ukrainian people !

Discuss, enjoy life Comments welcome…

The Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs as a non playoff team in the strong Metropolitan Division sporting a 25-23-1 record.  Most (in)famous on their roster is the mysterious Patrik Laine who is an enigma after joining the league as the number 2 selection back in 2016.  He’s on a 9 game streak, including 7 multi point games so at 33 points in just 30 games, is that a strong enough showing in his re-negotiating year ?

The Leafs will be without Jake Muzzin due to concussion protocol (again) and will debut new recruit Ilya Lyubushkin on defence tonight.  Coach Keefe said pre-game that the last time Toronto took such a butt kicking  (7-1 vs the Penguins) they responded quite nicely.  We’ll see.

An horrific giveaway at the 5 minute mark behind his own net by Jack Campbell brought back some scary thoughts for Leafs Nation and that s**t show from last night.  The Jacob Vorachek, Laine and Boone Jenner line swarmed pretty much at will throughout that first period.  It wasn’t until a fabulous pass from Mitchell Marner set up rookie of the year candidate Michaeal Bunting for his 13^th and a 1-0 lead.  Another outstanding “swat” save by “Soup” kept the Jackets off the scoreboard following a goal mouth scramble late in the first.

The top two draft picks of 2016 must still have a bit of a rivalry and its likely developed over the years.  Laine was picked second behind Austin Mathews and although it was close at the start, Mathews has clearly led the way.  # 2 pumped in a nice one after a poor decision to pinch from Reilly to tie the game at ones with his 11^th goal in 9 games.  # 1 deked around some resistance to score his 34^th after a nice feed from David Krampf.  2-1 Leafs after two.

An end to end Columbus PPG goal similar to Reilly’s the other night tied the game up early in the third.  On their second shot of the period, Blue Jacket’s Brendan Gaunce blew past newcomer Ilya Lyubushkin to place a yawning 5 hole goal to move the Jackets ahead.    Coach Keefe pulled Campbell with 2:28 to go and then Jason Spezza “directed” the tying goal in to force overtime.  Well, that didn’t last long, Laine wins it 20 seconds in.

HOPPER NOTES:  Captain John Tavares is now on a 9 game goalless slump and his frustration is starting to show…is Alex Kerfoot the “depth” forward everyone seems to think that Dubas is looking to replace ?  I love the guy: character, kills penalties, good with the media – blah, blah, blah…that doesn’t put the puck in the back of the net…I usually respect Elliot Freidman’s perspective, but JT Miller coming to the Leafs ?  Guy’s got a $6m cap hit…when will Pierre Engvall’s consistent play move him ahead of Michaev in the line-up ?  Austin Mathews, 3 points, 11 shots on goal…not an All-Star performance from the “Soup” tonight…gotta love the Jackets goalie JF Berube – 1^st star tonight on 39 saves, second NHL game since 2018 and steady as a rock…CBJ 8^th win in their last 10 !

Discuss – Cheers – Comments always welcome !

Who in a million years could have predicted the complete and utter demise of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2021-22 NHL season after their Stanley Cup final run last spring.  Ask any Habs fan and you’ll get a different answer:  no Cary Price, no Shea Weber, letting Corry Perry go, under achievement from the likes of Cole Caulfield, Josh Anderson or Jeff Petry, poor coaching, Bergeron gone – the list goes on and on.  And now with a new team President, General Manager and Head Coach they will try and salvage something from this disastrous 10-33-7 season and begin to build for the future.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are more focussed on the current.  Their top 6 overall standing has them in fine tune mode.  Most pundits don’t think Kyle Dubas is done fiddling with his roster even after yesterday’s acquisition of 6 foot 3, 208 right shot d-man from Arizona, Ilya Kyubushkin.  He figures to slot in as a third pairing guy.  Ryan Dzingel has already been claimed off the waiver wire by the San Jose Sharks.

As for tonight’s contest from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Les Canadien looked to continue their 2 game winning streak and Anderson complied with a at goal the 3 minute mark from the aforementioned Caulfield and Petry.  Coach Keefe had mentioned pre-game that he was looking for improvement in the Leafs defensive and passing game.  Nada – they looked lethargic, waiting tilt h 7^th minute mark to get their first shot on goal.  The first Toronto PP attempt showed promise but no results.  How about this Caufield kid ?  Since Martin St Louis’ arrival he has 5 goals 6 games including tonight’s 2-0 go ahead goal.

This reporter can’t remember seeing a Toronto Maple Leafs team so humiliated in one period of hockey since maybe the Zamboni game.  Too many passengers to name.  Montreal showing their speed to get behind the Leafs defence, Justin Holl and Timothy Liligren fighting it out to see who will be the first to be Marlie bound, 3 more Habs’ goals:  Mike Hoffman with an “armpit” goal in the first minute, Anderson again, this time walking right in like we were watching a kids’ shinny game and then Pitlick scoring after a rare Leaf offensive threat to make it 5 zip.  Add to that the Monreal fans singing their taunting victory song, Nick Suzuki laying out Holl and then 33^rd birthday boy Jake Muzzin getting his head bounced off the ice a couple of times after just returning from concussion protocol.  NOT pretty for Leafs’ Nation.

Where’s the 15,000 metres X country skiing coverage when we needed it !

A little melee initiated by Jason Spezza and the end of the second may have sparked some mild enthusiasm for the Leafs as the third period started.  The previously invisible Michaev had one go in off his pants while trying to get out of the way of a Reilly slapshot and then :45 seconds later Pierre Engvall put in his 8^th off a nice feed from Spezza.  Final 5-2.

HOPPER NOTES:  Martin St. Louis coached his team up to a 3-3 record under his brief tenure – his squad is playing with speed, energy and confidence…as followers know, one of my pet peeve are the playing of the National anthems after all the pre-game hype and analysis…Montreal does it right – puck dropped at 7:10 as promised (no anthems)…funny seeing former Tampa Bay teammates Keefe and St. Louis on opposing benches…some of the Leaf “passengers” I mentioned earlier – how about this 6 pak Taveres, Mickaev, Kerfoot, Kase and of course Holl and Liligren…can somebody please  supply a solution to all the along the boards scrums ?  It’s a scourge to our game.  By the end of the game I was actually starting to feel sorry for Justin Holl and his hand grenade passes, dumb penalties and giveaways.  With Jake Muzzin’s status unknown, does Duba start looking for a left D instead of another righty ?

Discuss – CHEERS – Comments always welcome.

The St. Louis Blues came in to Scotiabank Arena off an overtime loss to the lowly Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, but sport a rather strong position (28-14-4) in the NHL’s Central Division.  The Colorado Avalanche are running away with that grouping, but Minnesota (63 pts), St. Louis (62) and Nashville (60) will jockey for position well into April.  Vladislav Tarentenko is out and it would appear that Jordan Binnington has lost his starting role to Ville Husso who has started 9 out of the last 10 games.

The Toronto Maple Leafs won a well-deserved game against the Penguins on Thursday and it looks like they wanted to continue scoring streaks from Michael Bunting, Austin Mathews and Mitch Marner during tonight’s game. 

Top 6 rivals pay attention to one another.  Nothing was different from tonight’s contest.  The Leafs had beaten the Blues back in January in a 6-5 back and forth.  St. Louis came out with drive and 2 high speed counter attack goals put them ahead by the 8 minute mark.  William Nylander final got off the snide with his 18^th off nice feeds from linemates John Tavares and Alex Kerfoot.  A pretty good period.

MAN, what a great game !

Let’s start with Willy Nye, on an off wing goal from an Alex Kerfoot rush.  Not 29 seconds later, Brayden Schenn pops in his own rebound after a spectacular first save by Jack Cambell.  Sometimes it shows that SOG aren’t always the main indicator.  WAY under rated TJ Brodie ties it up at 3’s before the buzzer.

The Blues really put an explanation point on tonight’s game with Bradon Saad’s 200^th goal in the third.  Add to that, Captain O’Rielly’s tip in to make it 5-3 and an unexplorable pull of Campbell at the 3:40 mark and a 6-3 empty netter is pretty much all you need to know. 

HOPPER NOTES:  All 4 St. Louis lines scored…Husso is solid at 30+ saves…Welcome Slovakia to the medals at the Olympic Hockey ceremonies ! BOY, could Leafs Nation have used that BIG line tonight ! …should we be looking out for the Oilers and their newly minted (5-0) coach ? …I miss the Olympics already ! … my handsome friend Glennie asks who are the Leafs going to flip to get the “stud RD” the Leafs need ? – I say Michahev, McDermott and Robertson… bullshit stat:  franchises vs franchises over the years…players I wish were on my team Coltan Parenko !  Wayne Simmonds with some strong, trend stetting hits…oh, and could that SKIP the Dishes ad be any more annoying ?

CHEERS !

Cheers – enjoy and discuss ! 

With 36 games to go, the Toronto Maple Leafs needed to prove their worth especially against opponents like tonight’s visitors – The Pittsburgh Penguins.  The perennial contenders are having another fine season, leading the strong Metropolitan division with a 33-11-8 record.  They have only lost 6 of their last 26 games and have an NHL best road record of 17-5-3.  Add to that the newly minted 500 goal man in Sidney Crosby along with linemates Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust and the home team would have their hands full – crowd or no crowd.

Toronto has a strong answer to the Crosby troika with Austin Mathews enjoying a 16 point streak (8g/8a),  Mitch Marner averaging 2 points per game over his last 11 and Michael Bunting scoring 8 goals in his last 14.  This was the 3^rd of 4 against these league leaders following a 7-1 spanking by the Pens back during the October doldrums and then a 2-0 win by Pittsburgh in November.

Not surprisingly the Coaches decided to go power on power (Crosby vs Mathews) from the get go.  Sheldon Keefe looked like a genius as Austin Mathews took a beautiful breakaway pass from TJ Broadie to open the scoring just 21 seconds in.  That was Mathews’ 33^rd, tying him for first in the Rocket Richard race.  Even with only 9000 fans in attendance, I am certain Jack Campbell appreciated the well deserved “SOUP” chant on 4 or 5 occasions throughout that first stanza.

Boy, Morgan Reilly sure has been earning his raise lately.  Mo went all Bobby Orr on Leafs Nation with an end to end rush to make the score 2 zip on a roofer that Bernie Parent wouldn’t have stopped.  Primary assist ?  Jack Campbell.  The Leafs got into penalty trouble in the second, sitting down 3 times in a row.  Again, Morgan Reilly steps up, this time on a give and go with ace penalty killer David Kampf to make it 3-0.  That was Kampf’s 7 of the season and his third SHG.  Despite being outshot 26-21 Soup was standing tall.

The Penguins finally solved Jack Campbell early in the third with a siege that ended with Geno Malkin popping in a Jeff Carter rebound at the 4 minute mark.  Not to be outdone, the Leafs’  juggernaut of Marner to Mathews to “rookie” Bunting deked a goal in  to get it back to a 3 goal lead.  Key to the third was a very sound 2-man advantage kill by the home team that included some fabulous goaltending from Campbell.  Later in the third, Austin Mathews took a goal post in the chops, only to return later with 1 maybe 2 teeth affected.  Final SOG Pitt 43, Leafs 28.  First star Jack Campbell, 2^nd Morgan Reilly and third Austin Mathews.  A well deserved win for the Leafs and their 7^th straight on home ice.

HOPPER NOTES:  Leafs play their next 6 games in 10 nights…Nylander hasn’t scored in 7 games – I’ve heard of streaky scorers, but is he in a bit of a “snit” ? …the Leafs are at a combined 115% on PK / PPG ratio – the highest since 77-78…didn’t disagree with minor d-man shuffles Keefe made – Muzzin with Sandin and McDermott with Holl…hope all the “Nervous Nellies” will now stand down on the “SOUP” thing…y’know, Michael Bunting seems like a nice boy from Scarborough – why do his opponents hate him so much – love it !

CHEERS – Discuss – Comments welcome

Wait – Seattle has a hockey team ?  And the new beautiful Climate Pledge Arena and an historic visit from the Toronto Maple Leafs ?  Sure, the Leafs are coming off a couple losses in which they were simply out -goaltended by Markstrom in Calgary and then Demko in Vancouver.  The visitors needed to step up, especially the 5 on 5 play from the Tavares/Nylander/Kefoot troika.  Toronto goalie Jack Campbell has let in 5 goals in his last 4 outings.

Seattle has a whole load of re-treads like Marc Giordano, Jared Mcann (19 goals), Ryan Donato and Jordan Eberle.  Their goaltending tandem of Phillip Grubauer and Chris Drieder have had their hands full and sport a below .900 save percentage.

Well, no 5 on 5 scoring from the second line – check – Kerfoot scores his 7^th from Tavares to open the scoring.  Shakey goaltending from the Soup – check – great reactive save on Hayden Fluery to keep the Kraken off the board less than 6 minutes in.  Only a boneheaded William Nylander back pass into his own end after a 35 to 45 second forechecking barrage from Seattle allowed them back in to tie the game.  Toronto quickly responded with a Bunting goal and then a second unit PPG from Ondrej Kase from Rasmus Sandin and Jason Spezza.  The Matthews assist BTW was his 15th point (7G-8A) since January 26.

The Leafs led 4-1 after a rather hum-drum second period.  Mitch Marner scored on a power play from Mathews to record his 400^th point – only Syl Apps and Austin Mathews did it sooner.  Leafs Nation must feel some relief after seeing the solid play of Campbell in the net – he’d only had to make 14 saves to this point but several were in the solid category.

Mitchell Marner showed his true superstar value on an early PK goal as he dragged the defender with him only to leave a beauty backhand pass for teammate David Krampf to make the score 5-1 in the third.  The Kraken weren’t about to give in as (brief) former Leaf Jared McCann scored his 20^th to keep the local fans in their seats.  Jake Muzzin pounded in his first goal in 28 games from his wrong side to put it away 6 to 2.

HOPPER NOTES:  The final shots on goal were 25 each, so this was in no way a blowout.  Seattle had 50 shot attempts.  Which leads me to my concern about the Leafs backend.  I don’t think the Sandin/Liligren tandem is strong enough yet for winning playoff hockey.  Great for depth, but starters ?  The Leafs need to add a right shot stud (eg Klienberg, PK etc) and a veteran presence, thusly:

• Reilly                                   Stud
• Giardano                            TJ Brodie
• Muzzin                                Holl
• Sandin                                 Liligren

Best Olympic sport by far-  Snowboard Cross…the Marner Mathews Bunting line has scored 27 of the last 47 Leaf goals…when the Leafs come home Thursday to play Pittsburgh they’ll have at least 9,000 happy fans to cheer them on…will Sid still be looking for his 500^th goal ?   Did ya miss me ?  Thanks for all who reached out.  I had IT problems last Thursday (Calgary) and Saturday (Vancouver) was my grandson’s 11^th Birthday Party….Decision: should the Leafs have kept McCann and his 20 goals or sent Kerfoot (7 G) to Seattle ?  Discuss.  Cheers – comments welcome !

After all of that All Star nonsense, it was back to real hockey tonight as the Toronto Maple Leafs welcomed one of the league leaders, the Carolina Hurricanes in to Scotiabank Arena.  With the break and all the excitement of the Winter Olympics in China, let’s review where we stand.  The top 4 NHL clubs (by winning percentage) are the Colorado Avalanche at .773, followed closely by the Hurricanes at .762, the still surprising Florida Panthers at .734 and then the Leafs at .726.  Toronto has a better winning % than Tampa Bay with 4 games in hand and then another 5 games in hand on Atlantic Division leading Florida.

The ’Canes won the only head-to-head to date back in October with a 4-1 decision.  The Leafs, who were in their early season doldrums (2-4-1) have been 27-6-2 since.

It was evident from puck drop as to why these 2 clubs are top 5.  The speed, the quick breakouts the team toughness was there for all to see.  Petr Mrazek was in for the Leafs, giving Jack Campbell a rest after the all-star break.  He was trying to win his 4^th in a row and looked steady.  Only a seeing eye pass from Ian Cole allowed Nino Niedermeyer to tip one in off the post for the go-ahead goal.  Later, Ondrej Kase took a knee on knee hit and as he was limping to the bench, next up teammate Wayne Simmonds took on perpetrator Brendan Smith and just pummeled him for his liberty taking hit.  The Hurricanes were relentless on the forecheck throughout.

Toronto got to start the second with a powerplay courtesy of some rough stuff at the final horn, but Frederick Andersen continued his steady play making two outstanding saves close in.  The ‘Canes continued to stay on top of the Leafs at every move with their speed and sheer determination.  It wasn’t until the Toronto squad received their third straight power play (much to the chagrin of Carolina Coach Rod Brind’Amour) that Austin Mathews finished off a William Nylander play to finally beat Anderson off a goal mouth scramble.  Mrazek made a spectacular save on Carolina scoring leader (19g, 16a, 58 points) Sebastian Aho who was sent in all alone.  Late in the second Austin Mathews blasted his 31^st with a typical bullet off a nice give and go with Morgan Reilly to boost the Leafs to a one goal lead heading for the third. 

A steal along the right side allowed Tony DeAngelo to streak in for a rather soft goal to tie the game at  2’s early in the third.  This one had all the makings of a playoff game – perhaps even an Eastern Conference final matchup ?  Derek Stepan put the ‘Canes back out front after a weird bounce and a rebound.  Mitchell Marner potted his 8^th straight goal from a huge Andersen rebound off a Lilgren point shot to tie things up and send this one to overtime.  Austin Mathews had been sent to the “dark” room after being kneed in the head during the final minute.  Coach Keefe had to shake up his 3 man lines during OT and it paid off as (who else ?) Marner scored his 16^th to win the game.

HOPPER NOTES:  You could just sense that Frederick Andersen wanted this one bad – he was coming off an All Star weekend but insisted on starting…he owns the second best GAA in the league…Coach Brind’Amour has got to be in the running for his second Jack Adams Trophy in a row…the Hurricanes are in the tough Metropolitan division with the Rangers, Penguins and Capitals all nipping at their heels…was Michaev dressed tonight ? …Kyle Dubas has got to be thinking hard about additions prior to the March 21 trade deadline…he’s made some nice depth adds with Bunting, Kase and Kampf, but you can’t help but wonder whether that big, tough, right shot defenceman wouldn’t be a nice addition…Leafs play 11 games in the next 22 days…it will be interesting to see how Josh Ho-Sang will do with the Team Canada Olympic team…rumours insist he’ll be playing on the # 1 line….could he be the depth forward the Leafs need or will Nick Robertson and Alex Steeves stand in the way ?  Now it’s on to watch the preview of the Women’s Gold Medal game…Enjoy – Cheers – Please comment !

During tonight’s Maple Leafs/Jersey Devils redux, the second half officially began for Toronto in game # 42.  Playing at a .700 clip with their 28-10-3 record, most pundits give credit where credit is due by listing the Leafs somewhere amongst the top 10 contenders for this year’s Stanley Cup.  Chief concerns for that happening in this reporter’s opinion is the current downturn in Jack Campbell’s stats in both GAA and SV % and the ongoing need for a solid right D-man veteran with strength, nastiness and game.

 The New Jersey Devils are not a very good hockey team.  Despite having some young potential stars, they just weren’t very interested in participating in this contest – constantly coughing up pucks in their own zone and playing soft around the edges.

This game was 3 zip Leafs by the 9 minute mark.  Constant forecheck pressure by Toronto resulted in Austin Mathews’ 29^th and David Kampf’s fifth – these were scored just 26 seconds apart.  Scoring juggernaut Jason Spezza opened the scoring at the 2:50 mark with his second in as many games and then later in the frame Mitchell Marner kept his 7 game scoring streak alive to end it a 4-0 after one.  Queue the Boo Birds.

Mark Bunting got his 13^th off a nice feed from Marner and then Engvall made it 6 nothing in the second.  Seriously, this was a stats padding game for the Leafs, almost embarrassing to watch.  I don’t know any Devils fans – I don’t even know anyone from New Jersey but man, I felt for you tonight.  It was like the Leafs were playing a Junior ‘B’ team.  Sure the Leafs have the number 1 power play, the 4^th best winning percentage in the league and they really should beat this team – but such a sh.. kicking ?

So, the Leafs go into the 5 day All-Star beak with a 5 game winning streak.  2019 # 1 draft pick Jack Huges spoiled things with his 12^th and Marner answered with his 14^th.   7-1 final.  I was kind of glad when the final horn went.

HOPPER NOTES:  Jack Campbell had a nice rebound game with 32 saves…he was particularly sharp during a Jersey 2 man advantage in the second…great job by TSN on their Black History Month coverage promoting the Diversity and Inclusion aspects of the program…Willie O’Ree was announced as the recipient of the US Congressional Gold Medal of Honour, the first hockey player to be so honoured…were John Tavares and Willy Nylander invisible again tonight ? …all 4 Leaf centres are now above .500 in the playoff circle…see ya next Monday – enjoy the Winter Olympics !

Discuss – Cheers

Tonight’s Toronto Male Leafs opponent, the New Jersey Devils are a shadow of their former self.  Currently holding down 8^th place in the Metropolitan Division, the Devils are nearly 30 points behind the leader Carolina and had lost their last 4 in a row.  They still have some marquee players in Dougie Hamilton and PK Subban on defence a 2019 first overall draft pick Jack Hughes leading the forwards, BUT.

Leaf Coach Sheldon Keefe had indicated pre game that he was going to reunite the super duos of Mathews/Marner and Tavares/Nylander for tonight’s game.  Was this mostly due to Saturday’s 5 goal third period comeback against Detroit ?  That was when Plan “B” was scrapped and the reversion to “original” lines paid off big time.

WOW !  What a scrambled up mess viewers got themselves into tonight !  New Jersey seemed highly motivated to remove any stink from their record to date with an aggressive start.  Jesper Boquist popped in the first piece of garbage off a Jack Hugues feed at the :47 second mark.  The Devils totally dominated their hosts in the first 5 minutes.  In fact, at the 3:40 mark Boquist scored his second.  Austin Mathews got off the snide, scoring his 26^th from Marner just 13 seconds later.  Former 30 goal Leaf scorer Andreas Johnsson got some real satisfaction scoring the third Devil goal, banishing Jack Campbell to the Leafs bench after allowing 3 goals in just 9 shots. Mathews made it respectable with a nice tip in from Reilly off a Marner feed.

Pretty much a nothing period for both sides saw the pesky Boquist set up Bastian for the 4 to 2 goal.  A Leaf PP opportunity at 8:50 really stood for Piss Poor.  A late rush chance from a previously invisible Alex Kerfoot caused some excitement and led to another Leafs power play to start the third.

Who needs the first 2 periods anyways ?  Jason Spezza came out of the penalty box to score an important early goal to end his 11 game scoring drought.  It also put the Leafs right back in the game.  A great pace ensued as the visitors tried to keep pace.  After an embarrassing 26 second scrum along the boards (can’t they invent a rule to stop this waste of time ?), you could tell the Leafs were back on track to repeat their comeback from Saturday night.  Marner with his 6^th in a row tied it up.  Toronto was up 8 shots to 1 at this point – it was really only a matter of time.

Ondrej Kase was called on a questionable penalty with just over 4 minutes left but Kerfoot (playing in Kase’s spot on the PK) led a counter attack and some superb patience to allow Ilya Mikaev to slam in the winner.  Mathews got his hat trick with a long one to net his 400^th NHL point in just 372 games.

HOPPER NOTES:  Some trade rumours have PK Subban coming “home” to play for the Leafs.  Was it just me or did he look a little slow, fat and a non-factor ? …at their halfway point of the season, the Leafs are at 28-10-3 – over .700 hockey….what a FABULOUS feature between periods outlining the work of the Newfoundland and Labrador citizens (near Gander) after the 9-11 disaster…if you ever get a chance to see “Come From Away” experience it !

Cheers – comments welcome !