Month: March 2022

The Columbus Blue Jackets are coming off one of their biggest nights in franchise history having hosted the Rick Nash #61 jersey retirement ceremony on Saturday night.  They jammed 19,400 fans into the Nationwide Arena to celebrate their iconic player.  Unfortunately, they lost the game in a shootout to Boston, but you could see the respect the Blue Jacket fans have for Nash.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off another loss and the focus seems to be on their lack of effort to clear out the front of their own net.  Jake Muzzin’s absence hasn’t helped that scenario.  They came out aggressive and didn’t really have any issues in that regard as they outshot the home team 16 to 5 and dominated in the offensive zone.  First, it was the constant forechecking from the third line as Ilya Michaev roofed his 10^th on a rebound in the 8^th minute.  The red-hot Austin Mathews line put the Leafs up by 2 with Mitchell Marner scoring to keep his 7 game scoring streak alive.  Mathews became the first to reach the 40 goal mark with a wrap around to finish off the period 3-0.

It’s hard to figure out this Columbus squad sometimes.  They have adequate scoring with Captain Boone Jenner, Jakob Vorecek and now Patrick Laine joining the party with 5 goals and 11 assists since Jan 27.  Adding a couple of stud defencemen in Zach Werenski and Vladislav Gavrikov seems not quite enough to close that 10 point gap between them and a playoff spot in the Metropolitan.  They came back hard in the second with Sean Kuraly deflecting in a Max Domi shot early and then Oliver Bjorkstran made it 3-2 in the 19^th minute with his 20^th goal.  I think you really have to look at the Jackets allowing 205 goals against, 30th out of 32 teams.

Columbus like to score and sure enough they tied the game early in the third to complete the comeback.  But (now) 4^th line winger Alex Kerfoot put his 9^th in off the far post to score less than 100 seconds later to put the Leafs right back on top.  The “BIG” line finished off another fabulous night when Bunting popped in his 20^th from behind the icing line.  Another multiple point night for the threesome.  Patrick Laine made it interesting scoring his 26th at 48 seconds – not quite enough to end the Leafs 2 game skid.

HOPPER NOTES:  Other than maybe Wayne Simmonds (and Muzzin), is there anyone on the current Leafs roster that can truly dish out a punishing body-check ?  Max Domi (2a) always seems to play well against Toronto – does he perhaps pine for a trade back to Daddy’s former turf ?  And, if so, ask yourself what in the H – E double hockey sticks do the Leafs need with another tiny forward ?  Did William Nylander dress tonight ?  Kinda glad that’s the last we’ll see of the Columbus Blue Jackets…Mzerk – 31 saves = B-.

CHEERS – Discuss !

With the Pandemic of coaching replacements this NHL season, it is hard not to pay attention to the “Who’s Who” of Head men from each visiting team.  This is especially the case for Leafs Nation when it comes to the Canucks Bruce Beaudreau.  A review of his many accomplishments include”

• 263 points playing with the Toronto Marlies in just 183 games
• 70 points in 141 games with the Leafs
• 1231 points in just 982 games in the A – I – and CHL
• Over 400 wins in 640 games coached in the AHL (incl. Championship with 2006 Hershey)
• 984 games as Head Coach in the NHL (incl 200 wins in Washington and Anaheim)
• Jack Adams Award winner in 2008 while with Washington
• 19-8-4 with Canucks so far

“Gabby” is quite a guy and a fantastic story teller.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off perhaps their worst performance of the season, a 5-1 loss to lowly Buffalo.  Changes for tonight included Jack Campbell back in net and Nick Robertson moving up to the second unit to play with the slumping John Tavares and William Nylander.  A BIG congrats to Wayne Simmonds on playing in his 1000 NHL game.

JT Miller has been the subject of trade rumours lately and for the life of me I can’t imagine why.  Here’s a guy on a 9 game scoring streak pumping in another to put the Canucks up 1-0.  Leafs Captain John Tavares has been carrying a bit of load lately, having not scored 14 games.  He finally got that monkey of his back when he blasted in a Marner feed to tie the game and score the first PPG in 8 games for the home squad.  You could see his joy as he looked to the rafters to thank the Hockey Gods.  Campbell had looked steady but let in the go ahead goal from Travis Hamonic after 2 or 3 nice saves with just :30 seconds left.

BOY, what a great second period !  Brock Boeser (another mysterious trade rumour) put the Canucks up 3-1 early in the stanza.  Not to be outdone, the Leafs stormed back with 3 unanswered goals to take he lead.  First, rookie Nick Robertson finished off a nice play from his new mates.  Next, Austin Mathews, fueled from the news that Leon Draisaitl had moved ahead of him in the goal scoring race went to work.  He tied the game (and Draisaitl) with a fade away wrister and then pounded in a deflection off Quinn Hughes to allow the Leafs to go ahead 4-3.

Tanner Pearson ties it, Tyler Myers scores the winning goal and Tyler Mott scores the empty netter to bury the Leafs.  Need I say more ?

HOPPER NOTES:  I like Lubuskin…does Andre Kase have a bit of a glass jaw ?

The multi year rebuild version of the Buffalo Sabres rolled into town tonight sporting a 16-30-8 record and a bottom four goals against of 195.  With Jack Eichel finally gone, replaced by Peyton Krebs and Alex Touch the franchise hoped that Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Quinn and Casey Millelstadt could fill the void.  No sign of that yet although the Sabres have been without 6-7 starters in their most recent 6 game losing streak.

A near capacity crowd at the Scotiabank Arena welcomed the Leafs’ home as they looked for their 4^th win in row and a chance to catch Atlantic Division leading Tampa Bay.   Petr Mzarek got his first consecutive starts this season and Coach Keefe did another d-pair juggle, this time moving Rasmus Sandin to the right side to play along with Morgan Reilly.

A pretty upbeat first period saw young Sabres’ defenceman Jacob Bryson with the first goal.  His shot deflected in off Reilly’s pants for a 1-0 lead.  The fierce forechecking of Toronto’s top line paid off again as Sandin scored his first ever at the SBA from Michael Bunting and Mitchel Marner at the 12 minute mark.

Another tight checking period had both sides going end to end.  The Leafs had been playing a fairly strong game so one had to wonder why the Sabres are ranked so low.  A rebound, scramble goal by Victor Alfonso put them up 2-1 at the 12 minute mark and then their leading scorer Tage Thompson put in a nice one with just 1:25 left.

The Leafs looked “discombobulated” in the third period as the tenacious Sabres just wouldn’t allow them any time or space.  Keefe started fiddling with his d-pairs and switched out Marner and Nylander to buck the trend.  But Jeff Skinner converted a Sandin bauble at the Leafs line to top shelf his 21^st on the shortside and then Kyle Okposo converted a nice feed from Dylan Cozens to make the final 5-1.

HOPPER NOTES:  This reporter was rather impressed with Sabres on this night…and don’t forget, they have an injured Jack Hughes, Owen Power and 3 x 2022 first round draft picks to add to the mix….it’s been 10 years since Buffalo had a playoff team – 2023 has GOT to see that change…was that mock cheers I heard for Mrazek after the fifth goal ? Jack Campbell better get himself prepared for Saturday night….

Cheers – discuss – comment !

After that odd 10-7 win by the Leafs on Saturday, you kind of had to wonder which team would show up tonight in Washinton.  This was the first game between these 2 teams since October 2019 and oddly, Sheldon Keefe’s first ever against the Capitals.

Just 2:35 seconds in, Michael Bunting roofed a feed from Marner to take the lead.  That was his 19^th of the season and 9^th consecutive road game goal.  Selke voters should take note of Austin Mathews’ goal line rescue to scoop the puck out from behind Petr Mrazek. 

The Caps have been on a pretty middling streak lately, going 3 and 5 in their last 8.  Backstrom snapped a bullet from the blueline where Connor Sheary tipped it in to tie it with 4 minutes left.  Not to be outdone, Toronto came back with 2 late goals.  The first from William Nylander (21st) off a hard work feed from John Tavares and then a scramble goalmouth bang in from Justin Holl with just 1.6 seconds left.

One similarity to Saturday night was the Leafs opposing goalie, (Ilya Samsonov) was replaced after one.  Goaltending has become an issue for the Capitals of late.  Replacement Vitek Vanecek has been out with concussion protocol all month and the GAA is starting to rise.  Could Washington be in on the Marc Andre Fluery sweepstakes ?  Even the Caps powerplay has been maligned lately, ranking 28^th.  They did get one goal on their second man advantage to make it 3-2.  This was after Alex Ovechkin peppered Mrazek with 3 howitzers.  He finally held off and sent in a nice set up for Tom Wilson to tip in.

The aforementioned Wilson can be quite the agitator.  Not only did he tie the game up at threes on a shorty, but he laid waste any number of Toronto players in a 4 or 5 minute rampage.  He just man handled Captain John and not one Toronto player came to his aid.  Tavares got his revenge later in the period with a relentless forecheck, a beauty of a back pass to a rejuvenated Holl who sent it across the crease to a waiting Rasmus Sandin and a yawning cage for the winning goal.  Pierre Engvall used his speed to slide in the empty netter for a 5-3 final.

HOPPER NOTES:  Welcome back Kerfoot, Michaev and Holl – we’ve missed you lately…kinda feel bad for Morgan Rielly these past 2 games – while babysitting Liljgren, he has not been his usual dominant self…even though Tavares is in a horrible 12 game goal scoring slump, he has had 10 assists over that same time period…will some media agency please tell Dejardins Insurance to stop with the overkill ! The Leafs PP was a little off tonight – 4 attempts, no shots…during the “rampage” I spoke of earlier, the Leafs were just “gooned” with hit after hit…they can’t leave it all up to Wayne Simmonds – they’ve got to toughen up before playoff time…The Leafs end February with a 7-4-1 record, the Caps 4 and 6.

CHEERS – Discuss !