Month: April 2022

The Montreal Canadiens have been a bit of a pain in the butt to the Toronto Maple Leafs this season winning 2 of their 3 previous meetings.  That and all this talk of the Leafs playing “down” to lower competition.  It certainly wasn’t evident from tonight’s first period.

Toronto was almost toying the Habs early on, outshooting them 11-3 in the first 12 minutes.  Then at 6:28 the Auston Mathews show began with #34 picking up some garbage to land his 57^th, thanks to helperS from Mitchell Marner and Mark Giordano.  That sent goalie Jake Allen to the bench after tweaking a groin in an attempt to stop Mathews.  In came Sam Montembeuf and just :27 seconds later guess who popped in his 58^th, thanks to Michael Bunting and Justin Holl.  Denis Wideman didn’t seem to take to kindly to these goings on and jumped Bunting for a brief dust up and 10 minute misconduct for the Montreal defender.  Kudos to Erik  Kalligren with two stand out saves later in the first including one on a breakaway off red hot (3 goals in 3 games) Cole Caufield.

That pain in the arse thing showed up for Montreal during the second period, despite being out shot 28-18 and out chanced on the night by 43-20.  First off, John Tavares took a rather careless faceoff penalty, giving Joel Edmunson an early shave.  That same 6’4” Edmunson scored the ensuing PP goal to make it 2-1. Captain John righted that wrong shortly thereafter with help from Mikaev and Kerfoot to regain the 2 goal lead.  The aforementioned Caulfield scored his 18^th off a deflected Gallagher pass to make it 3-2.

T’weren’t purdy, but the Leafs must have felt fortunate to get their 2 points, a ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and their 100th point of the season.  They looked a little nervous at times throughout the third period.  Although Mathews had a great opportunity for the hat trick and the final nail, Montembeault came a up large and sent his mates away on the counter attack.  Josh Anderson shivered Giordano in the corner, resulting in a dumb retaliatory by Engvall just to make it close.  No matter – Leafs 3, Habs 2.

HOPPER NOTES:  A little surprised that there wasn’t a full pre-game ceremony re goal # 55.  Rick Vaive was in the house… it did take 40 years to break his record…perhaps it’s because Leafs Nation (and Shanahan) don’t want to acknowledge the darkest days in franchise (Harold Ballard) history?… Leaf players were probably a little satisfied they shook failures from last year’s first round exit …surely Martin St. Louis has earned a head coaching contract (and yes, I will stop calling you Shirley)…I can live with Erik Kalligren in the back up role…my little pal Pauly in London is probably pissed the Habs didn’t win the series…a lot of people are saying 65 for #34 -could 70 be in sight ?  Enjoy Masters Sunday everyone !

Cheers – comments welcome (Steven G, Peter D, Patrick H, Rob C etc, etc)

The Dallas Stars hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight desperately seeking the final Wild Card spot in the western conference.   LA (86 pts), Nashville (84) , Dallas (83) and Las Vegas (82) all hold legitimate shots.  The Stars have 7 wins in their last 9 games.  You have got to think the motivation is on high.

Toronto’s goals were to shake off giving up that 5-1 lead to Florida, helping Auston Mathews make history by scoring his franchise record 55^th goal and staying ahead of Boston and Tampa Bay to secure home ice in the first round.

The very dramatically coloured Dallas Stars came out hard to the pleasure of a full house and maintained sustaining pressure on the visitors including a goal mouth crash that had Leafs nation concerned for the well being of Jack Cambell.  In a turn around attack, William Nylander put in his 28^th with help from Ilya Mikaev to take the lead.  In the lead up to the first round of the playoffs, Coach Keefe continued to experiment with his d-pairs, starting Reilly/Lyubushkin, followed by Muzzin/Broadie and then Giordano matched with Holl.  Not sure who was on for Tyler Seguin’s 21^st on an own zone misplay to tie things up.

Toronto started the second with a 1 and then 2 man advantage.  His mates kept feeding Mathews in a desperate attempt to have him break the Leaf record 54 goal barrier.  The Leafs continued to pepper the Dallas net especially with their top 3 lines.  We didn’t see much of the Blackwell/Abruzezze/Simmonds trioka.  Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood was stoic throughout the Leafs onslaught and had made 29 saves after two.  Finally, on another Leafs power play, Giordano laid a nice one to # 34 and he pounded in a howitzer off the right side boards to put all the hype to rest.  #55 and the single season Toronto record for goals in one season – his team was up 2 to 1 after two.

One of the candidates to fill the out the Toronto defence core at the trade deadline was John Klingberg.  Well, he thanked the Leafs for not pulling that particular trigger by tying it up at twos four minutes into the third.  That seemed to give the home team a tremendous boost as both teams went back and forth until Morgan Reilly popped his 10^th off another nice feed from Mitchell Marner.  Stars’ leading scorer Joe Pavelski bunted in a perfect feed from Ryan Suter to send the game to overtime.  As you might suspect, 55 goal scorer Auston Mathews became a 56 goal scorer to send the Leafs home with a damn fine road show record and a 5 point lead on their nearest pursuers.

HOPPER NOTES:  Not sure if I agree with sitting out Jason Spezza, he who had a fine mid-career showing with the Stars…WOW, get out the sunglasses for those Dallas firefighter uni’s…maybe showing my (old) age again, but do we really need a pre-game and first intermission analysis on betting ?  I know that industry has become a player in the whole sports scene and the revenue they bring to the league and media is significant, but c’mon…I see Muzzin as a 3LD, not Giordano…don’t tell anyone, but my preferred route would be to form up at Nathan Phillips Square and then head south from Old City Hall…wouldn’t you think that the Raptors mascot would let Grimace win at least once ?….enjoy opening day everyone !  Cheers….

Over a three-week period of “Statement” games, the Toronto Maple Leafs have had to prove their worth against the tough Eastern Conference teams like Carolina, Boston, Tampa Bay and tonight’s opponent the Florida Panthers.  They stood up pretty well.

Florida would likely prove to be the toughest, especially at home, especially with the Atlantic Division in their sights and especially having rested since Sunday’s huge comeback win against the Devils.  They have the most goals for in the entire league, a great goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky (33-6-3 .914 %) and the leader in assists (73) third in overall scoring, winger Jonathan Huberdeau.  Heck, they’ve only lost 3 games since March 1.  Aaron Ekblad did not dress tonight.

The Leafs are 7 points back of the division lead with 13 games and are 5-2 since March 27.  All world forwards Auston Mathews (20 points in his last 11) and Mitchell Marner (19 pts in his last 8) continue to tear the league up, but it’s been secondary scoring from the likes of Ilya Mikaev, Pierre Engvall and Alex Kerfoot that have supported all that star prowess.

Man ‘O man – do you love playoff hockey ?  Well reserve your spot because this Atlantic Division is going to be a rocker no matter who is seeded where.  Witness hits, chances, great goaltending – every element you need to make this a go.  The Leafs had 4 bell ringer chances in the first 4 minutes.  Sam Reinhart converted his 11 PP goal off a fabulous feed from Sasha Barkov to make 1-0.  Florida was far more physical than in their last encounter, finishing checks all over the ice.  It wasn’t until the returning William Nylander pounded in a PP of his own with 4:30 left that the Leafs solidified their status.  Morgan Reilly assisted on that goal, his 10^th point in his last 6 games.

I guess we shouldn’t all be surprised that the top 2 goal scoring teams in the league would score 7 goals in one period.  The Leafs came out for the second trying to kill off the rest of a PP.  An absolute all-star goal by Marner (another shorty) put Leafs ahead and then less than :37 seconds later, he scored his 31^st on the PP with a bit of a softy on the short side.  This one got the “Go Leafs Go” chant started.  Colin Blackwell scored off the rush to make it 4-1 and that was the end for Bobrovsky.  Newly re-instated Jake Muzzin snuck down the half boards to net his welcome home goal to make it 5-1.  As Leafs Nation fans started to plan the Stanley Cup parade, Gudas floated in a shorty that made it 5-3 and then Giroux got his first as a Panther to end the period at 5-4.  Note to self – cancel parade planning.

This Huberdeau feller isn’t challenging for the Art Ross Trophy on a whim.  Dude got 5 more points tonight including the OT winner and his 100^th point !  FLA 7 Leafs 6.

HOPPER NOTES:  Hard to believe it’s been 40 years since Rick Vaive scored his record 54^th goal – man, I have children older than that…still can’t decide who I’d rather see the Leafs play in the first round…is it just me or did Muzzin take some of Giordano’s ice time tonight…and how is Liljgren dressed, have the rosters expanded ?

Cheers – comments welcome

44-19-5 vs 43-18-7.  It’s not for certain, but it looks like the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs will square off in the first round of the playoffs.  The Lightning, those of the (2 time) championship pedigree vs the “wannabe” Leafs.  TB beefed up with at the deadline with the likes of Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul and the Leafs added a cornerstone veteran d-man in Mark Giordano.

Playoff hockey anyone ?  Based on the first period, if you don’t want to watch a 7 game series between these two, check your pulse.  As expected, end to end bashing, scoring chances, fabulous goaltending and sheer determination from both sides kept all fans fixated.  Pierre Engvall with a nice short sider (his 13^th) and then Nikita Kucherov off a nice Steven Stamkos draw win summarized the scoring.  Jack Campbell was very solid, including a mid period pad save against Corry Perry and 11 more where that came from.

The Leafs started their second period with some diligent checking ALL over the ice.  As an example, a strong backcheck led to #52 from Auston Mathews. Jackoo Rutta scored his first goal in 49 games to tie it back up on a goal front pile up that Campbell never saw.  Tampa Bay’s puck control rivals the Leafs as they throw it around as well as anyone.  All those all-stars in their elite package are hard to contain.  Marner got back on his superstar platform to feed his pal Mathews for #53 with a between the legs saucer to the edge of the crease.  Never to be forgotten, the useful Alex Kerfoot put the Leafs up by two with another clever steal to rebound in his 12^th.

Rick Who ?  Auston Mathews pretty much laid to rest any doubt that he would become the Leafs all-time leading scorer with another in the third, assisted by guess who ?  That was his third career hat trick.  Leafs Nation knew that Tampa Bay was not just going to crawl away.  Soup was called upon to make several key saves, including a left pad save against Kucherov and then another statement stop off Chireli late in the third.  Just to cap things off Mathews fed Marner to finish a 4 point night for both.  6-2 Leafs.

HOPPER NOTES:  that was the Leafs 5^th game with at least five goals – the first time that has happened since 1987…didn’t hear much commentary about Hedman or Vasilevsky tonight…can that nice boy from Scarborough (Michael Bunting) survive the “hate” intensity come playoff time ?…really dislike that Tampa has stolen the Leafs color (tint) scheme – comin’ back from the can, I forgot who I was cheering for…Leafs missed Nylander on the PP…guys I wish I had on my team:  Zach Bogosian and Patrick Maroon…the Leafs have one last trip through Florida in late April – that should pretty much decide things…Marner and Mathews – remind me of another couple of soulmates I used to know…see ya in less than 24h..

CHEERS – Comments Welcome !

Whatever happened to the Philadelphia Flyers?  Once a league powerhouse, perennial playoff contender and now suffering one their poorest (21-35-7) seasons of all.  GM ChuckFletcher has a lot of splainin’ to do over the summer months.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, as always, needed to guard against playing “down” to tonight’s competition (see last week in Montreal).  Jack Campbell was back between the pipes, Ilya Lyubushkin was back beside Morgan Reilly and newly signed Harvard grad (# 26) Nick Abruzzese made his debut on the 4^th line alongside fellow Alum Colin Blackwell and just for good measure, veteran protector Wayne Simmonds. That meant Spezza and Clifford had press box duty.  Soup made a couple of solid saves to keep his team at zeroes despite being outshot 11-6 in the opening stanza.

A pretty pedestrian first period led to real solid effort from both sides in the second. Kevin Hayes broke the goose egg @ 3:56 after some poor Leaf zone d coverage.  Former Philly favorite Simmonds scored on a beauty lead pass from TJ Brodie to tie things up – his first goal in 32 games.  To pile on, Timothy Liljgren scored his third off a goalmouth scramble with help from d partner Giordano.  Ivan Properev, himself on a long goal scoring slump, got things back to even before the final buzzer.  Of note, Coach Keefe doing his juggling routine with his forward combos in the back half.  Example:  Tavares with Marner and Mikaev and Mathews with Kerfoot and Bunting.

Keefe re-united his “traditional” lines for the third and it paid off.  A dipsy doodlin’ Marner fed Mathews for his 51^st.  The Leafs shorthanded dominance was fulfilled as Pierre Engvall scored his 12^th, which also happened to be the Toronto squad’s 12 shorty of this campaign.  Ivan Proporov continued his strong night converting his third point of the night 4-3.  Morgan Reilly and John Tavares topped the night off for the Leafs on a good (if late) team win.  As an extra measure, Wayne Simmonds finally got in is bout with McKewan after a cheap shot on Lyubushkin.  No Contest.

HOPPER NOTES:  Sad to see Keith Yandles’ Iron Man streak of 689 consecutive NHL games played end tonight…I know the Flyers are re-building and need to look at prospects, but c’mon…tonight was the Leafs 44^th win and 93^rd point of the season…Michael Bunting, that lovable agitate, had been held off the scoresheet for 11 games, but his assist in the third got him off the shcnide…nice return game for Jack Campbell with 25 saves, some of which were of the spectacular variety… Monday in Tampa – Tuesday in Florida – who do you start – discuss !

Cheers – being 3 is pretty cool Mayari – can’t wait to see you tomorrow !!

The Winnipeg Jets are an enigma.  They should have been a slam dunk playoff team in the Central Division, yet here they are clawing to get in to contention for a wild card spot against Dallas (77 pts), Vegas (76), Themselves (76) and long shot Vancouver currently at 73 points.  The Jets are coming off an OT win Buffalo last night and have won 9 of their last 12 to stay in the conversation.  Tonight, they were without leading scores Kyle Connor and Nate Schmidt due to COVID protocol. 

The last time the Toronto Maple Leafs played the Jets was in Winnipeg back in December and it was a rather unpleasant loss.  Jason Spezza (of all people!) was charged with a retaliatory kneeing infraction that cost him a 4 game suspension and there were several unpleasantries exchanged between clubs.

Injuries are becoming an issue as the Toronto squad play their final 15 games.  Petr Mrazek is gone for a minimum 6 weeks with another groin tweak and Ilya Lyubushkin will sit out tonight as a precaution after taking a sucker punch from Taylor Hall in Boston Tuesday.  Erik Kallgren got his 5^th start and Justin Holl was good to go.

The Jets were playing their second in two, but you’d never know it from their jump and high speed pace off the drop. As mentioned they are playing for their playoff lives and need to go 11 and 3 to reach the minimum 98 points it is likely to take to qualify.  Captain Blake Wheeler got the Jets on the board slicing through the Leaf defence to beat Kallgren.  Not long after, Paul Stasny popped in a wrap around off a Nick Ehlers bullet off the glass.  Mark Giordano was credited with his first as a Leaf to make things interesting.  The crowd love for him must have been very gratifying.

The Leafs seemed to shake off their dopiness as the second period began.  The suddenly resurgent William Nylander pounded in a nice rebound on the PP from Marner and Mathews.  Some of the commentators were concerned that Toronto was over focussed on feeding Mathews for his 50^th, but now it was a tie game.  Nick Ehlers scored a power play goal of his own to put the Jets back up 3-2, but just 23 seconds later John Tavares slid his 23^rd and 5^th in his last 3 games.  Nylander scored another PPG off a scramble to make it 4-3 and then Toronto scored their league leading 11^th shorty by Mikaev from Engvall.  Some bad feelings and potty mouth after the final horn reminded us of that nasty game back in The Peg.

The only real thing left to be determined after this LEAFS’ dominating, comeback performance was whether #34 was going to bag his 50^th.  Mathews had a couple of beauty opportunities on some PP chances early.  Back and forth play was going nowhere when the Jets pulled their goalie with a full 3:14 left.  Although I am sure that most of Leafs Nation (including Mathews) would have preferred a dramatic overtime winning goal, but Auston made it official with an empty netter, the first ever Leafs centre to score 50 and the first Leaf in 28 years to accomplish the feat.  Final score Leafs 7, Jets 3.

HOPPER NOTES:  Do you think Mathews should have got up and acknowledged the standing ovation?..with 15 games to play, is there any doubt that Mathews will pass Rick Vaive on the all time Leafs scoring list?….Leafs showed a bit of team toughness after the “BIG” goal – Kyle Clifford dusted Dillon and Wayne Simmonds would not back down from a bogus challenge from Lowry…Timothy Liljgren scored the 7^th Leaf goal BTW…did Blake Wheeler come to a full stop while scoring last night’s game-winning shoot out goal in Buffalo?…nice to see Bobby Marguerite back on the TSN panel…real Captain stuff – the way Tavares scrambled to retrieve the puck after Giordano’s first goal as a Leaf…guys I wish I had on my team: Josh Morrisey…seeing TJ and Morgan reunited is very comforting…Erik Kallgren is not particularly spectacular, but he does come up with the key stops you need…nice acapella anthem tonight…Leafs are off to a 4 game road trip in Philly, FLA, TB and Dallas…

CHEERS – enjoy life long love – Comments welcome !