Month: November 2022

My Mother-in-Law Bette’s funeral was held today – over 100 of her friends and family were there to help celebrate her life, well-lived. I often remember her stories of the Leafs glory days back in the late 40’s early fifties when the Leafs won 4 cups in five years and then again when they were triumphant 4 times in the 60’s. A lot of her contempoaries were in the room today and the tales were flying.

Sorry for the missed report, but I will send along my views included in tomorrow’s report on the Vancouver game, RIP Bette, I love you and will miss you !

The Toronto Maple Leafs came off their rather successful back to back weekend wins to face the ”Best in the West” – the Las Vegas Golden Knights – and their 11 and 2 record tonight at the SCOTIABANK Arena.  The top Vegas line of Jack Eichel, Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone are rolling and their defence led by Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez are solid.  Even without their number one goalie Robin Lehner, they have found some depth at the goaltending position with Logan Thompson.

Leafs Coach Sheldon Keefe put the Marner/Mathews combination back together, this time with Alex Kerfoot on the left side.  That meant Nick Robertson was moved back with Tavares/Nylander and Michael Bunting held on to his third line status with Cale Jarnkrok and Pierre Engvall.  The goaltending roulette wheel stopped on Erik Kalgren.  Rumours persist that Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray are both on the mend but the giant and untested Keith Petruzelli kept the back up seat warm again tonight.

The stragglers weren’t even settled in their seats when a Rasmus Sandin giveaway at the point was stolen to release Vegas on a 2 on 1.  Kalgren made the initial save, but Nick Roy picked up the garbage to give the Knights a lead at the :45 second mark.  Timothy Liligren converted off a beautiful cross-ice pass from David Kampf to tie things up 4 minutes later.  A great game ensued with solid chances and goaltending at both ends.  Leaf killer Jack Eichel tapped in a nice pass from Stone with a little over 2 minutes left after the other young Swedish D-man (Liligren this time) coughed it up at his own line.

Vegas came out strong in the second, trying to capitalize on that late first period goal.  There wasn’t much to choose between the two clubs as the middle stanza wore on.  Kalgren had made 3 solid saves early to keep the Leafs close.  That was until Mitch Marner put on a stick handling clinic to score a highlight reel goal: upstairs, in off the post to tie the game.  Toronto continued its dominance.  On one particular late shift, the Leafs hemmed in the Golden Knights with such energy, that 3 of the Vegas players had been on for over two minutes.  Finally, Liligren put them out of their misery with his second of the night (and season) converting a clever feed from Marner.  The Leafs out shot Vegas 13 to 5 in the period including the final 7 shots.  3-2 Tranna.

The Leafs killed off a critical Vegas PP less than 5 minutes into the third.  When they had their chance to score on a PP, Riley Smith spoiled things with a shorty to tie the game up 5 minutes later.   Overtime didn’t last very long as Shea Theadore sent Smith in all alone on a beautiful pass and the Toronto boy roofed it for the win.  A shame someone had to lose this one really.

HOPPER NOTES:  The comparison between tonight’s Toronto squad and the one that was so pitiful against this same Vegas team back on October 24^th is astounding…Vegas is good – that D corps has got to be tops in the league in size and strength…didn’t see or hear much from newly minted Iron Man, Phil Kessel (except he was on the point of their PP)…he will play his 1000 consecutive game next week…Erik Kalgren played a hell of a game…players I wish I had on my team:  Shea Theadore…please stop the Christmas ads – it’s not even Remembrance Day ! ….RIP Bette Morton and God Bless my sister Carol…please relay your comments – cheers !

When last we met the Toronto Maple Leafs, they were basking in the joy of a well deserved win against the division leading Boston Bruins.  A sober after thought went toward their injured goalie Ilya Samsonov and his yet undiagnosed left knee.  (MRI results are expected shortly.)

Today they had to turn their thoughts to a quick turn around and another top 5 opponent in the Carolina Hurricanes with an early 5 pm (EDT) start in Raliegh, North Carolina.  Third string goalie Eric Kalgren and newly minted ECHL call up Keith Petrocelli were to supply the net minding.  Petrocelli BTW is a 23 year old 6’6’ goalie who is sporting a 6 and 0 record with the Toronto Marlies so far this season.

The Leafs looked none the worse for wear as the game started, matching Carolina stride for stride with crisp passing and close checking.  As the period wore on though the Hurricanes proved to be full measure for their 8-2 and 1 record with deep forechecking and ice coverage.  That resulted in Justin Holl being sent to the box in the 9^th minute.  Stafan Moeson snuck a trickler past Kalgren to open the scoring.  Leafs were outshot 11-4.

Just as the game was getting borderline boring and after only 5 shots on net, Coach Keefe dragged out the blender.  He moved Tavares in with Marner and Robertson, Mathews to center Nylander and Kefoot and dropped Bunting to the third line.  The best Leaf line ?  Denis Malgin with Kampf and Ashton-Reese.  The adjustments led to a second half renaissance as Toronto took over the momentum and eventually scored the tying goal thanks to Cale Jarnkrok pumping one in off the post to tie things up.  SOG:  19-17 Carolina.

To say that the Toronto squad had high expectations again this evening, some may have doubted.  Yet the second half of tonight’s game showed that was definitely the case.  Even after the Hurricanes came flying out the gate to start period 3, the Leafs handled the storm and turned things around.  Team Captain, John Tavares continued his dominance to pot his 5^th in 5 games and his 399th NHL goal.  Nick Robertson and Mitch Marner had a huge say in that transaction.  Leafs Nation was still verklempt heading into the “danger zone” but an unlikely William Nylander pursuit led to a chip in to salt things away.  3-1 Leafs !

HOPPER NOTES:  Boy, it’s hard to climb back on that bandwagon with 2 broken ankles ! …The Leafs 4^th line tonight was their best ! Brent Burns sure brings a new dynamic to that Carolina club…Willy Nye, clothes guy can be deceptive…on the one hand, just floating thru space – and then you realize he’s had had a 5 point game streak with 11 (now 12 points) points …I am thinking about a LOVE LEAFS event – what do you think ?  see ya Tuesday

Most pre-season procrastinators had this season as the one where the always contending Boston Bruins might finally might take a step back.  There was uncertainty about injuries to Charlie McCovoy, Brad Marchant and G Jeremy Swayman.  Were David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron really coming back in to the fold and what about new Head Coach Jim Montgomery replacing the steady hand of Bruce Cassidy ?  Well, 11 games in, the Bruins are leading the entire league at 10 and 1 and scoring 4.45 goals per game.  Sniper David Pasternak hasn’t missed a beat with 8 goals and 19 points.

Tonight was the start of a 3 game stretch for the Toronto Maple against true contenders – Boston, Carolina and Las Vegas on a 3 in 4 set.  Coach Keefe moved Cale Jarnkrok into centre with Wayne Simmonds and Pierre Engvall on the third line.  Timothy Liligren was placed alongside Morgan Reilly to debut in his first game after off season hernia surgery.  Nichola Aube-Kubel was waived through the league on Thursday, picked up by the Washington Capitals.

It doesn’t get much better than an original six faceoff on a Saturday night – and tonight’s start was no exception.  There is no doubt that the Bruins are full measure for their record to date.  Coach Montgomery has two solid top six forward lines in Marchant – Bergeron – DeBrusk and Hall – Krejci – Pasternak.  They are interchangeable and effective at both ends of the ice.  Austin  Mathews opened the scoring with his 5^th at 7:19 off a nice kick pass from Michael Bunting.

Anytime you face off two hostile opponents, you are going to see the nasty, under belly of hockey.  The Leafs challenge was to see that Boston doesn’t just run away and hide on this early season race.  Toronto nemesis Brad Marchant played his evil role by diving for a penalty shot early in the second.  Yes, he scored – 4 goals in 4 games.  It wasn’t until 13:40 that a TML PP reaped a second goal from Mathews on helpers from Nylander and Marner.  Toronto did not stop there as assertive goalmouth attacks looked to extend the lead.  Bunts took a particularly wicked hack that led to a third period power play start the third.

A bit of a surprise as Kalgren started the 3^rd period.  Samsanov out with a bad knee !  TML really needed the penalty kills they got and the tenacious checking all over the ice.  Especially  when Boston pulled their goalie for the last 1:09.  A well deserved 2-1 win.

HOPPER NOTES:  Boston D-Man Lindholm and G Ullmark were impressive…Timothy Lilegren looked solid upon his return and Denis Malgin is earning his ice time….this Mathews fighting storyline is boring…I wish I had everyone in my life for a huge group hug,,,,cheers !

OK, 4- 4 and 2 after 10.  Let’s start the “excuce” trail.  St. Louis, Colorado and Tampa Bay – not much better.  Pretty much the same record as last year’s start.  Do you:

1. Split up Mathews and Marner
2. Split up Brodie and Rielly
3. Try some more AHL Marlie players
4. Fire the coach
5. Fire the entire executive suite

The Philadelphia Flyers came into to Toronto tonight with a fairly respectable 5-2-2 record after some had predicted that this was a season of re-building.  New coach John Tortorella put a pre-emptive scare into his new team last summer with claims his club was “soft” and had “a bad room”.  Good strategy ?  We’ll see.

Pretty even period from a couple of middle of the pack squads.  Joe Fairby made it one zip on a rather routine play to be followed by a TML PPG by a Mathews tap in in to tie it up.  John Tavares and Mitchell Marner  were there to help at 3:50.   At 1:20, the Captain jumped on the 5 on 5 train with a nice feed from linemate Nylander. 2-1 Tranna after 1.

 Zac-Ashton Reese (was he the one that dented the Cup?) finally got on the scoreboard with a rebound goal to give the Leafs some insurance.  Captain Johnny continued to show his relevant skill on a solo steal at the blue line, coming across the net to score a wonderful goal to make it 4-1.  Philly scored on some garbage only to have Tavares complete his hat tat trick from Austin and Reilly.  5-2 final.

HOPPER NOTES:   Sorry, I have been quite distracted during this report by some news about my Mother-in-Law Bette.  My oldest friends will remember her as a “wild and crazy” loving Mum, Leafs Fan and a  person who just loved life, her kids, Grand kids and Christmas…I often remember she could barely fit all her gifts under the tree, a beautiful and prolific knitter who would create these beautiful skating outfits, mitten, scarf and mitten sets, cardigan sweaters for her sons’ in law and Afghans, all with love and a heart of gold….hockey is good, but Bette is better – CHEERS !