Just before we get into tonight’s Leafs/Red Wings storylines, I wanted y’all to get a load of all the rumour mongering that’s been going since the Christmas break. Now, while I agree with basic premise of adding a large, dirty nosed, left wing scorer to enhance the Tavares/Marner combo, does that mean every team in the league have such a specimen that qualifies ? It would seem so.
Every time I pick up a paper, my phone or turn on the radio, I hear another possible candidate from yet another NHL squad. Please let me narrow it down to the candidates I think would genuinely improve the Leafs, if Kyle Dubas can make it work: Timo Meir – LW San Jose, Lawson Crouse LW Arizona, Bo Horvat LW/C Vancouver, one of the “Sam’s” (Reinhart or Bennett) from Florida, Ryan O’Reilly or Vladimer Tarensenko from St. Louis. Lots of rumours, lots of quality players available. Dubas will need a calculator and some sort of squeezing device to make it all fit. Possible trade assets: Nick Robertson, Pierre Engvall, Alex Steeves, Topi Niemela.
After Thursday’s debacle against a much-improved Seattle Kraken squad Toronto should have their hands full again tonight against another improved squad, this time from their own division, The Detroit Red Wings. They are playing their second of 2 and will not be pleased with last night’s 3-2 loss to Florida at home. Couple that with a delayed arrival at their Toronto hotel (2 am) and they will be challenged to improve on their 16-13-7 record to date.
Woooa – did someone just wake me up ? What a SNOOZEFEST of a first period ! The only real play of note was Detroit’s Nate Wallman racing out of the penalty box to receive a beaut of a breakaway pass to score in alone. The Toronto Maple Leafs need to “snap out of it”. It may not seem like much to them, but the Red Wings are in a race of their own. There are 4 teams (Buffalo, Florida, Ottawa and them) separated by one point in the Atlantic and this means a whole hell of a lot to them ! TML had only 2 SOG BTW.
Ok, so I’m a little out of sorts. I have been watching hockey that MEANT something over the last 2 weeks and I expected more from the pro level. Never mind, I was back in good spirits when Mitch Marner banged in an unlikely rebound off a Mathews shot to tie things up. That was Mitchell’s 500th point and his 17th home point in a row ! John Tavers put his team out front at 13:54. The Leafs BTW upped their SOG total to 12 by period’s end.
A low event third period netted TML 2 more goals to finish out this session at 4-1 Leafs. The very useful Pontus Holmberg put the Leafs in a comfy 3-1 mode with his 4th from a deft Reilly pass and a TJ feed. Captain Johnny put the final dagger in with an EN from Marner. 4-1 final.
HOPPER NOTES: At the end of the night, the TML leading scorer parade was Austin 46, Marner 46, Nylander 45 and Tavares 37…despite my first period whining the Leafs ended up outshooting the Wings…just who was that Uncle Fester look-a-like behind the Detroit bench ? Derek Lalonde…so nice to see Mo Reilly and TJ Brodie paired up again…the Wings haven’t beat the Leafs in 9 games, dating back to 2018…here’s a songful parody, “Hooray for Samsanov, made 22 saves needed to shake it off”…loved how Auston pretended to throw Mitchy’s 500th point puck into the crowd before handing it to the Trainor…guys I’d like to have on my team Mo Snider…real glad that Mo Reilly is back on the # 1 PP unit…he’s a defenceman – he cares !… if you are lucky enough to have people in your life that love you, hang on to them as hard as you can…great to be back with y’all – CHEERS !