Be honest, if I had told you 12 months ago that the New York Islanders would be struggling to get out of the Metropolitan Division basement at the end of January, you’d have thought I was joking/crazy right ? But here we are, in our miserable COVID world and the top 4 in that division (Carolina, Rangers, Capitals and the Penguins) are only 3 points apart jockeying between 56 and 53 points. The “bottom 4” Phillly, Islanders, Columbus and the Devils are lounging around in the 33 to 37 point range. Granted the Islanders, the worst hit by injury/COVID have only played 33 games, by far the lowest in the division.
The good news for the Isles is that they are nearing full strength health wise (still without Kyle Palmieri and steady d-man Ryan Pulloch). They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 and looking to make up ground in a hurry with a ton of home games in the coming weeks/months. For tonight’s game versus the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, they also had the sentimental motivation of playing for their former Captain Clark Gillies who died yesterday at the age of just 67.
The Leafs are coming off another blown lead against the Rangers and some minor controversy about some post game comments made by Sheldon Keefe. Petr Marazak was in goal at the state of art UBS Arena and of course the still disappointed Islander fans were out to spew their anger at Johan Tavares. The Muzzin/Holl combo was out and newbie Carl Dahlstrom was given a chance to show his value.
Nice tributes to Clark Gillies both before and during the game. Well deserved – loved the guy !
Mitch Marner continued his impressive return to the lineup with a five hole blooper shorty with 6:35 to go in the first. Zach Parise scored his second to tie it up with a last minute chip in over Marazek’s shoulder. But, the Leafs third line of Engvall, Mikaev and Krampf would bury one with only .02 to go to make it 2-1 going into the room.
The most significant thing that happened in an uneventful second period was Toronto going up 3 to 1. A huge uh-oh could be heard from around Leafs nation. A strong forecheck allowed Reilly to convert a nice short sider from Nylander. This was all despite the big Islander forwards just pounding the Leaf D young’uns every chance they got. Would they be able to handle that pressure for the last period ?
The visitors came out assertive in the final stanza motivated to lose that “softness” tag. They were diligent on loose pucks and won the majority of the 50/50 battles. Petr Mrazek had his best showing as a Leaf to date, standing tall especially in the closing minutes. The Leafs were outshot 26-23 by the home team.
HOPPER NOTES: Question: should active players be allowed to endorse betting sites (even when they’re playing in that night’s broadcast game) ? Guys I’d like on my team: the entire Islanders 4th line…in my opinion, the Toronto defence as it stands, will not stand up to playoff pressure….here is my solution: send Justin Holl, Nick Robertson and Topi Niemeca to Dallas for John Klingberg…send Travis McDermott to Seatle for Marc Giandarno…new pairings would be:
Reilly Klingberg
Giordano Brodie
Muzzin Sandin
Liligren
Discuss – Cheers – Comments Welcome !
Mrazek is a big positive if he has found his game..
Love your trade ideas..not sure Dallas would make that deal.
But would love to have Klingburg..
I think Marner might do it..only if Klingburg agrees to a contract long term.