MARNER BLOWS OUT THE CANES !

After all of that All Star nonsense, it was back to real hockey tonight as the Toronto Maple Leafs welcomed one of the league leaders, the Carolina Hurricanes in to Scotiabank Arena.  With the break and all the excitement of the Winter Olympics in China, let’s review where we stand.  The top 4 NHL clubs (by winning percentage) are the Colorado Avalanche at .773, followed closely by the Hurricanes at .762, the still surprising Florida Panthers at .734 and then the Leafs at .726.  Toronto has a better winning % than Tampa Bay with 4 games in hand and then another 5 games in hand on Atlantic Division leading Florida.

The ’Canes won the only head-to-head to date back in October with a 4-1 decision.  The Leafs, who were in their early season doldrums (2-4-1) have been 27-6-2 since.

It was evident from puck drop as to why these 2 clubs are top 5.  The speed, the quick breakouts the team toughness was there for all to see.  Petr Mrazek was in for the Leafs, giving Jack Campbell a rest after the all-star break.  He was trying to win his 4^th in a row and looked steady.  Only a seeing eye pass from Ian Cole allowed Nino Niedermeyer to tip one in off the post for the go-ahead goal.  Later, Ondrej Kase took a knee on knee hit and as he was limping to the bench, next up teammate Wayne Simmonds took on perpetrator Brendan Smith and just pummeled him for his liberty taking hit.  The Hurricanes were relentless on the forecheck throughout.

Toronto got to start the second with a powerplay courtesy of some rough stuff at the final horn, but Frederick Andersen continued his steady play making two outstanding saves close in.  The ‘Canes continued to stay on top of the Leafs at every move with their speed and sheer determination.  It wasn’t until the Toronto squad received their third straight power play (much to the chagrin of Carolina Coach Rod Brind’Amour) that Austin Mathews finished off a William Nylander play to finally beat Anderson off a goal mouth scramble.  Mrazek made a spectacular save on Carolina scoring leader (19g, 16a, 58 points) Sebastian Aho who was sent in all alone.  Late in the second Austin Mathews blasted his 31^st with a typical bullet off a nice give and go with Morgan Reilly to boost the Leafs to a one goal lead heading for the third. 

A steal along the right side allowed Tony DeAngelo to streak in for a rather soft goal to tie the game at  2’s early in the third.  This one had all the makings of a playoff game – perhaps even an Eastern Conference final matchup ?  Derek Stepan put the ‘Canes back out front after a weird bounce and a rebound.  Mitchell Marner potted his 8^th straight goal from a huge Andersen rebound off a Lilgren point shot to tie things up and send this one to overtime.  Austin Mathews had been sent to the “dark” room after being kneed in the head during the final minute.  Coach Keefe had to shake up his 3 man lines during OT and it paid off as (who else ?) Marner scored his 16^th to win the game.

HOPPER NOTES:  You could just sense that Frederick Andersen wanted this one bad – he was coming off an All Star weekend but insisted on starting…he owns the second best GAA in the league…Coach Brind’Amour has got to be in the running for his second Jack Adams Trophy in a row…the Hurricanes are in the tough Metropolitan division with the Rangers, Penguins and Capitals all nipping at their heels…was Michaev dressed tonight ? …Kyle Dubas has got to be thinking hard about additions prior to the March 21 trade deadline…he’s made some nice depth adds with Bunting, Kase and Kampf, but you can’t help but wonder whether that big, tough, right shot defenceman wouldn’t be a nice addition…Leafs play 11 games in the next 22 days…it will be interesting to see how Josh Ho-Sang will do with the Team Canada Olympic team…rumours insist he’ll be playing on the # 1 line….could he be the depth forward the Leafs need or will Nick Robertson and Alex Steeves stand in the way ?  Now it’s on to watch the preview of the Women’s Gold Medal game…Enjoy – Cheers – Please comment !