Wait – Seattle has a hockey team ? And the new beautiful Climate Pledge Arena and an historic visit from the Toronto Maple Leafs ? Sure, the Leafs are coming off a couple losses in which they were simply out -goaltended by Markstrom in Calgary and then Demko in Vancouver. The visitors needed to step up, especially the 5 on 5 play from the Tavares/Nylander/Kefoot troika. Toronto goalie Jack Campbell has let in 5 goals in his last 4 outings.
Seattle has a whole load of re-treads like Marc Giordano, Jared Mcann (19 goals), Ryan Donato and Jordan Eberle. Their goaltending tandem of Phillip Grubauer and Chris Drieder have had their hands full and sport a below .900 save percentage.
Well, no 5 on 5 scoring from the second line – check – Kerfoot scores his 7th from Tavares to open the scoring. Shakey goaltending from the Soup – check – great reactive save on Hayden Fluery to keep the Kraken off the board less than 6 minutes in. Only a boneheaded William Nylander back pass into his own end after a 35 to 45 second forechecking barrage from Seattle allowed them back in to tie the game. Toronto quickly responded with a Bunting goal and then a second unit PPG from Ondrej Kase from Rasmus Sandin and Jason Spezza. The Matthews assist BTW was his 15th point (7G-8A) since January 26.
The Leafs led 4-1 after a rather hum-drum second period. Mitch Marner scored on a power play from Mathews to record his 400th point – only Syl Apps and Austin Mathews did it sooner. Leafs Nation must feel some relief after seeing the solid play of Campbell in the net – he’d only had to make 14 saves to this point but several were in the solid category.
Mitchell Marner showed his true superstar value on an early PK goal as he dragged the defender with him only to leave a beauty backhand pass for teammate David Krampf to make the score 5-1 in the third. The Kraken weren’t about to give in as (brief) former Leaf Jared McCann scored his 20th to keep the local fans in their seats. Jake Muzzin pounded in his first goal in 28 games from his wrong side to put it away 6 to 2.
HOPPER NOTES: The final shots on goal were 25 each, so this was in no way a blowout. Seattle had 50 shot attempts. Which leads me to my concern about the Leafs backend. I don’t think the Sandin/Liligren tandem is strong enough yet for winning playoff hockey. Great for depth, but starters ? The Leafs need to add a right shot stud (eg Klienberg, PK etc) and a veteran presence, thusly:
- Reilly Stud
- Giardano TJ Brodie
- Muzzin Holl
- Sandin Liligren
Best Olympic sport by far- Snowboard Cross…the Marner Mathews Bunting line has scored 27 of the last 47 Leaf goals…when the Leafs come home Thursday to play Pittsburgh they’ll have at least 9,000 happy fans to cheer them on…will Sid still be looking for his 500th goal ? Did ya miss me ? Thanks for all who reached out. I had IT problems last Thursday (Calgary) and Saturday (Vancouver) was my grandson’s 11th Birthday Party….Decision: should the Leafs have kept McCann and his 20 goals or sent Kerfoot (7 G) to Seattle ? Discuss. Cheers – comments welcome !
Great stuff as usual Dave. With Sandine and Lillegren I think their talent is obvious. However, they seem to be guilty of periodic poor decisions. Perhaps just an experience thing. Keep it coming Dave.
I missed your reports..
McCann..Not sure he would have had the opportunity he has with an expansion team if he was kept by The Leafs.
Kerfoot is a great role player..Not sure it would have made a difference either way.
Now that I have dropped the Trade Marner routine, although, I think it would be a gutsy move that could bring us a championship.
Remember Raptors trading Derozen…People were freaking out..until the parade that is.
Who is trade bait for a stud defender..Nick Robertson ???
Agreed on the McCann/Kerfoot thing… I would add McDermott on the defense trade – cheers !