Two pretty solid teams went at it tonight at the Scotiabank Arena amid Black History Month celebrations. Neither have been setting the world on fire lately. The Minnesota Wild hold a down a playoff spot in the central with a respectable 31-14 and 3 record even though they have lost 3 of their last 4. The Toronto Maple Leafs sport an almost identical 32-14 and 4 record despite losing 3 in a row and 5 of their last 7.
The WILD started sophomore goalie Kappo Kahkonen in his 18th game to take advantage of his handsome .921 save percentage. The Leafs on the other hand are embroiled in (dare I say ?) a goaltending slump. Coach Keefe decided to start Petr Marazek who is 6 and 4 on the year. Was this try and get Jack Campbell off the snide having dropped to 11th in GAA, sinking to .897 in in the past 3 months and allowing 4 goals in just 30 shots vs the Columbus Blue Jackets? The Leafs Coach also decided to switch Kase and Kerfoot on the second and third lines, moving Nylander to the left wing in an attempt to shake John Taveres from his recent malaise.
After a very uneventful first period in which only 11 shots were exchanged, you could get a sense of caution from both teams. Lots of high speed back and forth with no results.
The Leaf defence depth and roster have become an issue (again). The Jake Muzzin LTIR status confirmed some cap space and a heightened need for Kyle Dubas to get on the phone. There is still a need to strengthen the right side and maybe now, the left as well. Remembering that during his Norris Trophy season, Mark Giardino had a “silent” partner named TJ Broadie, here are my dream LEAF pairings heading in to round one of playoffs in April:
Reilly Mystery Stud
Giardano TJ Brodie
Muzzin (Sandin) Lyubushkin (Liljgren)
During the second period, the pace picked up considerably, both teams throwing caution to the wind. Witness a strong power play by Minnesota in which shots were fired from every angle. Mrazek came up strong to keep the game tied. This heightened tic for tac approach resulted in the WILD going ahead 1-0 only to have Austin Mathews responds with one of his top shelf rips :27 seconds later for his 35th.
These very evenly matched teams went chance for chance, hit for hit and save for save throughout a hard fought third period. The difference ? Petr Mrazek and Austin Mathews, the first two stars of the game. Mrazek went post to post and stayed on his toes throughout that final stanza. The ferocious back checking of Mathews led to a steal at the WILD blueline, a give and go with his best pal Marner and the winning goal. That was Mathews’ 36th putting him in the Rocket Richard lead for goal scorers ahead of Leon Draistital (35) and Chris Kreidel (34). Much maligned Alex Kerfoot put in the empty netter to make it a 3-1 Leafs win.
HOPPER NOTES: Nice to see (and hear) Ray Ferraro back between the benches…great TV spot from Turkish Airlines featuring Morgan Freeman…why do opponents seem to hate that nice boy (Michael Bunting) from Scarborough (our answer to Brad Marchant ?)…new recruit Lyubushkin is not exactly a gazelle with the puck, but I kind of like him so far….in addition to all the other hype around Mathews, shouldn’t he be getting on the Frank Selke radar as well ? My heart is with the Ukrainian people !
Discuss, enjoy life Comments welcome…