ANOTHER NIGHT ON THE HARDLINE

With the Pandemic of coaching replacements this NHL season, it is hard not to pay attention to the “Who’s Who” of Head men from each visiting team.  This is especially the case for Leafs Nation when it comes to the Canucks Bruce Beaudreau.  A review of his many accomplishments include”

  • 263 points playing with the Toronto Marlies in just 183 games
  • 70 points in 141 games with the Leafs
  • 1231 points in just 982 games in the A – I – and CHL
  • Over 400 wins in 640 games coached in the AHL (incl. Championship with 2006 Hershey)
  • 984 games as Head Coach in the NHL (incl 200 wins in Washington and Anaheim)
  • Jack Adams Award winner in 2008 while with Washington
  • 19-8-4 with Canucks so far

“Gabby” is quite a guy and a fantastic story teller.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off perhaps their worst performance of the season, a 5-1 loss to lowly Buffalo.  Changes for tonight included Jack Campbell back in net and Nick Robertson moving up to the second unit to play with the slumping John Tavares and William Nylander.  A BIG congrats to Wayne Simmonds on playing in his 1000 NHL game.

JT Miller has been the subject of trade rumours lately and for the life of me I can’t imagine why.  Here’s a guy on a 9 game scoring streak pumping in another to put the Canucks up 1-0.  Leafs Captain John Tavares has been carrying a bit of load lately, having not scored 14 games.  He finally got that monkey of his back when he blasted in a Marner feed to tie the game and score the first PPG in 8 games for the home squad.  You could see his joy as he looked to the rafters to thank the Hockey Gods.  Campbell had looked steady but let in the go ahead goal from Travis Hamonic after 2 or 3 nice saves with just :30 seconds left.

BOY, what a great second period !  Brock Boeser (another mysterious trade rumour) put the Canucks up 3-1 early in the stanza.  Not to be outdone, the Leafs stormed back with 3 unanswered goals to take he lead.  First, rookie Nick Robertson finished off a nice play from his new mates.  Next, Austin Mathews, fueled from the news that Leon Draisaitl had moved ahead of him in the goal scoring race went to work.  He tied the game (and Draisaitl) with a fade away wrister and then pounded in a deflection off Quinn Hughes to allow the Leafs to go ahead 4-3.

Tanner Pearson ties it, Tyler Myers scores the winning goal and Tyler Mott scores the empty netter to bury the Leafs.  Need I say more ?

HOPPER NOTES:  I like Lubuskin…does Andre Kase have a bit of a glass jaw ?

One thought on “ANOTHER NIGHT ON THE HARDLINE”

  1. Simply can’t go on allowing four to five goals against per game.
    They need to tighten up.
    I would rather see them lose two to one than five to four.
    If Nick Robertson is still a Leaf on March 22nd, I will be very surprised..
    Why do I keep seeing Luke Schenn back in a Leaf’s jersey.
    I hope I get to see Bruce Boudreau coaching The Leafs one day.
    If the team fails to get a playoff series win this year, fire the bunch.
    Hayley Wickenheiser gets Shanahan’s job.
    GM….not sure yet..Jim Rutherford would be my #1 choice but he is kind of busy..
    Coach….Bruce Boudreau

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