LEAFS KEEP ‘ER ROLLING

The Winnipeg Jets are an enigma.  They should have been a slam dunk playoff team in the Central Division, yet here they are clawing to get in to contention for a wild card spot against Dallas (77 pts), Vegas (76), Themselves (76) and long shot Vancouver currently at 73 points.  The Jets are coming off an OT win Buffalo last night and have won 9 of their last 12 to stay in the conversation.  Tonight, they were without leading scores Kyle Connor and Nate Schmidt due to COVID protocol. 

The last time the Toronto Maple Leafs played the Jets was in Winnipeg back in December and it was a rather unpleasant loss.  Jason Spezza (of all people!) was charged with a retaliatory kneeing infraction that cost him a 4 game suspension and there were several unpleasantries exchanged between clubs.

Injuries are becoming an issue as the Toronto squad play their final 15 games.  Petr Mrazek is gone for a minimum 6 weeks with another groin tweak and Ilya Lyubushkin will sit out tonight as a precaution after taking a sucker punch from Taylor Hall in Boston Tuesday.  Erik Kallgren got his 5^th start and Justin Holl was good to go.

The Jets were playing their second in two, but you’d never know it from their jump and high speed pace off the drop. As mentioned they are playing for their playoff lives and need to go 11 and 3 to reach the minimum 98 points it is likely to take to qualify.  Captain Blake Wheeler got the Jets on the board slicing through the Leaf defence to beat Kallgren.  Not long after, Paul Stasny popped in a wrap around off a Nick Ehlers bullet off the glass.  Mark Giordano was credited with his first as a Leaf to make things interesting.  The crowd love for him must have been very gratifying.

The Leafs seemed to shake off their dopiness as the second period began.  The suddenly resurgent William Nylander pounded in a nice rebound on the PP from Marner and Mathews.  Some of the commentators were concerned that Toronto was over focussed on feeding Mathews for his 50^th, but now it was a tie game.  Nick Ehlers scored a power play goal of his own to put the Jets back up 3-2, but just 23 seconds later John Tavares slid his 23^rd and 5^th in his last 3 games.  Nylander scored another PPG off a scramble to make it 4-3 and then Toronto scored their league leading 11^th shorty by Mikaev from Engvall.  Some bad feelings and potty mouth after the final horn reminded us of that nasty game back in The Peg.

The only real thing left to be determined after this LEAFS’ dominating, comeback performance was whether #34 was going to bag his 50^th.  Mathews had a couple of beauty opportunities on some PP chances early.  Back and forth play was going nowhere when the Jets pulled their goalie with a full 3:14 left.  Although I am sure that most of Leafs Nation (including Mathews) would have preferred a dramatic overtime winning goal, but Auston made it official with an empty netter, the first ever Leafs centre to score 50 and the first Leaf in 28 years to accomplish the feat.  Final score Leafs 7, Jets 3.

HOPPER NOTES:  Do you think Mathews should have got up and acknowledged the standing ovation?..with 15 games to play, is there any doubt that Mathews will pass Rick Vaive on the all time Leafs scoring list?….Leafs showed a bit of team toughness after the “BIG” goal – Kyle Clifford dusted Dillon and Wayne Simmonds would not back down from a bogus challenge from Lowry…Timothy Liljgren scored the 7^th Leaf goal BTW…did Blake Wheeler come to a full stop while scoring last night’s game-winning shoot out goal in Buffalo?…nice to see Bobby Marguerite back on the TSN panel…real Captain stuff – the way Tavares scrambled to retrieve the puck after Giordano’s first goal as a Leaf…guys I wish I had on my team: Josh Morrisey…seeing TJ and Morgan reunited is very comforting…Erik Kallgren is not particularly spectacular, but he does come up with the key stops you need…nice acapella anthem tonight…Leafs are off to a 4 game road trip in Philly, FLA, TB and Dallas…

CHEERS – enjoy life long love – Comments welcome !