LET’S WELCOME THE LIGHTNING !

The Detroit Red Wings are winding down their 31-39-10 season with hopes of a bright future from rookie stars like forward Lucas Raymond (23G, 56 pts) and d-man Moritz Seider who plays upwards of 23 minutes per night.  And, Steve Yzerman just signed another defenseman Simon Edvison, a phenom and rookie of the year from the Swedish league.  The Wings have come off some recent wins over Carolina, Boston and Tampa Bay.

The Toronto Maple Leafs hoped to seal up home ice in the first round and support Auston Mathews on his quest for 60 goals and to send  Mitchell Marner toward his first opportunity to score 100 points in a season.  Jake Muzzin was back, Nick Robertson was up and Alex Kerfoot played up on the big line.

Last February 26^th, these 2 combatants put on an awesome offensive show – Leafs 10 – Detroit 7.  I doubt if that what Coach had in mind for tonight and the first period reflected that.  Alex Nedeljkovic had to be sharp in the Red Wing goal as the Leafs dominated with most of the chances.  The Leaf line of Mathews, Marner and Kerfoot alone were swarming the Detroit goal, Mathews ending with 5 shots on net himself.  Still zeroes after one.

Detroit has a good team with great potential as is Ottawa and Buffalo.  They always give the Leafs a go and they will be playoff teams soon.  Back and forth chances finally allowed Mathews to get loose for his 59^th.  Appropriately, aging veteran Jason Spezza was in on the goal (995) as he tries to reach the 1000 point mark for his remarkable, Hall of Fame career. 1-0 Leafs after two.

John Tavares got his 27^th goal to put his club up 2-0 thanks to Nylander and Lyubushkin.  The drama and anticipation was setting in – would it be Mathews’ 60^th, Marner’s 98^th or (long shot) Spezza’s time. Mathews scored his 60^th on a power play from Nylander and Mo Reilly to set the hometown crown off on a well deserved standing O.  Final 3-0 Tranna and record 113 points to secure home ice against YTBD.

HOPPER NOTES:  Detroit has the second worst GAA in the entire league (306) behind only Montreal… Kyle Dubas may have helped Toronto’s long term goalie solution by signing 24 year old Dryden McKay from Minnesota State – he was the Hobey Baker Award winner, made it to the Frozen Four with a .931 sv % and yes, he was named after Ken Dryden…was Kerfoot taking draws earlier in the game ?  This may play in to my pal Glennie’s hypothesis that there is something physically wrong with # 34…I see Novac Bertuzzi had to sit out tonight…”Soup” Campbell got the shutout tonight with 20 saves, 4 or 5 of which were 3 bellers…I am pretty certain that Leafs Nation would like to see him start Fridays’ season finale vs Boston, no matter how insignificant…

CHEERS everyone – comments welcome !