VEGAS IS GOOD – WIN 8TH IN A ROW !

The Toronto Maple Leafs came off their rather successful back to back weekend wins to face the ”Best in the West” – the Las Vegas Golden Knights – and their 11 and 2 record tonight at the SCOTIABANK Arena.  The top Vegas line of Jack Eichel, Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone are rolling and their defence led by Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez are solid.  Even without their number one goalie Robin Lehner, they have found some depth at the goaltending position with Logan Thompson.

Leafs Coach Sheldon Keefe put the Marner/Mathews combination back together, this time with Alex Kerfoot on the left side.  That meant Nick Robertson was moved back with Tavares/Nylander and Michael Bunting held on to his third line status with Cale Jarnkrok and Pierre Engvall.  The goaltending roulette wheel stopped on Erik Kalgren.  Rumours persist that Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray are both on the mend but the giant and untested Keith Petruzelli kept the back up seat warm again tonight.

The stragglers weren’t even settled in their seats when a Rasmus Sandin giveaway at the point was stolen to release Vegas on a 2 on 1.  Kalgren made the initial save, but Nick Roy picked up the garbage to give the Knights a lead at the :45 second mark.  Timothy Liligren converted off a beautiful cross-ice pass from David Kampf to tie things up 4 minutes later.  A great game ensued with solid chances and goaltending at both ends.  Leaf killer Jack Eichel tapped in a nice pass from Stone with a little over 2 minutes left after the other young Swedish D-man (Liligren this time) coughed it up at his own line.

Vegas came out strong in the second, trying to capitalize on that late first period goal.  There wasn’t much to choose between the two clubs as the middle stanza wore on.  Kalgren had made 3 solid saves early to keep the Leafs close.  That was until Mitch Marner put on a stick handling clinic to score a highlight reel goal: upstairs, in off the post to tie the game.  Toronto continued its dominance.  On one particular late shift, the Leafs hemmed in the Golden Knights with such energy, that 3 of the Vegas players had been on for over two minutes.  Finally, Liligren put them out of their misery with his second of the night (and season) converting a clever feed from Marner.  The Leafs out shot Vegas 13 to 5 in the period including the final 7 shots.  3-2 Tranna.

The Leafs killed off a critical Vegas PP less than 5 minutes into the third.  When they had their chance to score on a PP, Riley Smith spoiled things with a shorty to tie the game up 5 minutes later.   Overtime didn’t last very long as Shea Theadore sent Smith in all alone on a beautiful pass and the Toronto boy roofed it for the win.  A shame someone had to lose this one really.

HOPPER NOTES:  The comparison between tonight’s Toronto squad and the one that was so pitiful against this same Vegas team back on October 24^th is astounding…Vegas is good – that D corps has got to be tops in the league in size and strength…didn’t see or hear much from newly minted Iron Man, Phil Kessel (except he was on the point of their PP)…he will play his 1000 consecutive game next week…Erik Kalgren played a hell of a game…players I wish I had on my team:  Shea Theadore…please stop the Christmas ads – it’s not even Remembrance Day ! ….RIP Bette Morton and God Bless my sister Carol…please relay your comments – cheers !