MARNER FOR SELKE and/or HART !

The Dallas Stars led the Central Division as they entered tonight’s home game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs with a respectful 14-6-5 record.  They also lead the league in goals for with 98 to date and hold down a 2.80 goals against average.  New Coach Pete DeBoer came in looking for balance on offense and defense and with Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Joe Pavelski and the sensational Jason Robertson leading the way, mission accomplished.  Goaltending is anchored by Jake Ottenger and capably backed up by Scott Wedgewood.

The Leafs were coming off a tough overtime loss to Tampa Bay, but with a couple of days rest and some new recruits in the line-up, they looked ready to play.  Seymyon Der-Arguchintsev (here to fore known as SDA to this reporter) was the 76^th pick by the Leafs back in 2018.  He is 22 years old, has 18 points in 20 games for the Marlies and was inserted on the right side alongside Pontus Holmberg and Zach Aston-Reese.  Wayne Simmonds came out of the line-up.  Right shot defenceman Connor Timmins recently acquired from Phoenix will get his first start paired with Victor Mete.  Both newbies saw some time on the second power play unit.

As might be expected, both clubs came out guns ablazen.  Dallas got an early power play but Matt Murray stood tall, stopping 5 good opportunities.  Later John Tavares got his 13^th popping in Mitchell Marner’s point shot to take the lead at 4:51.  Marner’s point was the 20^th game in a row in which he had registered at least one point.  Dallas just kept coming and it wasn’t until Auston Mathews scored his own 13^th on a beautiful wrister. That one, with just 2:21 left gave TML the 2-0 lead after one.

The second period saw the Leafs form a conga line to the penalty box.   It started with defending a double minor in which the Stars had 7 shots on goal. Murray used his size to get in front of them all.  The pressure from Dallas didn’t stop there as they continued to pound the Leaf goal.  On one of the few occasions Toronto finally took a turn at trying to score, Rasmus Sandin picked up some garbage after Tavares, Mathews and Bunting were relentless in the zone.  3-0 TML.  That wasn’t the end.  The Leafs went down one, then two men in the final 2 minutes.  To make matters worse, Marner had his stick sawn off from a point shot and if not for some desperate stops from Murray and spectacular defending from Sandin/Liligren, Dallas would have had at least one goal.

TML were full measure for their 4-0 victory over a serious contender tonight.

HOPPER NOTES:   Final SOG: 44 to 29 Dallas…remember WAY back when Toronto “experts” were so worried about Matt Murray after the season opening loss in Montreal ? …of the 2 new recruits, I thought Connor Timmins did not look out of place – especially since his assigned partner Victor Mete went down early…good first pass, not afraid to get in people’s way etc…SDA barely got 7 minutes, so it’s hard to judge…TJ Brodie’s return is approaching so the Benn and Mete injuries will have less impact…guys I wish I had on my team: Miro Heiskanin…Marc Giordano is worth every nickel the Leafs are paying him x 10 ! ….Hats Off to Liligren and Sandin, the most improved d-pairing in the NHL….interesting to see Ashton Reese replace Nicky Bobby in the third….hope y’all are having fun in the malls – love given’ em – love getting’ em…cheers !