SOME CHEESE ON THAT TORTS ?

The Philadelphia Flyers have been on a bit of heater lately, winning 4 in a row, 5 of their last 7 to earn a modest 15-17-7 record to date.  They will be looking to break a current 6 game losing streak to tonight’s visitors.  The Flyers have an 8-9-1 home record.

The Toronto Maple Leafs on the other hand have been up and down since the holiday break, giving up the first goal in their last 3 games and having suffered from some pretty mediocre goaltending from both men.  This is the last game of (#41) of their first half and they sport a very impressive 24-9-7 record.  Matt Murray got the start in goal and his objective was to improve on his sub .900 sv% from recent times.  TJ Brodie came out of the line-up and Connor Timmins came in.  Also, Wayne Simmonds subbed in on the 4^th line (a nice gesture).

The Leafs got off to the great start they’ve been missing lately with 4 shots on net before the first whistle.  Calle Jarnkrok got Toronto on the board with his 9^th after a fabulous cross ice feed from Marner halfway through the opening period.  Matt Murray made a solid save off Kevin Hayes to try to match last night’s solid win from Ilya Samsanov.  With 2:15 left, the Leafs got a 4^th line goal from Zach Aston-Reese banging in a Holmberg rebound, but just 16 seconds later Travis Knoechny put in his 21^st to extend his 6 game scoring streak.  SOG 12-11 Tranna.

Connor Timmins, a real fine addition to the Leafs defence depth, got his first career goal off a Tavares/Marner combo in the 13^th minute.  Like earlier, the Flyers struck right back just 1:49 later when tough guy Nicholas Delauries roofed a nice one for his second of the year.  Timothy Liligren had just crushed a bullet off the post and off the ensuing faceoff, got his 3^rd from Jarnkrok to put the Leafs back up 4 to 2.  Captain Johhny has been on a bit of a heater himself lately as he pumped in his 4^th in 3 games off a nice forecheck from Jarnkrok and Marner.  This didn’t really feel like a 5-2 game because the Flyers didn’t turtle and kept Toronto hemmed in their own end for a majority of the final 5 minutes of the second.

Y’know ?, there were a couple of times through the back half of tonight’s game where I wondered, who’s winning ?  Except for a brief period in the second half of the third, when the Leafs had solid shifts from all 4 lines in a row, I thought Philly had the edge in play !  Auston Mathews got his 20^th on a PP thanks to Tavares and Marner and the 3 game series sweep had its final nail.  Murray had to improve his save % with a 34 save performance and Connor Timmins seems to have been accepted into the group.  As Vic Rauter used to say, make the final Leafs 6, Flyers 2.

HOPPER NOTES:  Who needs a high priced (cap space + assets) LW when Jarnkrok (1G, 2A tonight) is playing so well ?…Coach John Tortorella hates the all-star break…who cares ?  I get so sick of his act ! …some are saying that Mathews’ goal scoring total (now @ 20) is disappointing…I think a lot are forgetting his huge upside on the defensive side of the puck…many will recall a young Steve Yzerman back in the early 90’s when he was scoring at a 60 goal, 100+ point pace…Scotty Bowman came along and convinced Stevie that there was more to hockey than just scoring, the Detroit franchise turned around and became championship calibre…guys I’d like on my team, Travis Konechney…I’m reading one of my Christmas books “All Roads Home” by Bryan Trottier and Stephen Brunt…very good so far…it has taken me a while to forgive Trottier for going to play for the Americans (on the premise of being a Native North American) during some of the Canada Cups…and, what exactly IS Ozempic ?  Cheers all – keep those comments coming !