OK, Roman Josi, Goalie Juuse Saros, Ryan McDonagh, Matt Duchene and Peter Forsberg – yeah I’ve heard of some of the Nashville Predator players. And yeah, David Poile continues to ice a competitive team. Before tonight’s tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs, they sported a 19-14-6 record, 1 point out of the last Wild Card spot in the West with 3 games in hand on Edmonton. They are surrounded by St. Louis, Calgary and Colorado in that same race.
Thanks to a keen pre-game notice from my # 1 source, the Toronto Maple Leafs were without Auston Mathews meaning Willy Nylander moved to centre, Pierre Engvall moved up to the number one line and newcomer, 26 year old Bobby McMann got his first shot in the “bigs”.
Can you say “Goalie Battle” ? That is appeared to be what we had in store for this evening, if the first period was any indication. 5’11” Saros (too small for the NHL?), was spectacular. His .948 sv % average shone after coming off a shutout in Ottawa and 60+ save performance in Carolina last week. The Leafs tested him early and often. Matt Murray was equal to the task, with a spectacular series of saves where he “snow angelled” a conflict and made 3 saves in the process. Captain Johhny finally scored with 3:06 left off a great Nylander feed when he lifted a deft back hander from in close for his 20th. That was also JT’s 5th in his last 4 and his 7th first goal of the game for the season. Final SOG – TML 15 / PREDS 10.
Things changed quickly as the second period began. Peter Forsberg scored his 8th in 8 games on beauty toe drag just 1:46 in. Shots and chances were down this stanza as the checking tightened up on both sides. Nashville has a heavy team and they like to utilize it where possible.
Remember that “Goalie Battle” comment from paragraph 3 ? So be it ! What a display by the guys with the pillows on their legs – what a showing. A combined .966 sv %, 35 to 30 SOG. Hard to choose who was better. If not for an errant stick up Morgan Reilly’s nose to cause a 4 minute penalty, they could still be playing. Turns out, Mitch Marner slapped in a clever pass from Nylander on the ensuing PP to give the Leafs all they needed. That was Mitchell’s 18th home game point in a row BTW, tying him with the legend known as Daryl Sittler.
HOPPER NOTES: credit Kyle Dubas with the recent depth acquisitions of Connor Timmins, Dryden Hunt and Bobby McMannn…sure they won’t be playing in next month’s all-star game, but they’re larger than Kyle usually likes and they sure seem to want to play…such a fine line between playing in the NHL or the AHL isn’t it ? …guys I’d like on my team: Tanner Jeanott (6’ 2”, 208 pounds and loves to hit people)…Cheers everyone !!