MONTREAL MONKEY OFF THEIR BACKS ?

Bar stools across Southern Ontario, perhaps all of Canada, have been supporting the chatter created from THE TRADE.  Many believe the Toronto Maple Leafs are a much stronger team today than yesterday.  GM Kyle Dubas has pulled off what some have referred to as a blockbuster, bringing in Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe and Selke winner Ryan O’Reilly and his less known but grittier pal Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues.  That in exchange for some draft picks (1 first rounder) and some level 2 prospects (Mathew Knies remains a Leaf.)

At first glance the Leafs have upgraded their bottom 6 as O’Reilly is thought to jump in as third line centre and Accari as 3^rd or 4^th right wing.  One of the many hilites of these acquisitions is that Toronto didn’t lose a roster player, they only need to pay half of O’Reilly’s salary and the lesser known Accari led St. Louis in hits, kills penalties and will get you 10-15 goals a season.  Both were in the lineup tonight.   Well done Kyle – what’s next ?

Tonight’s visitor to the SBA are the Montreal Canadiens.  They have already beaten Toronto twice this season, so don’t let their scant 50 points (7^th from the bottom) fool you when it comes to the Leafs.

The TML roster adjustments accounted for O’Rielly centering Tavares and Marner, Acciari centering Kerfoot and Ashton-Reese and Kampf centering Engvall and Jarnkrok.  Matthews-Nylander-Bunting stayed intact.  Holl was in for Timmins and Joseph Woll took the net for an ailing Samsanov.  Not really much to report after the first as the Leafs looked a little cautious under their new alignment and Montreal didn’t put up much of a fuss.

Josh Anderson has always been in a pain in the side of recent Leaf teams.  Sure enough, he opened the scoring early in the second off a nice feed from Matheson.  But, Mathew Bunting came alive on a PPG thanks to AM34 to tie things up.  Interesting to see Coach Keefe’s initial thoughts on the “new” PK.  He sent out Kampf and Marner as usual, followed by Kerfoot and the new guy Acciari.  The second period was a little more wide open which helped the Leafs allow Engvall and then Bunting to open up a 3-1 lead.  Bunting’s goal BTW was a second team PPG from Jarenkrok and new guy O’Reilly.

William Nylander knocked in his 31^st off a nice AM34 feed (his 31^st A) to bring some well deserved separation to this contest.  David Kampf finally got his own (scoring) monkey off his back when he scored his fifth to close out the game at 5 to 1.

HOPPER NOTES:  Chemistry takes time – these two new guys have been here since 2 this afternoon !…some may ask, why put the 2 new guys in as centres ? …my theory, you KNOW how to play centre – it takes time to learn systems as a winger…nice to see Bunts shut his yap as he got accosted with a high stick…29 saves by Woll earned him his first SBA win…LOVE O’Reilly, but don’t forget his little pal Acciari – 168 hits (Leafs closest is Sundin with 108) 10th in the league, right shot face-off man…ALWAYS take care of the ones you love…CHEERS !