At the Break

My favorite player..Dave Keon

There were no games Thursday night because of the All-Star break and the same will be true on Friday.  So while we wait, I thought it’d be fun to use this opportunity to reflect a little on the season thus far.  A lot of writers do that and they tend to focus on who they think is leading in the major award categories.  That’s interesting, but to be a little different, I wanted to focus instead on the biggest surprises, positive and negative, so far this season.

Forwards

Most Pleasant Surprise: Elias Lindholm (CAL).  He was taken with the fifth overall pick in 2013, so his breakout this season didn’t come out of nowhere, but it took long enough that people were starting to lose faith in him.  I think it’s fair to say that the Carolina Hurricanes had their doubts, otherwise he wouldn’t have been bundled with Noah Hanifin in the Dougie Hamilton trade, but perhaps the Calgary Flames foresaw this as they had the sense to not only acquire him, but then lock him up for six years over the summer with a cap hit of just $4.85 million.  Lindholm has blossomed on a line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, scoring 21 goals and 58 points in 51 games.  Before this season, Lindholm’s career-highs were 17 goals and 45 points.  In Yahoo leagues, Lindholm was typically the 151st draft pick and he was only drafted in 7% of leagues.

Honorable Mentions: Anders Lee (NYI), Alex Tuch (VGK), Zach Parise (MIN), Timo Meier (SJS).




Biggest Disappointment: Patrik Laine (WPG).  This one I feel requires some justification, because it seems rather harsh and maybe it is.  Certainly there have been notable players that have done far worse, often due to injury or other circumstances, as is the case in William Nylander.  In fact, Nylander was the player I heavily leaned towards putting here and I don’t think anyone would have batted an eye at that given that he has just seven points thus far.  However, Nylander was a risk going into the season and had an average draft position of 93rd overall.  Laine’s average draft position was 8th and for a player that was taken so high, he hasn’t done enough.  He has 25 goals and 34 points in 48 games this season, which puts him on a sub-60 point pace for the first time in his career.  That comes despite league-wide scoring being up this season.  His 25 goals is amazing, but his pace has been steadily declining.  He had 18 goals in the span of 12 games from Nov. 1-29.  Outside of that one amazing hot streak, this has been a really unproductive season for him.  Hopefully he’ll turn around in the second half, but right now I have serious concerns about him, at least as far as 2018-19 goes.

Dishonorable Mentions: William Nylander (TOR), Ilya Kovalchuk (LAK), William Karlsson (VGK), Rickard Rakell (ANA).

Defensemen

Most Pleasant Surprise: Thomas Chabot (OTT).  With Erik Karlsson gone, the Ottawa Senators needed Chabot to step up and boy did he ever.  Chabot went from averaging 17:31 minutes, including 1:53 with the man advantage last season to 23:54 minutes, including 3:01 power-play minutes in 2018-19.  Big minutes would help any player, but they don’t guarantee the level of success that Chabot has enjoyed.  He has 10 goals and 39 points in 42 games, already shattering his rookie totals of nine goals and 25 points in 63 contests.  He’s been a pretty consistent factor too, never going more than three games without a point, with the obvious exception of when he missed eight games in late December/early January due to an upper-body injury.  Chabot average draft position in Yahoo leagues was 161st and he was only drafted 16% of the time, so you can’t say that most fans saw this coming.

Honorable Mentions: Mark Giordano (CAL), Morgan Rielly (TOR), Mattias Ekholm (NAS), Jeff Petry (MON).

Biggest Disappointment: Shayne Gostisbehere (PHI).  Going through the list of defensemen, there aren’t any top-tier blueliners that are having absolutely devastating seasons and the fact that Gostisbehere could be terms as the biggest disappointment is a reflection of that.  The reality is that his season hasn’t really been that disappointing, though it is certainly less than what people were hoping for, especially when weighted against this season’s increased scoring.  Going into the campaign, Gostisbehere was regarded as one of the league’s top offensive defenseman after scoring 13 goals and 65 points in 78 games last season to rank fourth in the blueliner scoring race, just three points shy of the leader, John Carlsson.  That success at a relatively young age led to Gostisbehere being drafted an average of 66th overall, or eighth among blueliners.  However, with five goals and 20 points in 48 games, he’s not only well below last season’s pace, but he’s in a five-way tie for 45th place in the defensemen scoring race.  Meanwhile, the likes of Brent Burns, Mark Giordano, Morgan Rielly, John Carlsson, Erik Karlsson, and Kris Letang all have at least doubled Gostisbehere’s point total.

Dishonorable Mentions: John Klingberg (DAL), P.K. Subban (NAS), Charlie McAvoy (BOS), Alex Pietrangelo (STL).

Goalies

Most Pleasant Surprise: Robin Lehner (NYI).  This one’s easy.  Lehner had a 3.01 GAA and .908 save percentage in 53 games with Buffalo last season.  He was offered a fresh start with the Islanders this season, though it was expected to be a relatively tough task given how mightily the Islanders struggled defensively in 2017-18.  This season’s edition of the Islanders have proven to be much different though and Lehner has been one of the driving forces of that, posting a 15-7-4 record, 2.02 GAA, and .931 save percentage in 27 games.  Also, while I’m putting him here because of his results alone, I do think it’s worth mentioning that Lehner battled his own personal demons and on March 29th, 2018, he had to leave the game due to a panic attack.  Back in September, he opened up about his drug addiction and bipolar diagnosis.  He’s an inspiring story as well as one the league’s top goaltenders this season simply on the merits of his play.

Honorable Mentions: Curtis McElhinney (CAR), Jaroslav Halak (BOS), David Rittich (CAL), Jack Campbell (LAK).

Biggest Disappointment: Sergei Bobrovsky (CLM).  This has been a really rocky campaign for Bobrovsky.  He has two shutouts and he’s held the competition to just one goal on seven other starts, but he’s also allowed four or more goals eight other times, including two games where he surrendered eight goals each.  The result of that inconsistent play is a 19-14-1 record, 2.91 GAA, and .904 save percentage in 34 games.  Further complicating things is the recent team-issued, one-game suspension he served.  His future was Columbus was already in doubt given that he can walk as an unrestricted free agent this summer, but lately it’s looked like the Blue Jackets are already moving on.  Joonas Korpisalo started in four of Columbus’ final six games going into the break and he was solid.  That’s not to say Korpisalo will be the starter going forward – it’s too early to say and Korpisalo has had some low points of his own – but for a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, Bobrovsky is looking distinctly unremarkable this season.  In Yahoo leagues, Bobrovsky averaged as the 24th pick taken overall and the fourth highest goaltender.

Dishonorable Mentions: Braden Holtby (WAS), Jonathan Quick (LAK), Connor Hellebuyck (WPG), Martin Jones (SJS).

Babs is under fire

Mike Babcock was paid more money than any coach in hockey history to take over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And now his greatest challenge – finding a way to fix a winning roster and a struggling team.

A team that for almost a month now has too often lacked energy and urgency. A fast team that hasn’t looked or played fast of late. That was apparent Friday night in Florida. How much of that is playing and how much of that is coaching and how much of that is circumstantial will be unveiled in the coming months.

The Leafs have added John Tavares, Andreas Johnsson, a productive and confident Kasperi Kapanen and improved play from Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly to this year’s team – and yet the team isn’t a whole lot better than the one a year ago.

Babcock loves to talk about how hard a league the NHL is and how every point is earned. That removes some of the heat from his players and maybe from his coaching staff. This is January. The Leafs have lost five of their past six home games, all to teams below them in the standings at the time of the venture.

 Babcock is supposed to be as good as it gets when it comes to coaching. It’s his time now to work some magic and demonstrate again why the Leafs invested in him so heavily.

 What did missing training camp and signing late do for Johnny Gaudreau in 2016-17? Johnny Hockey scored just two goals in his first 14 games with the Flames that year. He went on to have his only sub-par scoring season in the NHL. He followed it up with an 84-point season last year and on pace for 120 points this year. To paraphrase Harry Neale, the only player he’s ever seen who missed training camp and didn’t miss a beat: Guy named Mario Lemieux … Just what the NHL needs: More computers on the bench. The league has struck a deal to supply coaches with new gadget and 60 real time stats during the game. If you think the offside challenge is bad, just wait … There are computer people out there telling me that William Nylander is playing just fine. He isn’t. And that has nothing to do with the, gulp, $10 million the Leafs are paying him this season … Talk amongst yourselves: Is the Nylander contract the best or worst thing to happen to pending restricted free agents? You can argue either side of this one … Why I wanted a World Cup of Hockey? I want to see Connor McDavid playing centre for Canada. I want to see Auston Matthews opposite him on Team USA. I want to see the Russians with Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Evgeni Malkin. When will we see that again? …I have to figure that Brian Burke, the general manager, would get crazy mad at Brian Burke,  the television and radio commentator, for the things he says… Erik Karlsson is back doing the kind of things only he can do. In his first 20 games with the San Jose Sharks, Karlsson didn’t look himself, putting up just 10 points. In the past 27 points, he’s scored 33 points, which is as hot offensively as he’s ever been … A scout on the greatest asset Lou Lamoriello has brought to the shocking New York Islanders: “Calm. Remarkable calm.”

Ducks finally clucking

The Anaheim Ducks went into Thursday’s action on a franchise-worst 12 game losing streak.  Over that slump they lost their playoff position, but they had enough of a cushion that they were still very much in the running.  Last night they took a step towards righting the ship with a 3-0 win against the Minnesota Wild.


Conveniently for Anaheim, Minnesota also holds the second Wild Card spot, so this win helped close the gap there.  The Wild still have the edge with 49 points in 47 games, but Anaheim is right in there with 49 points in 48 contests.  It’s a wide open race though with the Edmonton Oilers (49 points in 47 games, but a worse ROW than Minnesota), and Vancouver (48 points in 48 games) also very much in the mix.

Of course, the Ducks losing streak realistically couldn’t go for much longer, but this was a rather convincing win.  Anaheim jumped out to a 3-0 lead by 7:58 of the first period, chasing Alex Stalock out of the contest.  From there, Ducks goaltender John Gibson was the hero, stopping 37 shots to earn a shutout.  It isn’t ideal that Anaheim was outshot 12-2 in the second period and 15-8 in the third frame, but it also isn’t shocking given that they were playing with a sizeable lead.

Either way, the Ducks need to build on this win to avoid slipping further.  They don’t have much time to rest either, as they’ll play in New Jersey on Saturday and be hosted by the Islanders on Sunday.


BOSTON 5 ST. LOUIS 2

Carl Gunnarsson found the back of the net for St. Louis.  It was his first goal and fourth point in 13 contests.

Chris Wagner netted the game-winning goal and registered an assist.  He’s up to six goals and 11 points in 45 games.

David Krejci assisted on three of Boston’s five goals.  That gives him 10 goals and 40 points in 48 contests this season.

Tuukka Rask stopped 28 of 30 Blues shots.  He’s won six of his last seven games, bringing his record to 14-8-3.

Jake Allen allowed four goals on 26 shots.  He was perfect in the first period despite the Bruins out shooting St. Louis 13-9 in that frame, but he surrendered two goals in each of the second and third periods.

NY ISLANDERS 4 NEW JERSEY 1

Anders Lee led the charge for the Islanders with a pair of goals.  He has 18 markers and 37 points in 46 games.

It was Michael Dal Colle that accounted for the game-winner though.  It was his first goal and second point in 14 career games.

Robin Lehner saved 16 of 17 shots versus New Jersey.  This is the second straight start where he held the competition to just one goal, though obviously not much got through to him this time.

Mackenzie Blackwood wasn’t horribly busy easier, but allowed three goals on 25 shots.  He’s 5-3-0 with a 2.33 GAA and .930 save percentage in 11 games.

Andy Greene netted the Devils’ lone goal.  That gives him three goals and 14 points in 47 games.

NY RANGERS 4 CHICAGO 3

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 24 of 27 shots to pick up his second straight win.  This one was the 445th victory of his career, which puts him in a tie with Terry Sawchuk for sixth place on the all-time wins list.  He’s also within striking distance of Curtis Joseph (454 wins).

At the other end of the ice, Collin Delia turned aside 29 of 32 shots.  He has a 3-2-3 record, 2.75 GAA, and .929 save percentage in nine contests.

Brandon Saad scored a power-play goal for the Blackhawks.  It was his 14th goal and 26th point in 47 games.

Chris Kreider scored a goal and registered an assist.  The Rangers forward has 22 goals and 37 points in 47 games.

Mika Zibanejad scored the game-winning goal.  That gives him 15 goals and 42 points in 47 contests.

TORONTO 4 TAMPA BAY 2

Nazem Kadri scored a goal and registered an assist.  He’s up to 10 goals and 28 points in 46 games.

Patrick Marleau also had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs.  He has 11 goals and 22 points in 46 contests.

Frederik Andersen stopped 36 of 38 Lightning shots.  This was his first win and second game since returning from a groin injury.

Brayden Point found the back of the net and registered an assist for Tampa Bay.  That gives him 30 goals and 63 points in 48 games.

Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 27 of 30 shots last night.  He has a 19-6-2 record, 2.48 GAA, and .925 save percentage in 27 starts.

Hooray for the Leafs !!!

WINNIPEG 5 NASHVILLE 1

Brendan Lemieux scored Winnipeg’s first and last goals of the contest.  He has five goals and six points in 31 games.

Mason Appleton contributed the game-winning goal.  It was his second marker and fourth point in 21 games.

Nashville’s only goal was scored by Viktor Arvidsson.  He has 18 goals and 25 points in 25 games.

Pekka Rinne stopped 29 of 34 Jets shots.  He’s surrendered an ugly 14 goals over his last three starts.

Connor Hellebuyck saved 37 of 38 shots on Thursday.  He’s won four of his last five starts, giving him a 21-13-1 record.

ANAHEIM 3 MINNESOTA 0

John Gibson earned a 37-save shutout.  Obviously the Ducks were struggling as a team going into tonight's action and he was no exception.  He had allowed 22 goals over his previous six starts.

Zach Parise fired a staggering 11 shots on Gibson.  That’s the most shots Parise has ever recorded in a single game.

Adam Henrique scored the first and therefore game-winning goal.  It was his ninth marker and 26th point in 48 games.

Rickard Rakell also found the back of the net for Anaheim.  He’s up to eight goals and 24 points in 35 games.

Alex Stalock stopped just five of eight shots in 7:58 minutes of ice time.  Devan Dubnyk stepped in and made 15 saves the rest of the way.

 LOS ANGELES 2 DALLAS 1

Jack Campbell stopped 29 of 30 shots in his first career game against Dallas.  The Stars are the team that originally took him with the 11th overall pick in 2010.  He almost had a shutout too.

Esa Lindell scored the Stars’ goal at 18:56 of the third period.  It was his seventh goal and 18th point in 48 games.

Carl Hagelin netted the game-winning goal.  He has two goals and six points in 27 contests.

Dustin Brown also found the back of the net for Los Angeles.  That gives him 12 goals and 28 points in 38 games.

Ben Bishop saved 17 of 19 Kings shots.  He’s lost three of his last four starts, which gives him a 15-12-2 record this season.

Lars Eller on Brad Marchand: ‘I don’t think there’s a lot of integrity in his game’

Denied revenge on Thursday night, The teams play just once more this regular season: A national-TV game in Washington on Feb. 3, Super Bowl Sunday afternoon. In an extra chat with WEEI.com, Marchand made clear he won’t be foiling his knuckles for his Danish dance partner.

“I’m not even going to engage in this battle because it means absolutely nothing to me,” he said.



Eller pulled no verbal punches on the B's instigator.

Brad Marchand’s page on HockeyFights.com is not terribly crowded. There are just a dozen videos if we give him the three from his AHL days in Providence, and they’re peppered with the sorts of phrases you’d expect for a 5-foot-9 gnat.
“Ever the agitator out there!”

Marchand licks Ryan Callahan

“The super pest.”
Lars Eller won’t get a quote in that list from Thursday, but he offered one anyway following the Washington victory at TD Garden, in which he tried and failed to return Marchand’s gift of a head punch bouquet from the season opener.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of integrity in his game,” he said.




A 10-year pro, Eller’s fight page has just one entry: Marchand, from last Oct. 3 and the last time before Thursday that his Capitals met the Bruins. Eller scored the seventh goal of what was only a metaphorical bloodbath before his celebration, which included a hand gesture he said was intended for teammates. Marchand believed Eller “took an angle in front of” the Bruins bench that was “unnecessary” and jumped him some three minutes later.

Considering Eller’s response that night to whether Marchand should be suspended — he wasn’t — included the phrase “I don’t really care … we play them two more times, so I can handle it myself,” it was a pretty safe bet the two would cross paths on Thursday. They did, with Washington up 1-0 eight minutes into the second period.
In a game with a playoff feel and the Bruins trying to end a 13-game losing skid to the Capitals, Marchand went limp, drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and earned a power play.

 “I really don’t feel I need to try to prove anything,” Marchand said. “He plays maybe 10-12 minutes a night and I’m playing 20, so, in a 1-0 game, to go on the power play, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Whether you view it prudent or unprincipled may depend only on the color of your jersey and how many suspensions/lickings you remember, but it’s clear where the Capitals fall.
“He obviously didn’t want any part of it. Everybody saw,” said Eller, who for the record averages just shy of 17 minutes/game. “Can’t fight a guy that doesn’t want to fight. Everybody saw what he is. I mean, yeah. I don’t know what else to say. We got out of here with two points. We got what we wanted.”
“I was a little let down that Marchand didn’t drop his gloves since, the other way, Lars got jumped,” T.J. Oshie said. “But I don’t know the guy … you can kind of take away from that and speculate however you’d like.”



The teams play just once more this regular season: A national-TV game in Washington on Feb. 3, Super Bowl Sunday afternoon.  Marchand made clear he won’t be foiling his knuckles for his Danish dance partner.
“I’m not even going to engage in this battle because it means absolutely nothing to me,” he said.

 Tonight, the Leafs take on their real arch rival, and no, it's not the Montreal Canadiens, it is the Bean Towners from Boston. It's a true 4 pointer, as the Bruins have caught up up with the Leafs.

John Tavares & Auston Matthews will have be on their A game, if they want to defeat the Bruins, who will be thirsting for blood.


 Tune in tonight on CBC to watch the results.

Runnin' with the Devils

 Cue music, "runnin with the devil"....C'mon, allow me some poetic license, one and a while.

The Maple Leafs, lately anyway, have been a one-trick pony and have only been as good as their top line.

Thankfully, their top line — led by John Tavares and Mitch Marner — got a boost with the return of Zach Hyman. And the line was very good on Thursday.

Tavares scored twice, Marner scored once and Hyman was a factor on every Leaf goal as Toronto beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2.
The Leafs swept the season series against the Devils. They had won both previous meetings by lopsided scores of 6-1 and 7-2. This one was going down that path with Toronto off to a 3-0 lead in the first period.

But like so much else lately for the Leafs, nothing has come easy and sometimes — with giveaways and soft play — they make things harder on themselves.
Still, Toronto pulled off a win they absolutely needed after winning just once in their previous four outings and starting to feel the heat from the Boston Bruins chasing them for second in the Atlantic Division.

Said Leafs coach Mike Babcock: “I liked that in the third period we didn’t back up and play in our own zone. We played the game in the offensive zone and we still had the puck, we took care of it. We didn’t give up much. I thought the first period was like that too, it was just the second period it got away from us.”
  

Johnny Terrific: Tavares scored the 300th and 301st goals of his NHL career and became the first player from the 2009 NHL draft to reach the 300-goal milestone. Only two players have scored more goals since Tavares entered the league in 2009-10: Alex Ovechkin (418) and Steven Stamkos (348).
Said Tavares: “Well, it’s always that much more satisfying when it contributes in a big win, especially bouncing back after the other night. I think a credit to a lot of guys who I’ve played with over my career. Obviously, a big part of helping me be successful. Just trying to be consistent as long as I’ve been in the league and don’t want to stop there.”

 For Jersey: Blake Coleman and Brian Boyle scored late in the second period, just 23 seconds apart, to turn what had been a letter-perfect road game for the Leafs into one in which the collars tightened considerably.
“We gave up too many odd-man rushes, and let them get to the net,” Marner said.

The Hyman effect: Hyman returned after missing eight games — coincidentally injured the last time the Leafs visited New Jersey. He was a force to be reckoned with, especially in the first period when the Leafs got off to a 3-0 lead. He fed Ron Hainsey for the game’s first goal, coming on a four-on-four situation. He forechecked, was strong along the boards, winning puck battles and getting the puck to his teammates for the two by Tavares. And on Marners empty netter, Hyman followed the shot through the New Jersey end, fighting off a defender while protecting the goal for Marner even though he could have easily touched it and got credit for the goal himself.

Facing a Predator

What more can you ask of the Toronto Maple Leafs? Trick question, really. Team president Brendan Shanahan has said that, even if this franchise ever wins another Stanley Cup, the noise surrounding it — the cacophonous, sometimes silly, and essentially endless noise — will stop for a day, at most. And then, because it’s the Leafs, you can always ask for more.
Halfway through their most anticipated season in decades, the Leafs are something close to elite. They entered their 41st game Saturday night against Vancouver tied for the third-best record in the NHL. They were second in goals per game, second in goal differential, and had the league’s best scoring differential at 5-on-5.


They’re really good. That’s just not enough.
“I mean, it’s like anything: there’s good and bad,” says defenceman Morgan Rielly, in the middle of a career season by leagues. “There’s been periods of time where we’ve played really well, and you’re on the bench and you’re watching the game unfold, and you can’t help but think there’s a lot of potential to go a long way here in the playoffs. And there’s nights where you watch the game unfold and you think to yourself, we have a long way to go.”


“I mean, it’s like anything: there’s good and bad,” says defenceman Morgan Rielly, in the middle of a career season by leagues. “There’s been periods of time where we’ve played really well, and you’re on the bench and you’re watching the game unfold, and you can’t help but think there’s a lot of potential to go a long way here in the playoffs. And there’s nights where you watch the game unfold and you think to yourself, we have a long way to go.”
In fairness, they haven’t been themselves for very long. John Tavares has been better than advertised. Mitch Marner has exploded. But Auston Matthews, who has led the NHL in goals per minute played, has missed 14 games. William Nylander missed 28, Zach Hyman has been out eight, and Frederik Andersen, through injury or simply rest, has missed 10. His workload and health are probably Toronto’s biggest potential worries, actually.There are flaws, obviously. Ron Hainsey is too often miscast as a top-pair defenceman, and Nikita Zaitsev can seem miscast as a second. Nazem Kadri can’t stop hitting posts, and Patrick Marleau is fading, just enough to see. The now-concussed Garret Sparks hasn’t found consistency as the backup goaltender, and Andersen has missed four straight, though he is close to a return.

The Leafs are 6-5 against teams that started Saturday in the Eastern playoff picture; they are 3-3 against Tampa Bay, Boston, Buffalo and Montreal, and will likely face one of the latter three in the first round.

And still, there’s a lot here.

“Well, I like lots of things about us,” head coach Mike Babcock says. “I like our people, I like how bad we want to be good, I like our leadership, I like our depth. Sometimes I don’t like our details. I think we got to to be a way heavier team. Being heavy isn’t getting on a scale and measuring yourself: it’s a state of mind.
“It’s heavy on offence. It’s having the puck, it’s getting the puck back all the time, it’s checking the puck, it’s putting your work in front of your skill, it’s being determined offensively, instead of coming down and having a rush and being one and done. It’s multiple-shot shifts, it’s having some jam … And so I think we can do a better job there, and I think we can continually get better defensively so we are way better offensively. So we have a lot of work to do.”

This Leafs team is more about speed and skill than that kind of heavy, but that’s the push and pull. It might actually help that Toronto is jammed in a division with the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning. There’s no better regular-season pacesetter in hockey.
“I mean, you always measure yourself against the best team because that’s where we want to be,” says Rielly. “So I think that if we’re able to go on a run and really be able to be consistent, and prove night in and night out that we’re able to be that good, that’s important for us.”

Rielly talks about how much better the Leafs protect leads now, and how their defensive positioning has improved. Tavares talks about how he’s impressed how well the players focus despite that Toronto cacophony. Babcock talks about how “we still think there’s lots of growth from within, because we’re a young group.”


They think no matter how tight or mucked up the games get, no matter how many posts they hit, no matter the opponent, they can be the best team on the ice any night. That’s what’s on the table.
“I think … that feeling going into games that you can just kill another team’s will to win,” says Tavares, when asked what he wants to see between now and season’s end. “And just knowing that you just feel that when (the Leafs) come into your building, you just know what a tough night it’s going to be. Even if you play your best, you know the odds are still probably against you, where we just have the ability to kind of take games over that way, and generate that momentum. It’s hard to do that on a consistent basis.”
Is that possible?
“I think so,” says Tavares. “There’s certainly probably times when we’ve had it already, where we’ve had two, three games, but it’s the ability to carry that over for long stretches.”

Listen to them, and you hear how good they think they can be. Sometimes it’s better to zoom out a little. They’ve gotten this far without a full team for all but eight games, and most of those were with Nylander trying to get up to speed. Before Nylander and Matthews were both back, their adjusted puck possession was 12th: not bad, not great. With everyone, it’s sixth.
So now it’s about figuring out how not to get rolled by a Boston, how not to blow one against Tampa, how to show up and be the baddest team on the ice every night. Half a season left until the real stuff, and we’ll see if they’re ready when it starts.
Now they face the Nashville Predators in a Monday night tilt at home.

PK and Rinne and a slew of good checkers, risk free D - men, and Ryan Johanson.

A tough opponent, to be sure.

Wild Loss

After the ‘Next Generation Game,’ Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock is wondering who his next goaltender will be Saturday.

While Michael Hutchinson did an admirable job with 30 saves in his Toronto debut, a 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday afternoon, the circumstances that required two goalies to be recalled on an emergency basis might not be settled by the next match against the Vancouver Canucks, the halfway mark of Toronto’s schedule.

In the morning, No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen was moved to injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 23, while backup Garret Sparks was given time off to go through concussion protocol after taking a shot to the mask at Wednesday’s practice. Andersen, out with a groin issue, worked out for a fourth straight day despite the IR designation.

“Everything is moving along according to the medical people,” coach Babcock said.

But as for Sparks, Babcock said his availability for duty the next couple of days is undetermined.

 

“I don’t have any expectation, I don’t know what’s going on. We were just talking about finding another goalie (the quick promotion of Hutchinson and Kasimir Kaskisuo leaves the Marlies with Eamon McAdam for three AHL games in three days this weekend). We’d like Kaz to get going, we don’t like him sitting around.”

Hutchinson had just joined the Marlies after Andersen began ailing before Christmas. The Barrie-born former Winnipeg Jets regular had most recently been in Florida’s organization before the trade and still wore his Panther pads Thursday with a plain white mask. He did have his parents and many friends make it down to Scotiabank Arena to see him emulate childhood favourite Felix Potvin.

“I found out last night, so things moved pretty fast,” Hutchinson said of the start. “There were a few more nerves with not having had the chance to practice. A lot of outside obstacles you try and push aside and go through your routine. It was a fun game. You wanted the two points, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. It’s exciting to get the first game and it kind of makes you hungry for more.”

Hutchinson was at his best in the first period, with 18 saves and a 2-0 lead to work with before an 0-for-4 Toronto power play, some slow breakouts and 38 stops from Devan Dubnyk slowly did in his team.

“I thought he gave us a chance and that’s all you can ask for from a guy,” Babcock said of Hutchinson.

A bright spot for the Leafs was William Nylander’s first goal in 12 games since signing his big contract.

When he swept around the net and put one under the bar, it was his first celly since April 5 in New Jersey. He practically leapt into the arms of the assisting Travis Dermott and pretended to peel a huge monkey off his back.

“For sure, there have been chances,” said Nylander, who had been put back with his most compatible centre, Auston Matthews, in recent days. “It’s at least nice you’re able to get chances when you’re not playing at 100 per cent, because when you’re at 100 you’ll be good.”

As the crowd roared, Nylander said his first thought was “Oh my God, I can’t believe it. Finally.”

Babcock thought the rejuvenated Nylander was going so well he’d eventually get the winner on Thursday, while Matthews was just happy for his friend to get one.

“He can get back to feeling good and confident,” Matthews said. “Everyone has gone through that before. I have in my first year, 13 or 14 games. It felt the weight of the world was coming down on me. People were (thinking) to trade me and all that stuff. It can weigh on you as a player and a person, but once that one comes, you feel like there is an extra jump in your step.”

Thursday’s game could have turned on a better Leafs power play. They went 0-for-4 and are now 5-for-40 the past month, despite all the weaponry they boast — Matthews, John Tavares and Nazem Kadri, the club’s three prime centres, team points’ leader Mitch Marner and NHL co-leader among defence scorers, Morgan Rielly. Two duds came in the third period.

“Tons of chances,” Matthews sighed. “It felt like I had 10 shots tonight and it just was just ricocheting, going off posts, the goalie making a save and rebounds coming back out that they were able to clear. We can be better.”

Babcock credited Dubnyk with foiling many of Toronto’s man advantages.

“We stayed in their zone the whole time,” Babcock noted. “It didn’t go our way, but I liked the opportunities.

“You have to learn how to win all kinds of games. They have good faceoff guys, they’re a veteran team, they make it hard on you physically and they’re physical on offence. We had 17 D-zone

Following last year’s inaugural Next Generation Game, a loud 8-1 win over Carolina, Toronto took the opening faceoff and scored seven seconds in. Marner made a nice move around Jared Spurgeon and buried a backhand to tie Charlie Conacher’s team record for fastest goal to start a game.

Marner, with Tavares’ second assist of the night, made it 2-0, but as Hutchinson approached 20 saves, Charlie Coyle scored on a scramble. Mikko Koivu then tied it, setting the stage for Nylander. But that Leafs lead could not hold up, as Spurgeon collected his third point of the game with a deceptive flick through Hutchinson’s legs. Zach Parise, who was stopped on a partial breakaway by Hutchinson in the first, had the winner.

The Leafs’ overall success on faceoffs 43-28, with Tavares winning 19, was undone by poor puck control, resulting in 16 giveaways, twice as many as the Wild, with Matthews culpable on the Parise winner.

“We weren’t taking care of the puck enough and they were in our zone a lot,” Matthews said. “Obviously, 50-50 battles they were winning and that’s frustrating for guys such as myself.

“They had way too many shots in the first period and (Hutchinson) made key saves to keep our lead. We made some bad mistakes, but it’s things we can clean up watching the video.”

The Leafs are on the verge of falling back among the worst five teams in overall giveaways.

The kid-friendly additions to the game included two youth teams who came out for the anthems, plus some mini-zebras and younger generation coaching staffs, including a 15-year-old Babcock look-a-like who gave the Leafs a pre-game pep talk and stood with other young assistants behind the bench for the anthems … Leafs forward Kasperi Kapanen was walking tall on Thursday after Finland beat Canada at the world juniors and his father’s team, Kalpa, had beaten Canada in the Spengler cup final earlier in the week … Leafs defenceman Ron Hainsey had some intermission fun with Christine Simpson of Sportsnet when asked live about the Leafs good start Thursday compared to the 4-0 loss to the Islanders. “What happened last game? That was a long time ago” … There are three former Leafs who are now NHL GMs and five now coaching. The Wild and Vancouver Canucks, Toronto’s next opponent, feature one of each, Paul Fenton and Bruce Boudreau on Thursday, Jim Benning and Travis Green on Saturday … Leafs veteran Patrick Marleau stepped on the ice and tied Larry Murphy for ninth place in NHL career games (1,615) … The AHL announced Thursday that Trevor Moore, currently on the Leafs fourth line, and defenceman Calle Rosen would represent the Marlies at the AHL all-star game in Springfield later this month. Dermott was also picked last year after being promoted to the Leafs.

Hutch is a gamer
Having gone off the NHL radar, Michael Hutchinson showed he still has something to offer. Given more practice in the next couple of days, pending Garret Sparks’ condition, he should merit another start if there’s any doubt the current back-up is less than 100 per cent.
A kid among kids
Mitch Marner’s joie de vivre for the game in his memorable first half of the season with 55 points was evident again in the warmup in front of thousands of young fans, before he scored twice in the game’s first 5:38 and came close to a hat trick.