Author: SFDI

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By Neil Becker

For a second straight game, the never say die Toronto Maple Leafs showed a flair for some third-period dramatics.  

Two days after scoring five third-period goals to cap a dramatic Saturday night comeback against the Detroit Red Wings, the Leafs were at it again. However, this time the Leafs needed only four third-period goals to complete what was a Monday night 6-4 win at Scotiabank Arena against the New Jersey Devils.

Leading the offensive charge was forward Auston Matthews who scored his fifth career hattrick in what was a four-point performance which now has him at 400 for his career.

The Leafs will obviously take the two points and move on, but truth be told coach Sheldon Keefe couldn’t have been overly thrilled by everything he saw.

New Jersey, who trails the Leafs by 24 points in the standings got off to a fast start as they were not only outshooting Toronto by a 27-22 margin after two periods but also leading by a 4-2 score. The scenario was eerily similar to Saturday in Detroit when the Wings were outshooting the Leafs by a 28-24 count and carried that same 4-2 lead into the third only to give it up.

Besides being forced on Monday to once again come from behind in the third, another disturbing event was seeing Leafs starting goaltender Jack Campbell getting pulled after surrendering three first-period goal on only nine shots.

The Devils couldn’t have asked for a better start as they scored back-to-back goals from Pavel Zacha with his 11^th followed by Jesper Boqvist scoring his second which a little over six minutes into regulation gave them a 2-0 lead.  

Matthews, who came into action six goals behind league leader Leon Draisaitl, quickly narrowed that gap with two first-period goals. His first, which was his 26th came at the 6:33 mark when he ripped one home from in close to make it a one-goal game.

Coming back to haunt his old team was Devils forward and former Leaf Andreas Johnsson who less than three minutes following the Matthew’s goal, capitalized with his 11^thwhich chased Campbell from the nets and once again give Jersey that two-goal cushion with a 3-1 advantage. Toronto’s explosive offense couldn’t be shut down as Matthews with under five minutes celebrated his second of the period to make it a one goal game heading to the second.

Toronto had 13 second-period shots and generated opportunities but came up empty as New Jersey got the only goal on a Nathan Bastian shot to give them momentum heading to the third.

Finding themselves in a familiar position of trailing after two, the Leafs turned up the heat as they not only outshot the Devils by an 11-2 third period count but were rewarded with what was their fourth straight win.

Starting the comeback was veteran forward Jason Spezza who just north of five minutes into the third registered his eighth goal of the season and 984th career point.   

Approximately nine minutes later the floodgates opened up starting with Mitch Marner extending his game goal-scoring streak to six. Shortly after Toronto capitalized on a short-handed goal from Ilya Mikheyev with his 11^th followed fittingly enough by Matthews who with only 22 seconds left rounded out the scoring with his 28^th into an open net.

These two teams will meet again on Tuesday night only this time at the Prudential Center in New Jersey with puck drop scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.

 SCORING SUMMARY

1^ST. Period                                                     NJ  –    TOR

0:47    Pavel Zacha (11)                                1   –       0

Jack Hughes (15), Jesper Bratt (26)     

6:20  Jesper Boqvist (2)                               2   –      0

Colton White (3), Janne Kuokkanen (6)

6:33 Auston Matthews (26)                        2   –     1

Mitch Marner (20), Timothy Liljegren (5)

9:10 Andreas Johnsson (11)                        3  –    1

Dawson Mercer (14)

15:04 Auston Matthews (27)                    3 –    2

Morgan Rielly (32), Mitch Marner (21)

2^nd Period                                                     NJ –  TOR

7:33 Nathan Bastian (9)                             4  –   2

Ryan Graves (14), Jesper Boqvist (5)

3^rd Period                                                    NJ –  TOR

4:16 Jason Spezza (8)                                 4  –   3

Ilya Mikheyev (2), Alex Kerfoot (24)

13:28 Mitch Marner (12)                     4   –   4

Auston Matthews (21)

16:56 SHG- Ilya Mikheyev (7)             5 –   4

Alex Kerfoot (25)

19:38 Auston Matthews (28)            6  –  4

Morgan Rielly (33)

By Jordan Laroche

Before the game started, the New York Rangers held a jersey retirement ceremony for long-time goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist played 14 seasons for the Rangers after being drafted in the 7^th round in 2000, he became the franchise leader in wins (459), playoff wins (61), shutouts (64), and games played (887). Throw in a Vezina Trophy in 2012 and five All-Star appearances you have one of the best careers for a goaltender in NHL history, congrats Henrik.

The Rangers have lost back-to-back for the fourth time this year as the team seems to have come back down to Earth. The team lost last night to the Columbus Blue Jackets in what was one of their worst games of the year, and Friday’s game against the Minnesota Wild wasn’t much better.

Like the Columbus game, the Rangers jumped out to an early two-goal lead in the first period on goals by Barclay Goodrow and Chris Kreider. Kreider extended his lead as the league leader in goals and now has 31 on the year, and his sixth in his last five games. Goodrow has also seemed to have found a permanent home on a line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome as he continues to step his game up, scoring his third in his last five games.

The Rangers came out with a slow start in the second period and before they knew it, the game was tied at two. Ex-Ranger Mats Zuccarello would get his first two points against the Blueshirts last night, opening the scoring for the Wild. Zuccarello played nine seasons for the Rangers and was a fan favorite during his time, having him and former Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot in the building for Lundqvist’s jersey retirement made the event even more special.

The Wild would take the lead at the start of the third period, but with one second left, the Rangers thought they had tied the game but the goal would be called off for goaltender interference.

Box Score:

1^st Period

G: Barclay Goodrow (10) A: Jacob Trouba (14) Ryan Strome (24)

G: Chris Kreider (31) A: Jacob Trouba (15) Mika Zibanejad (28)

2^nd Period

G: Kevin Fiala (12) A: Ryan Hartman (15) Jordie Benn (3)

G: Mats Zuccarello (13) A: Kirill Kaprizov (33) Matt Boldy (4)

3^rd Period

G: Frederick Gaudreau (3) A: Kevin Fiala (19) Mats Zuccarello (27)

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New York Rangers make mistakes en route to a 5-3 loss

By Jordan Laroche

The New York Rangers went into this game on a roll, winning four of their last five games but they looked like a different team against the Columbus Blue Jackets. After jumping out to an early two goal lead, the Blue Jackets would tie the game before the end of the first period.

Columbus played their typical hard checking, gritty game and it appeared the Rangers defense couldn’t withstand the attack. The Blue Jackets were led by captain Boone Jenner as he had two goals and one assist and was a nuisance for the Rangers defense all game. Both of Jenner’s goals came from blown coverage, scoring off a deflection, and a bad turnover.

While this was not Alexander Georgiev’s best game, he is not at for last night’s game as the team played poorly in front of him. This is definitely a concern for the Rangers as Igor Shesterkin will stop just about anything thrown at him, but this team has become too reliant on Shesterkin to steal games for them, and the team will suffer if he were to get hurt.

The Rangers were also trying some new line combinations as Julien Gauthier skated with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Gauthier plays the hard game, he spends time in front of the net and plays hard in the corners but the line looked to suffer as Gauthier turned the puck over numerous times. The Rangers have given him many chances to succeed, but the offense just hasn’t come for him with just three goals on the year he seems much better suited for a bottom-six role.

The Rangers also gave Braden Schneider his seventh NHL game and this kid continues to impress. He finished with two assists last night and was one of the more consistent Rangers defensemen last night. While he’s managed to put up three points in his seven games, he’s played well defensively as well, Schneider his partner, with Libor Hajek, were the only two Rangers defensemen who had a positive +/- last night.

The Rangers are back at it Friday night against the Minnesota Wild, a night many Ranger fans are looking forward to as Henrik Lundqvist will get his jersey retired by the New York Rangers.

Box Score:

1^st Period

G: Artemi Panarin (12) A: Adam Fox (40) Ryan Lindgren (5)

G: Barclay Goodrow (9) A: Braden Schneider (1) Artemi Panarin (35)

G: Gustav Nyquist (11) A: Patrik Laine (10) Boone Jenner (12)

G: Boone Jenner (17) A: Zach Werenski (17) Oliver Bjorkstrand (16)

2^nd Period

G: Sean Kuraly (7) A: Max Domi (10) Zach Werenski (18)

G: Boone Jenner (18) A: Patrik Laine (11)

3^rd Period

G: Mika Zibanejad (16) A: Artemi Panarin (36) Braden Schneider (2)

G: Sean Kuraly (8) A: Zach Werenski (19)

Auston Matthews capped off what was a dominating performance by scoring the shootout winner on Wednesday night against a relentless Anaheim Ducks team.

The Toronto Maple Leafs who were playing at home in an empty Scotiabank Arena fired 44 shots including seven by Matthews on Ducks goalie John Gibson during a 4-3 shootout win. Leafs fans had plenty of reasons to be encouraged as they witnessed them generate 75 shot attempts at the Ducks net while successfully scoring three power play goals.

Meanwhile making franchise history on this night was starting goalie Jack Campbell who including overtime made 20 saves in becoming the second-fastest goalie in Leafs history to reach the 20- win plateau in a season. Campbell needed only 30 starts which is right behind George Hainsworth who accomplished the feat in 28 games way back during the 1934-35 season.

Toronto, who were coming off a 3-2-1 road trip also got strong performances from forwards William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner who not only scored a power play goal but also each had four shots on goal.

Anaheim gained the early momentum when just three minutes into regulation they struck for the opening goal. It wouldn’t be until late in that opening period when with less than three minutes remaining Marner capitalized on the power play with his 10^th goal of the season to make it a brand -new game.

It didn’t stay a new game for long as Toronto got a huge lift when Nylander scored the Leafs second power play goal and his 17^th of the season, which proved huge as it came with only 39 seconds left and gave the Buds a 2-1 lead heading to the second.

Once again Toronto proved clutch on the power play as this time it was Tavares who with under four minutes remaining in the second cashed in with what was his 16^th of the year to give Toronto that scary all-familiar 3-1 lead.

As Leafs fans probably remember during that recent trip, Toronto couldn’t hold leads of 4-1 against the Colorado Avalanche and 3-1 leads against the New York Rangers, Vegas Golden Knights, and St. Louis Blues.

That alarming pattern continued as Anaheim came off the mat with a late second-period goal from forward Jakob Silfverberg and a third-period tally from Vinni Lettieri to set the stage for overtime and an eventual shootout.

In the shootout, Toronto’s first shooter Jason Spezza scored, and shortly afterward Matthews came through in the clutch to give the Leafs a big two points.

The Leafs will next see action on Saturday, January 29^th when they visit Little Caesars Arena for a 7 p.m. puck drop against the Detroit Red Wings.

                 SCORING SUMMARY

 1^ST Period                                                     ANA-    TOR

2:46    Sam Steel (5)                                            1-    0

17:18  PPG- Mitch Marner (10)                              1-   1

Morgan Rielly (29), William Nylander (23)

19:21  PPG- William Nylander (17)                          1-   2

John Tavares (22), Auston Matthews (17)

2^nd Period                                                             ANA –   TOR

16:08 PPG- John Tavares (16)                                   1  –  3 

Mitch Marner (18), Auston Matthews (18)

17:21       Jakob Silfverberg (3)                                2–      3       

Buddy Robinson (2), Sam Carrick (4)

3^rd Period                                                         ANA-     TOR

13:23    Vinni Lettieri (5)                                      3  –    3

Kevin Shattenkirk (17), Sam Steel (7)

OT Period

No Goals

Shootout

Jason Spezza – Leafs goal

Trevor Zegras – Ducks goal

Auston Matthews- Leafs goal

By Neil Becker

Make no mistake that Florida has given forwards Sam Bennett and Anthony Duclair a new lease on life.

Chances are when the average hockey fan thinks about what makes the Florida Panthers so dangerous, such names as forwards Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Sam Reinhart or defenceman Aaron Ekblad come to mind.

The two players who might be overlooked are former Calgary Flames 2014 4^th overall pick in forward Sam Bennett along with another talented young veteran in Anthony Duclair who are both in the middle of standout seasons.

Bennett made his mark as an upcoming star during his days in the Ontario Hockey League where he showcased his blossoming talent with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs.

During his first year in Kingston, Bennett was named to the OHL’s Second All-Rookie Team after a solid campaign which saw him produce 18 goals and 40 points. Bennett managed to avoid the so-called sophomore jinx as he opened up a lot of eyes after scoring 36 goals and 91 points. This up- and- coming player received the ultimate compliment when the NHL Central Scouting Bureau in its mid- season review selected Bennett as the number one North American prospect for the upcoming 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

“His puck-handling and playmaking are excellent and he has one of the best shots in this year’s draft class,” a scout from the Central Scouting Bureau said according to Bennett’s Wikapedia page.

“He has scored several goals from the high slot and coming in off the wing and has been very effective on the power play.”

Prior to earning a full- time position with the Flames, Bennett finished off his OHL career having played 128 regular season games where he scored 65 goals, 155 points while racking up 219 penalty minutes.   

Calgary fans were ecstatic about drafting Bennett but unfortunately his time in Alberta was mired by a lot of highly inconsistent play. In fact, Bennett was eventually situated as a bottom six forward.  

This talented forward had some standout moments in Calgary including January 13, 2016, when he made some franchise history by becoming the youngest to register a hattrick. Coincidently, Bennett had that night what was a four- goal game against the Panthers.

Bennett ended up playing 402 games with the Flames where he scored 67 goals and totalled 140 points along with 319 penalty minutes. His best season came as a rookie when he produced 18 goals along with 36 points in 77 games played.

For some reason Bennett’s play drastically improved after joining the Florida Panthers on April 12, 21021 in a blockbuster trade. After the trade Bennett went on to score six goals and 14 points in 10 games. Meanwhile this year the 24- year-old has already scored 17 goals, 25 points and 35 penalty minutes in 32 games played.

Another player who has been posting career numbers this year with the Panthers is 26- year-old Duclair. During his junior career with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, Duclair’s best moment came in the 2013/14 campaign when he earned a spot on the QMJHL First Team All Star team after producing 50 goals in 59 regular season games.

Following an impressive QMJHL career which saw Duclair score 116 goals and 249 points in only 203 games, the next step was for him to establish himself as a bonified NHL star.

Duclair was drafted third round, 80^th overall in the 2013 NHL draft by the New York Rangers. The years following, he would bounce around playing for the Rangers, Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators before joining the Panthers.

Last season Duclair scored a career high 23 goals in only 66 games played with the Senators. Following the season which saw him total 40 points, Duclair on December 17, 2020 signed as an unrestricted free agent a one-year $1.7 million dollar contract with the Panthers. In his first season with Florida, he would go on to produce 10 goals and 32 points in 43 games.

Showing his commitment to Florida, Duclair on July 15, 2021, agreed to a three-year extension which has worked out so far for both sides. As we head towards the season’s halfway point, he has already scored 18 goals and 33 points.

No question, the Panthers wouldn’t be battling for first overall without the steady contributions of both Bennett and Duclair.