Tag: blog

By Neil Becker

 

The Toronto Leafs knew they were going to face a desperate Tampa Bay Lightning team.

 

Tampa Bay, who found themselves trailing two games to one in their best of seven first round playoff series against the Leafs, knew the importance of responding in Game 4 and evening up the series before heading back to Toronto.

 

Tampa Bay, who are the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions simply dominated on Sunday night as they  electrified Amalie Arena with a Game 4 series tying 7-3 win against the Leafs.

Toronto, who two nights earlier defeated Tampa Bay by a 5-2 score, found themselves trailing at the one minute mark when Lightning captain Steven Stamkos blasted home his first playoff goal. In what was a sign of things to come, the Lightning who never relinquished the lead, scored on their very first shot.

 

Following that opening goal, it was Tampa Bay’s fourth line which got on the scoreboard starting with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare who at the 5:20 mark of the first snapped home his first playoff goal for an early 2-0 lead.

 

A little over two and a half minutes later Tampa began to fully take over as another fourth-liner in veteran Pat Maroon also tallied his first playoff goal which came on a rebound which got the Amalie Arena extra loud.

 

In the second period, Tampa Bay continued their onslaught starting at the 3:17 mark when forward Ross Colton scored his second playoff goal on a shot that Leafs goalie Jack Campbell would surely like back. It was a shot glove hand side that the Leafs goalie would probably say he should have stopped.

 

Campbell’s night would come to an end a little over two minutes later when veteran forward Corey Perry scored Tampa’s fifth goal which came on a five- on-three power play.

 

Scoring two third period goals was Leafs forward William Nylander. His first goal, which was also his first of the playoffs came just shy of two and a half minutes when he connected on a power play to get his team on the board.

 

Nylander, who is coming off a career season struck again when at the 12:27 mark he one timed a pass from captain John Tavares to make things a little more interesting as the deficit was cut to 5-2.

 

Shortly afterwards Toronto would pull goalie Erik Kallgren before Tampa forward Ondrej Palat restored the four goal lead with an open net goal which came with just over five minutes left in regulation.

 

The Leafs continued to press and were rewarded as defenceman Jake Muzzin a minute and one second later scored his second of the playoffs.

 

Once again Toronto pulled their goalie and things backfired as Colton, with only 2:16 remaining rounded the offence with his third of the playoffs and second of the game which came into an open net.  

 

The main Game 4 standouts for Tampa Bay were forward Ross Colton who threw five hits and scored two goals along with defenceman Victor Hedman who played over 25 minutes and was a +4.  Meanwhile for the Leafs, defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin had an impressive eight hits in nearly 15 minutes of ice time. Uncharacteristically Leafs forward Auston Matthews and defenceman Morgan Rielly were both -4 on the night. Expect a big rebound Game 5 from them on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. 

 

 

 SCORING SUMMARY

   1st Period                                             TOR –   TB

 1:00 Steve Stamkos (1)                            0   –     1

 Nikita Kucherov (3), Victor Hedman (4)

 

 5:20 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (1)            0   –     2

 

 7:58 Pat Maroon (1)                                  0   –     3

 Mikhail Sergachev (2), Victor Hedman (5)

 

   2nd Period                                            TOR  –  TB

 3:17  Ross Colton (2)                                0    –    4

Brandon Hagel (1), Cale Foote (1)

 

 5:25 PPG-Corey Perry (2)                         0    –     5

Nikita Kucherov (4), Brayden Point (1)

 

  3rd  Period                                              TOR –  TB

 2:27 PPG- William Nylander (1)                  1     –    5

Auston Matthews (4), Morgan Rielly (3)

 

12:01 William Nylander (2)                          2   –      5

John Tavares (2)

 

 14:40 EN- Ondrej Palat (2)                          2    –    6

 

  15:41  Jake Muzzin (2)                               3   –     6

  T.J. Brodie (2), Colin Blackwell (1)

 

   17:44 EN- Ross Colton (3)                        3    –     7

   Brandon Hagel (2), Ryan McDonagh (2)

 

The Leafs looked to stage a third period rally but fell short as they now head to Tampa Bay all tied up at a game apiece in their best of seven first round series against the Lightning.

As expected the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions Lightning played a lot better than in their Game 1 loss as they registered three power-play goals on Wednesday night in a 5-3 Game 2 win at Scotiabank Arena against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

Toronto, who blanked Tampa Bay 5-0 in the playoff opener, found themselves trailing 5-1 just past five minutes into period three, when they scored the next two which with 4:17 remaining gave them some hope but it wasn’t meant to be.

 

Facing a red-hot Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Leafs who had 34 shots on goal, had some point blank chances only to be robbed by the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner.

Tampa Bay grabbed the momentum when with with only 2.4 seconds remaining in the first, defenseman Victor Hedman, who was on the Leafs goalie Jack Campbell’s doorstep got a lose puck and made a nice move in scoring a power play goal for a 1-0 Lightning lead.

 

Arguably Vasilevskiy’s best save came in the second when with the Leafs pressing for the equalizer, defenseman Timothy Liljegren fired a bomb from the blueline which was labelled for the top corner. The Lightning goalie, all of the sudden shot up his glove hand and made a miraculous save.

 

Hedman, who had a four point game, set up veteran forward Corey Perry for the second goal. His tape to tape pass sent Perry in alone on a breakaway where at the 2:21 mark he snapped home his first of the playoffs to give Tampa Bay it’s second goal.

 

Not long afterwards Toronto would energize the Scotiabank Arena fanbase as they split the deficit in half starting with a big hit from 60 goal man Auston Matthews. In the Lightning zone on the forecheck,  Matthews threw a big hit on Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh which led to him coughing up the puck.

 

Matthews then passed to Mitch Marner who in turn passed to Michael Bunting who just shy of eight minutes into the second scored his first playoff goal of the spring which electrified the Scotiabank Arena faithful.

 

Tampa Bay quickly snatched away the Leafs momentum as forward Nikita Kucherov made Toronto pay for an undisciplined penalty as the big Russian scored his first playoff tally two minutes and 10 seconds after Bunting’s which restored the Bolts two goal lead at 3-1.

 

Early in the third, Tampa Bay took control as they scored consecutive goals starting with deadline acquisition Brandon Hagel who scored his first at the 1:33 mark on a rebound followed by Brayden Point who a little over four minutes later scored on a power play to give them that four goal cushion.

 

As Leafs fans have found out throughout the year, their team is so explosive that they are never really out of a game.

 

As mentioned above the Leafs came back to make things interesting as Marner with his granny in the crowd scored his second of the playoffs at 11:53 which was followed almost four minutes later by forward Adam Kerfoot scoring short handed on a nifty drop pass from T.J. Brodie to round up the scoring. 

 

The series now switches back to Tampa Bay where Game 3 will be taking place on Friday night with a 7:30 p.m. opening face-off. 

 

With the split in Toronto, Tampa Bay has now stolen home ice advantage.

 

 

                                  SCORING SUMMARY

                             

      1st. Period                                                  TB-     TOR

      19:57 PPG- Victor Hedman (1)                      1  –      0

       Alex Killorn (1)

 

      2nd. Period                                                TB –    TOR

      2:21 Corey Perry (1)                                    2   –     0

      Victor Hedman (1)

 

     7:47  Michael Bunting (1)                            2   –       1

    Mitch Marner (3), Auston Matthews (2)

 

    9:59 PPG- Nikkita Kucherov (1)                    3  –         1

   Victor Hedman (2), Steve Stamkos (1)

 

      3rd. Period                                              TB   –     TOR

    1:33 Brandon Hagel (1)                              4   –          1

   Nick Paul (1), Nikitta Kucherov (1)

 

   5:38 PPG- Brayden Point (1)                        5   –          1

 Nikkita Kutcherov (2), Victor Hedman (3)

 

   11:53 Mitch Marner (2)                               5    –          2

 Jake Muzzin (1), Auston Matthews (3)

 

  15:43 SHG- Alexander Kerfoot (1)                 5   –          3

 T.J. Brodie (1)

By Jordan Laroche

It’s been 1,820 days since the New York Rangers have played a playoff game, and in that time they’ve gone through two head coaches, a quick rebuild, two lottery picks and franchise icon, Henrik Lundqvist, retiring. Rangers fans have been waiting patiently as this team looks poised to be a cup contender for the next few years. The core of this team is still young and it will be exciting to see them grow and develop through the playoffs.

And in the other corner, we have the Pittsburgh Penguins who will be no light opponent for this Rangers team. Built around two of the biggest names in Hockey, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins have won two Stanley Cups in the last decade and bring a lot of playoff experience to this series. On paper this is a very close matchup, both teams have brilliant offenses with two of the best goaltenders in the NHL this season going head-to-head.

There is only one player on the Rangers who was around the last time this team was in the playoffs, Chris Kreider. He finished third in the NHL in goals with 52 smashing his career high 28 goals which he got in 2018-2019 and 2016-2017. The Rangers have a strong top-six group that can compete with anyone in the league, in addition to Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, the Rangers made two key additions to the group by adding Frank Vatrano and Andrew Copp at the trade deadline.

Copp has turned his season around since joining the Rangers, he had 35 points in 56 games with the Winnipeg Jets, but since joining the Rangers he has been producing at over a point per game. With 18 points in 16 games, Copp has flourished on the wing with two adept playmakers in Ryan Strome and Panarin. The Rangers had a hard time finding a permanent solution to the second line wing trying out a revolving door of players. Copp adds a bit of grit to this line, while being able to generate his own offense, however if you’re in the right spot with Panarin on your line, life can be very easy.

Vatrano is a nice complimentary piece to the top line that also struggled to find a permanent right winger. Vatrano has also stepped up his production going from 19 points in 40 games with the Florida Panthers, to 13 points in 22 games with the Rangers. Another speedy player gives Zibanejad plenty of room to make plays and show off his cannon of a shot.

The Rangers are scoring 3.09 goals per game with a 162.4 xGF on 5v5, while being second in the league for goals against per game with a 2.52, only trailing the Carolina Hurricanes. A quarter of the Rangers goals this season have come on the powerplay, (55) in a series against the Penguins who are 5th in goals against per game, the Rangers will need to produce more on 5v5.

The Penguins seem to have a timeless core group as they always seem to find a way to win Hockey games. Much of this Penguins team has changed since winning back-to-back cups in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 but with Crosby at the helm anything is possible.

Tristan Jarry has been the story for the Penguins all season. After a disappointing playoffs last year (.888SV% 2.42GAA) and a first round exit, Jarry surprised everyone being one of the best goaltenders in the NHL this season. However, a recent injury will keep him sidelined for the start of the series and Pittsburgh will go with Casey DeSmith for game one. In 26 games this season DeSmith has put up a respectable 2.79GAA .914SV%, at first glance this isn’t a big drop off from Jarry, Desmith’s last starting role was with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins in which he had a 2.92GAA .905SV%.

Ultimately, with Tristan Jarry out for the start of the series gives the Rangers a great chance to get an early lead in the series as DeSmith has been shaky at times this season. I think the Rangers will take this series in 6.

 

No doubt the Toronto Maple Leafs believe that this is their time.

 

Coming off a record breaking regular season which saw them set franchise records of 54 wins and 115 points, the real test has just begun which is of course the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Leafs as all fans know all to well, have lost seven consecutive first round series and haven’t advanced to the second round since 2004. To put that in perspective, the last time they advanced Edmonton Oilers star forward Connor McDavid was only about six or seven years-old.

 

On Monday night at Scotiabank Arena, the Leafs simply dominated as both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner led the charge with three points apiece as they blanked the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0 in their best of seven first round Playoff Opener.

 

Both Matthews and Marner are looking to exercise playoff demons from the past. Matthews scored only one goal and five points in their seven game first round playoff loss last spring to the Montreal Canadiens while Marner had no goals and four assist in that series.

 

Also making a loud statement was Leafs starting goalie Jack Campbell who on Monday night made 24 saves for the Game 1 shutout.

 

Playing in front of an enthusiastic full house, the Leafs special teams were solid as they successfully killed off five Lightning power plays and even got a highlight reel shorthanded second period breakaway goal from forward David Kampf. 

 

Meanwhile they also scored a second period power-play goal from Matthews which set off MVP chants which were continuous throughout the night.

 

What really set the tone for Toronto’s penalty killing came early in the first when they killed off a five minute major to forward Kyle Clifford who got a game misconduct for hitting from behind.

The Leafs had some great opportunities but it wasn’t until the 18:19 mark of the first period when an unsuspected source in defenceman Jake Muzzin scored on a long point shot to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

 

Toronto would take control in the second starting with Matthews who with the Leafs on a 5 on 3 power-play, got a pass from Marner and at the 6:13 mark fired home the Leafs second goal. 

A little over three minutes later the Leafs were shorthanded when they added to their lead when Kampf outskated Tampa Bay defenceman Victor Hedman to a lose puck, and scored on a breakaway to make it a 3-0 game.

 

Late in the second, Marner finally got that giant monkey off his back as he scored his first playoff goal since April 2019, in the Leafs playoff series against the Boston Bruins. 

In the third period, Tampa Bay showed lots of frustration as veterans Corey Perry and Pat Maroon tried to go after Leafs forward Wayne Simmonds. Also getting involed in the physicality were Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Tampa Bay’s Jan Rutta.

 

Matthew’s second goal, which made it 5-0 came at 8:16 of the third when Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy came out of the net to try and get a dump in which he couldn’t handle. The puck went around the boards and right to Matthews who rounded out the scoring by shooting the puck into a half open net which once again was followed by MVP chants.

 

Obviously the Leafs couldn’t have written a better script for how things went in Game 1. Saying that. it will be that much more harder for the next game of this series which will be on Wednesday night, with a 7:30 p.m. opening faceoff at Scotiabank Arena. 

 

          SCORING SUMMARY

 

            1st Period                                        TB-  TOR

            18:19 Jake Muzzin (1)                        0  –   1

            Ondrej Kase (1), Ilya Mikheyev (1)

 

            2nd Period                                         

           6:18 PPG- Auston Matthews (1)          0 –    2

           Mitch Marner (1), John Tavares (1)

 

          9:27 SHG- David Kampf (1)                 0  –    3

          Mitch Marner (2)

 

         16:39  Mitch Marner (1)                        0  –    4

         Morgan Rielly (1), Austin Matthews (1)

 

           3rd. Period 

         8:16 Auston Matthews (2)                    0   –    5

       Ondrej Kase (2), Morgan Rielly (2)