It was his 80th point of the season and ended a four-game goal and point drought. William Nylander put Toronto up 2-1 at 1:20 of the second period when he got to a loose puck at the top of the crease and shot past Bobrovsky's glove. Hopefully we'll get some help before that, but it's definitely not the end of the world. "We just have to get a win ," Tkachuk said. The Penguins lost 3-2 at the Dallas Stars on Thursday.įlorida has lost two in a row after a seven-game point streak (6-0-1). Matthew Tkachuk extended his goal streak to an NHL career-high six games, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves for the Panthers (36-29-7), who remain one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. When they did break free and looked dangerous, he made it look easy. That's a very dynamic offensive team that we played against and really limited their opportunities. "Our guys did a really good job in front of him. "I thought looked great," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. The Lightning lost 7-2 at the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Mitchell Marner scored for the fourth straight game, John Tavares had three assists, and Murray made 33 saves for the Maple Leafs (43-19-9), who are 3-1-1 in their past five games and moved five points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for second in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand. … I think just a good game all around, especially with how desperate these guys came out, and just to play through the pressure they bring." "We were able to capitalize on some chances there. So you’ll just have to wait."I thought we had a good first period, weathered the storm at times when they really got rolling, and Murray came up with some big saves, obviously," Matthews said. But I’ll do my predictions as part of our playoff preview package. I’m still on the fence on whether they’ll win the first round. They’re as battle tested as they’ve ever been. That said, they’re as deep as they’ve ever been. I’m troubled that they can’t seem to come from behind in the third period. I’m troubled by what I’ve seen lately from them. Have you seen enough evidence of the kind of consistent individual and team play that they will need in order to be successful against Tampa in the first round? Kevin, you have watched the Leafs closely throughout the regular season. Who could resist a Toronto team in a championship game? Who around here wouldn’t pick Toronto? Mothers and fathers, record this to watch with your daughters (and sons)! Are you going to watch, and who are you picking to win? The Toronto Six vs the Minnesota Whitecaps in legendary Mullet Arena in Arizona. Hi Kevin, The Premier Hockey Federation’s Isobel Cup one-game Final is this Sunday at 9 p.m. If you have a question, email me at and I’ll answer it in the next Mailbag. Because you know, like I know, and they know it’s only the results in the playoffs that matter anymore. The Matthews-Marner era is a near unprecedented run for regular-season success. They’re on their way to their fourth 100-point season in the last six years (and the two seasons that they didn’t get to 100 were shortened by the pandemic) and it’s all ho-hum. Presumably 12-and-6 will be more the norm when Ryan O’Reilly (finger) comes back, but you never know.īut it’s funny we’re still in wait-and-see mode. The whole business of sometimes 12 forwards and six defencemen and sometimes 11-and-7 would seem to be disconcerting now to the opposition. But that’s OK because Matt Murray seems to be channelling Grant Fuhr. On the downside, who knows where soon-to-be-new-dad Ilya Samsonov’s head is going to be for the next little while. Holl is their chief penalty killer, eighth in the league in short-handed time on ice (209:38). The fan base should probably have more faith in Justin Holl than they do. There’s a great deal of faith in the shutdown duo Jake McCabe and T.J. But really it speaks more to depth and balance. Some will take that as a slight against Rielly. Morgan Rielly didn’t play against Florida, and it didn’t seem to matter. The blending of defence pairings doesn’t seem quite so severe. William Nylander and John Tavares picked up their game. On the bright side, Auston Matthews seems to be heating up at the right time. It sure does feel like it’s hard to get a read on what the Maple Leafs are all about these days. A lopsided loss to the New York Islanders followed by encouraging victory over the Florida Panthers.
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