According to Paul Hendrick(@HennyTweets) of Leafs TV, the club has again decided to send defenseman Jake Gardiner down to the Toronto Marlies to get back into game shape after missing almost a month of playing time due to concussion symptoms.
The 22 year old Gardiner was injured in the second period of a December 8th Marlies - Rochester Americans game after taking a head hit from the Amerks Kevin Porter.
Gardiner played in two games last week against Pittsburgh and the NY Islanders, but Coach Randy Carlyle determined that the blueliner was not up to speed after such a long absence.
Marlies coach Dallas Eakins used Gardiner heavily in Toronto's 3-1 loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last Saturday and he was -2 on the afternoon, but did register an assist on Tim Connolly's power play goal.
Hendrick indicates that Gardiner will be in the Marlies lineup when they face the Rochester Americans in Rochester on Friday night.
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The Leafs 4-3 overtime victory in Buffalo on Tuesday was not won due to the effort of their star players, but from the contribution of depth players and the clutch goaltending of James Reimer, who made 29 saves for his third straight impressive start.
Team captain Dion Phaneuf had a solid, yet unspectacular game, logging over 27 minutes but with no points or shots on goal. Phil Kessel was only superseded by Phaneuf in ice time and had three shots on the night, but only registered his third assist of the season.
Newcomer Jay McClement showed some offensive flare with his first goal as a Leaf, converting a ricochet of a Nazem Kadri blast that clanked off the crossbar, but his effort throughout the year has been steady and dependable, playing his natural center or on the wing, as he did last night with Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin.
The defensive pairing of Cody Franson and Mark Fraser earned high marks, as they played under 15 minutes as the third defensive pairing, but were both +3 on the night, with Franson scoring his first of the season to give Toronto a 3-2 lead midway through the second.
The star of the night was Matt Frattin, who scored the tying goal in the middle frame on a nice feed from Franson and the game winner in the waning seconds of overtime, surprising the Sabres defense and goalie Ryan Miller by recovering the puck and getting a shot on goal before time expired.
In just three games, after being recalled to replace the injured Joffrey Lupul, Frattin has three goals and is second on the team in scoring with five points. Paired with Nazem Kadri, the 25 year old Edmonton native is beginning to show the scoring prowess that he displayed in the NCAA at the U. of North Dakota in 2010-11, as well as with the Toronto Marlies, where he scored 24 goals in 36 games last season between regular season and playoffs.
Toronto has been the beneficiary of consistent production from their third line of Kadri, Frattin and Leo Komarov, but if they hope to win on a regular basis, they need their top two lines to step up their productivity.
will update later
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