It’s time for the Leafs to take off from the rest of the pack and start driving home the point that they are one of the leagues powerhouses. A solid punch up the middle (when Matthews is healthy), a legit number one goaltender in Andersen and a decent mix of defenders whom which would be considered the Leafs weak spot.
If the boys can put up performances last night without Matthews they will have no problem rolling more teams as they begin to ramp things up as we approach the half way point of the season. The Maple Leafs are 35 games into the season and are 21-13-1. There is a long way to go still but the Buds have put themselves in a great position as we are just two games away before Christmas arrives and each team gets a small break before heading into the year 2018.
Tonight is backup night as McElhinney will square off against Korpisalo at 7:30 EST.
Matthews’s status is still in the air but the Blue Jackets will be without their best defenseman Zach Werenski. The Leafs should be feeling great after pounding the Hurricanes in yesterday’s 100th year celebration game which took place at the Air Canada Center at 2pm. The Leafs came out with fiery and Marner looked possessed as he shined in the big game and exploded out of the funk he was in. If this is the Mitch Marner we see going forward it’s going to be one hell of a game changer for the Leafs.
It would be grand if the Buds could put together a little win streak here before the New Year, they will take on the Rangers Saturday night in New York.
It was great to see Kasperi Kapanen net a goal for the Leafs yesterday, as it was a slump buster night with eight different goal scorers, including James van Riemsdyk’s team leading 16th goal.
Uncle Leo got the party started with a short-handed snipe and that got the Leafs and their fans started. The ACC was electric with a number of rowdy fans including of families with young kids there to watch the Leafs hand it to the Canes with authority. It really was the smashing the Leafs needed to get back to scoring a lot of goals and having some fun out there while doing so.
Look for the Leafs to keep up the pressure and continued barrage of shots on net like they did last night.
Thanks for reading, have a great day.
Go Leafs Go!