The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost defenseman Petter Granberg on waivers, as the 23-year-old was claimed by the Nashville Predators on Sunday.
Granberg was selected in the 4th round(116th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft and played eight games for the Maple Leafs and 126 games for the AHL Toronto Marlies since coming over from Sweden in 2013.
The loss of the right handed shooting defenseman represents another player drafted by Brian Burke/Dave Nonis to leave the organization via trade, waiver claim or free agency.
Due to the number of games played between the NHL and AHL, Granberg has to clear waivers to go down to the AHL and play regularly after missing all of training camp and the first two months of the regular season after an Achilles injury last July.
The Predators have a penchant for recognizing defensive talent and are fully stocked on the blueline with Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Seth Jones, Mattias Ekholm and veteran Barret Jackman.
Nashville may have claimed Granberg to keep him in reserve on their 23-man roster while sending either Victor Bartley or Anthony Bitetto to the AHL, as Toronto has done with Frank Corrado since claiming the 22-year-old off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks in early October.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have scored two goals or less in 12 of 21 games and their inability to score struck once again in a 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday.
Veteran Zdeno Chara fired a slapshot past James Reimer with 3:43 left in regulation for the game winner and Brad Marchand added an empty netter to give the Bruins their 10th win of the season. Tuukka Rask made 22 saves for his sixth win and second shutout of the year.
“I hate to see them score with three minutes left, or whatever was left, but in saying that, that’s what we did last night.… Leafs coach Mike Babcock said following the game. “Obviously you’d like to grab another point here today, or two, but we didn’t do that.…
James Reimer was stellar for Toronto with a 34-save effort and kept the Leafs on an even footing in spite of facing significantly more shots for the second straight night.
As with their 2-1 shootout victory in Carolina on Friday, Toronto played an effective road game in limiting chances and keeping the game scoreless through the first 40 minutes, but Boston were the more energetic of the two clubs in the final stanza, outshooting the Leafs 13-6.
Toronto’s best scoring opportunities were early in the game, with Shawn Matthias missing on a pair of breakaways and Michael Grabner ringing a shot off the post.
“We had our chances. We didn’t start well but I think we came out hard in the second period and strong in the third but it sucks losing.… Matthias said. “We’ll try to get back into things here. We need all the points we can get. It could have been a really good road trip got that win.…
The loss ends the Leafs two-game winning streak, giving them a record of 7-10-4 on the season. The two clubs will play in Toronto on Monday.
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The Toronto Marlies returned home to Ricoh Coliseum after going 6-0-1 during a 7-game, 17-day road trip and continued their winning ways with a 5-1 victory over the Rochester Americans on Saturday afternoon.
William Nylander scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period, putting the 19-year-old forward in sole possession of the AHL scoring lead with 21 points(9 goals and 12 assists) and the Marlies atop the AHL with 27 points(13-3-1)
Marlies goalie Garret Sparks making a save in the second period of a 5-1 win over Rochester on Saturday
Image courtesy of Christian Bonin at TSGPhoto
TJ Brennan, Richard Panik, Matt Frattin and Rinat Valiev also scored for Toronto, Brendan Leipsic had two assists and goalie Garret Sparks made 31 saves for his eighth victory of the season.
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