The Toronto Maple Leafs received some timely offense and received a solid performance from goaltender Jonathan Bernier in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Air Canada Center on Saturday.
James van Riemsdyk, Peter Holland, Nazem Kadri and Michael Grabner scored goals in a victory that brought the Leafs record to .500 (15-15-7) for the first time this season.
Bernier, who started the season 0-8-3, has won four of the last six games and made 39 saves to backstop Toronto to their second straight victory.
The Blues opened the scoring at 8:28 of the second period, as Vladimir Tarasenko fired a one timer on the power play, but their lead lasted only five seconds, as Van Riemsdyk stole the puck from Alex Pietrangelo off the faceoff and shot a knuckler past a stunned Jake Allen for the tying goal.
Holland gave the Leafs the lead early in the third with a wrister from the top of the faceoff circle and iced the game away on Kadri’s seventh of the season, converting on a feed from linemate Grabner, who scored into an empty net.
After going without a goal in his first 22 games, the former Calder Trophy finalist has scored six goals in the last 13 games.
“It’s a good win for our team. I think we’ve been feeling better about ourselves as time has gone on." Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. "You earn the right to feel good about yourself. Today was a good win for us. They’re a good team. They play hard. They play right, so it was a good win for our team.…
Toronto now takes to the road for their annual California excursion, playing the Ducks, Kings and Sharks in a span of four nights, starting in Anaheim on Wednesday
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World Junior Update
2015 fifth rounder Dmytro Timashov had an assist in Sweden’s 6-0 romp over Slovakia in the quarterfinal at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships in Helsinki and is tied for second in team scoring with six points (2 goals, 4 assists).
William Nylander continues to be out of Sweden’s lineup after being knocked out of Sweden’s opening game against Switzerland one week ago and it is a mystery whether the 19-year-old will return before the tournament ends on Tuesday.
Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello traveled to Finland on Saturday to view the elimination rounds and to meet with Swedish Ice Hockey VP Peter Forsberg about the health status of the AHL scoring leader.
“I have had contact with (Lamoriello) several times since William was injured. Toronto is very pleased with how we have handled it all and how we have been communicating the information from our doctors.… Forsberg said to Henrik Sjoberg of Expressen. “I'm not involved in the decision as to whether (Nylander) can play or not. I believe that it is more about if he is healthy or not. If he is healthy, he plays. If he is not healthy, he does not play.…
The quest for a second straight World Junior Championship ended for Team Canada on Saturday with a 6-5 loss to the host Finns at Hartwell Arena.
Mitch Marner was named Player of the Game for Canada, as the Leafs 2015 top pick scored a pair of third period power play goals that tied the score twice and nearly scored the go-ahead goal before penalties to Jake Virtanen and Joe Hicketts gave Finland a 5-on-3 power play and the game-winning goal from Patrik Laine.
This is an absurd goal by Mitch Marner #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/f4ydUiw1vV
— Faizal Khamisa (@SNFaizalKhamisa) January 2, 2016*******
The absence of Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen at the World Junior and the emergency recall of Mark Arcobello and playing six different goalies have done little to slow the AHL-leading Toronto Marlies.
The Marlies won a rather frisky 3-2 decision over the Syracuse Crunch at Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday, which included the two clubs nearly coming to blows at center ice during the pre-game skate and Toronto forward Rich Clune instigating some shenanigans after the final buzzer.
So the Marlies and Crunch nearly had a pregame brawl a minute ago pic.twitter.com/vmvIXep6YS
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) January 2, 2016Here's a look at Clune going after Richard, which sparked the post game scrum pic.twitter.com/C4mvZnIcKs
— Jeremy Houghtaling (@JGHoughtaling) January 2, 2016Sam Carrick, Justin Holl and Andrew Campbell scored for Toronto and goalie Rob Madore earned first star honors with a 26-save effort. Toronto will face the Crunch again on Sunday before heading out on the road for the next five games.
Marlies rookie bench boss Sheldon Keefe was named as the head coach of the AHL’s North Division team for the upcoming 2016 AHL All-Star Game in Syracuse, N.Y. as Keefe is the youngest head coach in the league at 35 years old and has the league’s best record at 26-7-2.
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