GAME DAY REPORT: GAME 30 – MAPLE LEAFS @ PENGUINS
Toronto Maple Leafs (18-10-1) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (16-11-3)
7:00PM EST HNIC – CBC
Tonight will see the return of downtown Toronto’s hot dog vendors favourite VIP customer Philly “chili, cheese and bacon dog” Kessel and his Stanley Cup Championship Penguins.
I wasn’t paying very close attention. Tonight the Leafs take on the Penguins at home in Pitt.
The Penguins are having a trying season without their #1 tendie Matt Murray who is still currently out due to injury. Things look like they may return to normal soon for the Penguins as Murray took the ice this morning for practice with the squad. The Penguins will have NOOB Tristan Jarry in between the pipes for them once again this evening. The 22 year old Rook has put up an excellent start to his pro career posting a 5-1-0-2 record over 8 starts with a GAA of 2.39 and rocking a .921 Sv%. Personally on this 8th game before Christmas I hope the Leafs light Jarry up like a Christmas Tree.
The Leafs will go with Frederik “The Danish Ginger God” Andersen in net tonight and presumably make use of Curtis Macarena McElhinney in tomorrow’s game against the Coilers. Andersen has been the Leafs Rockstar this season putting up a record of 16-8-0-1 with a GAA of 2.66 and sporting a .922 Sv%. If the Leafs were tighter defensively I would even consider using Andersen tomorrow against the Oilers and then let him rest until Thursday nights game vs the Wild. I dont think this is a viable option as Freddies work load is likely to be over 30 shots tonight, possibly more.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the Leafs last game against the Flames. A lacklustre, somewhat lame outing, there were too many liberties taken with our #1. Even though we managed to hold on and squeak on out in the shoot out (which is a positive over last year) there is still a lot of work to be done on the defensive side of the game. Protect your goalie!
Patty Marleau is still on the cusp of 1100 NHL Points with 1099. Love to see him pot 1100 in a W at home….tonight!
GO LEAFS GO!!!
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (Projected)
Zach Hyman — Auston Matthews — Connor Brown
Patrick Marleau — Nazem Kadri — Leo Komarov
JVR — Tyler Bozak — Mitch Marner
Matt Martin — Dominic Moore — William Nylander
Morgan Rielly — Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner — Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman — Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Scratches: Bon, Connor Carrick, Nikita Soshnikov, Josh Leivo
Suspended: H.H.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (Projected)
Conor Sheary — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Jake Guentzel -– Evgeni Malkin — Phil Kessel
Carl Hagelin — Riley Sheahan — Patric Hornqvist
Dominik Simon — Carter Rowney — Ryan Reaves
Brian Dumoulin -– Kris Letang
Olli Maata-– Matt Hunwick
Ian Cole -– Chad Ruhwedel
Tristan Jarry
Scratches: Kevin Czuczman
Injured: Murray, Justin Schultz, Tom Kuhnackl-(Game-time decision)
Morning skate with the Coach
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* this thing on?
Checks volume on stereo…….adjusts to 11
Readies dancin gear….checks look in mirror….
“Just take those old records” Nah just kidding
and GO!
Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday…..Saturday Night’s Alright