Leafs Postgame: Junior Hockey Shows Up Six Days Early
9 years ago
Reminder: James van Riemsdyk was traded for Luke Schenn. Other than that, there wasn’t much for the Leafs to celebrate on Saturday night, who suffered a 7-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Rundown:
The Leafs began up 2-0, off of goals by Joffrey Lupul and James van Riemsdyk in the first six minutes. Despite the hot start, the Leafs weren’t able to hold on. No, I’m just talking about the game, not a typical Leafs season as a whole.
By the end of the first period, the game was tied 3-3, including a half-minute outburst that was short on strong goalie play.
Dallas Stars forward, Toronto native, and self-proclaimed hockey fan Tyler Seguin weighed in:
He’s going to look so good on a line with Kessel and Stamkos. What Seguin failed to mention was that the first period was really all Leafs fans should watch, as they were outscored 4-1 over the final 40 minutes, and outshot 25-16. The Leafs managed 25 shots on the entire night.
Currently fighting Seguin for the scoring title, Jakub Voracek showed why he’s having a breakout season, managing four assists on the evening. Whether this is a career year or just signs of bigger things to come is uncertain, but he’s quite the player to watch right now.
Also of note, CBC used this image three times to promote the game.. featuirng a scratched Jake Gardiner. I’d be willing to bet he cracks the lineup tomorrow, but stranger things have definitely happened.
Blue Warrior:
David Clarkson, because why not. It’s not often you see a shot like this from Clarkson. Celebrate it while you can. By the way, David Clarkson has more goals than anyone on the Boston Bruins. While they’ve always been a team more predicated on defensive success and strong goaltending, that’s quite unexpected. Hey, didn’t they have a guy named Kessel once? Seguin may or may not have been on their team at some point as well. Cue the Bergeron-for-Clarkson rumours.
Notes:
- Korbinan Holzer is, by just about every metric, not an NHL-calibre defenceman. To his credit, he did earn an assist on the final goal of the night, but otherwise looked lost out there for much of the night.
- Switching up the lines was interesting, to say the least. James van Riemsdyk had a 58% Corsi at even strength. Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak? They had a 19 and 27%, respectively.
- Most of the time, four goals will win a game. Horrible defensive performance, though, allowing 42 shots.
- The Leafs finally lost a game this year where they scored first.
- Polak-Robidas had a rough night as well, posting 26% and 29% Corsi.
The Leafs return to action tomorrow night, playing in Chicago at 7 pm.
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