LGD: No Daggers Please
7 years ago
Costello Music is a great album. From Henrietta to Ole Black ‘n’ Blue Eyes, you’re hard-pressed to find a single bad track on the Fratellis’ debut record. I don’t think I’ve regularly listened to a single release they’ve put out in the ten years since, but I can go back to this one once every few months and have a good time with it.
For a while, the song that the public was most aware of was Flathead, thanks to an iPod commercial. That’s how I found out about the Fratellis. But then the Chicago Blackhawks ruined everything forever by making Chelsea Dagger ubiquitous and frustrating for those who watched literally any other hockey team.
Tonight, the Leafs look to silence Chelsea Dagger, for the good of the greater hockey universe.
The Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs lines courtesy of our friends at Daily Faceoff.
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 William Nylander |  Auston Matthews |  Zach Hyman |
 James van Riemsdyk |  Tyler Bozak |  Mitchell Marner |
 Milan Michalek |  Nazem Kadri |  Leo Komarov |
 Matt Martin |  Peter Holland |  Connor Brown |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Morgan Rielly |  Connor Carrick |
 Jake Gardiner |  Roman Polak |
 Matt Hunwick |  Nikita Zaitsev |
The forwards basically look the same. The defence basically looks the same. Martin Marincin was injured last game, is healthy now, but remains a healthy scratch. Please free Frank Corrado.
The Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks lines courtesy of our friends at Daily Faceoff.
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Tyler Motte |  Jonathan Toews |  Richard Panik |
 Artemi Panarin |  Artem Anisimov |  Patrick Kane |
 Brian Campbell |  Nick Schmaltz |  Ryan Hartman |
 Dennis Rasmussen |  Marcus Kruger |  Jordin Tootoo |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Duncan Keith |  Niklas Hjalmarsson |
 Michal Kempny |  Brent Seabrook |
 Gustav Forsling |  Trevor van Riemsdyk |
Expect a change to the third defensive pairing, as Trevor “not as good” van Riemsdyk has been confirmed to be out for the next five to six weeks with a shoulder injury.
Starting Goaltenders
Frederik Andersen is expected to start in goal for the Leafs. “In goal” is a key phrase here; which version of Freddy will we see between the pipes tonight? The one that played in Anaheim that made many excited for the trade that brought him here, or the one that’s skating out to the hash marks and always playing the butterfly? Fingers crossed for the former; or, in Anderson’s own words, a return to that “fuck you” attitude.
Corey Crawford is expected to start in goal for the Blackhawks. Once described as the league’s most average goalie, the Montreal native has really come into his own over the past few years. At the same time, he too has struggled to start the year, posting a 0.886 SV% over his first four appearances. Will he bounce back tonight?
What To Look Out For
- Richard Panik is probably going to break Darryl Sittler’s single-game points record, because trading a 25-year-old slightly-above-replacement NHLer that the Leafs wouldn’t have had room for is the worst thing that they have ever done. Perhaps the team should consider trading Matthews for him before they leave the building.
- Watch some of William Nylander and Mitch Marner doing crazy things and get very hyped at the fact that one, if not both of them, have shots at reaching the Patrick Kane tier without the whole publicly-terrible-human-being factor attached.
- Being serious, the Hawks are entering the second game of a back-to-back. The good news for the Leafs is that this means that Chicago isn’t terribly well rested. The bad news is that they’ve probably got a chip on their shoulder because they lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Who taunted them by playing Chelsea Dagger as the goal song. Bless our friends in Lumbus.
- I’m not convinced that about half of the people on Chicago’s roster are real people. This is what happens when you get into a real cap crunch after years of success and holding on to your core players.
- If Matt Hunwick is a <40% CF player again tonight, it’s going to take a lot of mental gymnastics to convince me that he has any value to the roster. Night in, night out, he’s been a detriment to the team’s ability to drive play, even more so than last year.
Puck drop for this one is at 7:00 PM. You can catch it on CBC.
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