LGD: Series Finale

It feels like it’s a little early in the season to be talking about finales, but tonight marks the fifth and final game that the Leafs and Wings play against each other this season. The NHL is good at scheduling. 

Through the four they have played so far, they are tied 2-2, with the Leafs winning the most recent meeting this past Wednesday. We all know how that game went, so let’s just start talking about the one coming up tonight.

JVR-Bozie-Thriller

Pooh-Mittens-Santo Claus

Lupes-Holly-Wendel

Booth-Smitty-Panic!

Hoof-Franny

Gards-Holzer

Riles-Robie

Leafs management has been telling the media that they know they aren’t good as their recent 7-2-1 record shows. That’s good to hear because quite frankly, they aren’t. At some point, the lineup is going to have be shuffled around. The top line looks bad, especially defensively. 

But hey, it’s working right now in terms of the results, and we know that Randy and Co. haven’t shown a tremendous amount of respect for the process, so don’t expect this to change. 

Noteworthy lineup changes: looks like Trevor Smith is back in for Kozun, and Bernier is back in net. Reimer was supposed to get the start again, but hurt himself in practice. It’s unfortunate – Reimer was insane on Wednesday.

Nyquist-Old Guy #40-Jerko

Tartar-Old Guy #13-Helm

Frozen-Shayhen-Clearly

Ryan’s Brother-Glen Denning-Andersson

Ericsson-Chronwahl

Quincey-Smith

Ouellet-Lashoff

The Wings are very good. That really isn’t that surprising. What is surprising is how they are this good with a D corps that looks like that. It’s almost like having a really good coach can help minimize a team’s weaknesses. Hmm. Interesting.

As we have seen this year, when the Wings are healthy, they have a very dangerous group up front. Their vets can actually contribute. A lot. It’s weird. Add a dash of young skill, and you have a team that is consistently great and don’t seem like they’re going to slow down anytime soon.

vs

Will the Leafs address how badly they were outplayed Wednesday? Or do they feel they can play the exact same way because they won?