LGD: The Price of Love
9 years ago
Valentine’s Day is a strange event for many.
For some, it’s the best day of the year. Things are going great in your personal life and it’s the cherry on top.
For others, the worst, for obvious reasons.
For Leafs fans, it’s probably somewhere in the middle. A Saturday night matchup with Montreal with a chance to beat them at home? Sounds great, until you remember Montreal’s leading the Eastern Conference and Toronto’s only ahead of Buffalo and Carolina.
If the Leafs fans were a sitcom character, they’d probably be Ted Mosby, the lead role from How I Met Your Mother. Filled with a strange optimism at time despite years of heartbreak, one always has to wonder what will change things to finally find some sustained success.
On what would usually be a big matchup, and the Leafs’ playoffs hopes all but dashed, Toronto faces dilemmas similar to that of Mosby and other young bachelors.
Trade your best player and face of the franchise Phil Kessel in hopes of acquiring a future star? It’s kind of like Ted’s first attempt at marriage collapsing, but knowing it might be time to move on.
Should the Leafs look to lose out this season in hopes? It’s more fun to win in the short term, but it doesn’t really matter if you can’t do it on a consistent basis. Similarly, Ted goes through struggles on whether to look for a long-term love or continue with a series of short dates.
I could go on all day about the connections of Ted and TML, but then you’d miss the game.
Actually, that might not be a bad idea given the way things are going in Leafland, and there’s probably better ways to spend Valentines’ Day. Local boy full of emotions Drake just released his new mixtape, if you haven’t heard it yet. 2016 Oscar Best Picture Favourite 50 Shades of Grey is out in theatres. That’s just a few ideas, but feel free to post more if you’ve got them.
The Leafs
Projected lineup via DailyFaceoff.com
 James van Riemsdyk |  Tyler Bozak |  Phil Kessel |
 Daniel Winnik |  Nazem Kadri |  Richard Panik |
 Leo Komarov |  Peter Holland |  Mike Santorelli |
 David Booth |  Trevor Smith |  David Clarkson |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Jake Gardiner |  Cody Franson |
 Morgan Rielly |  Roman Polak |
 Korbinian Holzer |  Stephane Robidas |
Well, at least Morgan Rielly’s playing better under Horachek. Actually, everyone is so far. Yay for moral victories!
The Habs
Projected lineup via DailyFaceoff.com
 Max Pacioretty |  David Desharnais |  Dale Weise |
 Alex Galchenyuk |  Tomas Plekanec |  Brendan Gallagher |
 Lars Eller |  Jacob De La Rose |  Christian Thomas |
 Brandon Prust |  Manny Malhotra |  Michael Bournival |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Andrei Markov |  P.K. Subban |
 Nathan Beaulieu |  Sergei Gonchar |
 Mike Weaver |  Tom Gilbert |
The Habs are an odd monster in the NHL today, heading into today with the fourth-most points in the league.
PK Subban is undoubtedly one of the NHL’s top defencemen, and Max Pacioretty has developed into a perennial 30 goal scorer, but beyond that, they’re not exactly boasting with star power.
Maybe their possesion stats look good? Well, not exactly either. They’re 21st in the league at 5-on-5 Corsi. By CA60 (shot attempts against per 60 minutes), they’re 25th.
Power play? Ranked 25th. Maybe they just score a lot? Nope, they’re 21st in goals per game.
Their penalty kill is ranked 6th, but that doesn’t explain everything. So why are they doing so good? Well, take a look at the next section.
Starting Goalies
No matter their team affinity, most Canadians have a soft spot for Carey Price, deservedly so after his performances at the World Juniors and the Olympics for his country. He’s got the best save percentage in the league at .933 and is the front-runner to win the Vezina. What a player.
See you at 7. (Or maybe not.)
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