Game Thread 33-82 at Toronto vs Maple Leafs

I think Knight is a very good technically sound goalie, but when he makes a miscue, which he rarely does, suddenly his concentration level drops momentarily and his play wavers. After the faceoff following Matthews’ goal the Leafs dumped the puck towards the net, from I believe beyond the blue line, and Knight inexplicably misplayed it by letting it rebound from his pads straight up the center of the ice. Normally I think he would have snared it or at least steered it towards the corner. Not to absolve anything from Crevier, but he probably thought that too. Crevier has to play Joshua hard, as anything can happen. Joshua’s shot was of the nothing to look at variety, but Knight failed to make the save.

I watched the Flames-Sharks game afterward, and a similar thing happened to the Flames’ D. Sharks dumped the puck from beyond the redline, and 2 Flames D-men are closer to the goal line than the oncoming Barclay Goodrow. Both D skated nonchalantly towards the goal line expecting to hear a whistle for icing, but icing was waived off because both defensemen were wide in their lanes and Goodrow raced down the middle, collected the puck first and scored on Wolf, who also looked stunned.

Hopefully the Hawks’young players can learn from these types of moments and not take anything for granted. Just play 60 minutes of good hockey.

Brutal finish. Chasing all 3rd period and good teams like that will make you pay. Crevier looking like his old 7th d-man self again. Move your damn feet Louis!

Gritty 2nd period and Hawks grinded that out with blue collar defense and hustle. Leafs had possession for long stretches and Hawks kept denying. Knight, Nazar, and Mik were warriors all period. Let’s do it again in the 3rd boys!

Thanks for keeping the conversation going Frenchy. Let’s hope that 2nd line of Lardis, Greene and Moore meshes together well and gives us a good glimpse of what the future holds. Also, in Bedard’s absence, it’s time for Nazar to step it up along with the veteran cadre of Bertuzzi, Burakovsky, TT, Dickinson, Mikheyev and Donato providing some goal scoring.

Finally, a good opportunity for DelMastro as Lev serves his penance. I hope he has a good game. Maybe if he cements a position, Grzylec or Murphy will become eventual trade bait.