Ducks @ Leafs - Feb. 5th, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

25-18-10, 60 points | 30-19-5, 65 points


Projected Lines

Rakell-Getzlaf-Silfverberg Cogliano-Kesler-Brown Ritchie-Henrique-Kase Wagner-Vermette-Perry Lindholm-Manson Fowler-Bieksa Beauchemin-Montour Miller ​

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander Marleau-Kadri-Marner JVR-Bozak-Brown Komarov-Moore-Kapanen Rielly-Hainsey Gardiner-Zaitsev Dermott-Carrick Andersen​

Scratches

John Gibson Derek Grant Korbinian Holzer ​

Andreas Borgman Josh Leivo Matt Martin​

Game Notes

ANA
?Ryan Miller (12-6-3, 2.40 GAA, .922 Sv%) will likely start for the Ducks
?John Gibson's been out for about a week with a groin injury, his status at this point is day-to-day
?For the first time this season Ryan Getzlaf is in a bit of a rut. Injuries kept him out for about a month and a half but he had 31 points in his first 25 games this season. He's pointless in his last 4 games though
?Corey Perry is on pace to have his worst offensive season since his sophomore year: he has just 26 points in 42 games. And a stretch of 3 points in 11 games actually saw him start their last game against Montreal on the 4th line. He scored against the Habs though so that might get him back in the top-6 for this one
?I feel like I'm saying this about a lot of Leafs opponents lately, but the Ducks are in a dogfight for the final wildcard spot in their conference. They are 1 of 4 teams within a single point of each other battling for 8th in the West

TOR
?Andersen (25-15-4, 2.62 GAA, .921 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?Was a loss just what Babcock was waiting for to get back to a "safer", more "gud pro"-y line-up? We'll have to wait and see. Polak is still technically on the IR though and for him to be activated another roster move would be necessary

Injuries

?John Gibson - Groin - Questionable Monday ?Patrick Eaves - Illness - Out indefinitely​

?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely ?Joffrey Lupul - Actually Injured - Out indefinitely ?Nikita Soshnikov - Groin - Injured Reserve ?Roman Polak - Infection - Injured Reserve​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[Kaberle15]

Rebound win please. That playoff preview saturday was painful.

Go Leafs Go!!!

 

[Strangelove]

It seemed like they rushed Rielly and Hainsey back to the line-up, as both looked off on Saturday. Hopefully they've got their legs back a bit now.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/960536998397300736

 

[CarltonTheBear]

No line-up changes? No line-up changes!

So Martin's about to be scratched for his 6th straight game. 1 against his former team, 1 against his former rival team who were dressing a goon on their roster, and 1 after a pretty convincing loss. I've never been more confident to say that he is the clear-cut 13th forward on the roster.

 

[herman]

No line-up changes? No line-up changes!

So Martin's about to be scratched for his 6th straight game. 1 against his former team, 1 against his former rival team who were dressing a goon on their roster, and 1 after a pretty convincing loss. I've never been more confident to say that he is the clear-cut 13th forward on the roster.

Matt Martin's training wheels.

Some light reading! http://www.tmlfans.ca/community/index.php?topic=3975.0

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/DaveAMcCarthy/status/960539299421732864

Hmmmmm.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/960542442956062721

*sigh*

Guessing Borgman is getting sent down to the Marlies.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/960542442956062721

*sigh*

Guessing Borgman is getting sent down to the Marlies.

Or gains a mysterious injury.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Or gains a mysterious injury.

Lou: Yeah, he has whatever I said Sosh has.

 

[herman]

Or gains a mysterious injury.

Lou: Yeah, he has whatever I said Sosh has.

What Sosh had:
https://twitter.com/TorontoMarlies/status/959904272799289344

 

[CarltonTheBear]

What Sosh had:
https://twitter.com/TorontoMarlies/status/959904272799289344

I legit just laughed out loud watching that and then remembering that technically speaking he's still "injured" right now. What a racket Lou has going on.

 

[herman]

I legit just laughed out loud watching that and then remembering that technically speaking he's still "injured" right now. What a racket Lou has going on.

Indeed.

I do believe Sosh has a nagging injury though (groin?). He has a tendency to overwork himself in the gym and had the same thing last year. Still shoots good though. With a different (i.e. more valuable) player, they'd be more than okay with playing through it.

https://twitter.com/TorontoMarlies/status/959951728614391808

 

[Coco-puffs]

What Sosh had:
https://twitter.com/TorontoMarlies/status/959904272799289344

I legit just laughed out loud watching that and then remembering that technically speaking he's still "injured" right now. What a racket Lou has going on.

He's on a conditioning stint.  Barring a re-injury (cue the Lou racket), once the stint expires he comes back up to the Leafs and is taken off IR.

 

[Kaberle15]

I won't be surprised if Leivo is waived today...

 

[herman]

I won't be surprised if Leivo is waived today...

Waiving Leivo doesn't alleviate the roster spot required to play Polak tonight (hurrah), so I'm not sure it makes sense for the team to do so. Better to just trade him directly (for almost nothing), or better yet, blow a hole into the left wing by trading JvR/Komarov for higher returns and let Leivo build more value filling that gap.

Hilariously possible thing is if JvR and Komarov got traded, Leivo would still be jumped in the depth chart by Johnsson and Aaltonen.

 

[Strangelove]

So Babcock cuts Carrick, Borgman and Holl from the line-up to make room for Polak.

I guess having a dynamic, puck-moving back-end was too much for Babcock. Have to get back to chip and chase and stretch passes, since that worked so well against Boston.

 

[herman]

So Babcock cuts Carrick, Borgman and Holl from the line-up to make room for Polak.

I guess having a dynamic, puck-moving back-end was too much for Babcock. Have to get back to chip and chase and stretch passes, since that worked so well against Boston.

Polak's training wheels too...

And let me just head off any rejoinders by saying, I'd prefer Carrick or Borgman or even Holl by a long stretch, but I understand why Babcock is going back to Polak.

Training wheels are not the primary vector of locomotion, nor are they wheels that spin the best, nor are they particularly attractive to see in operation. They are, by design, temporary and (hopefully) low impact.

 

[cabber24]

So Babcock cuts Carrick, Borgman and Holl from the line-up to make room for Polak.

I guess having a dynamic, puck-moving back-end was too much for Babcock. Have to get back to chip and chase and stretch passes, since that worked so well against Boston.

Who of three you mentioned is the going to change this team into a "dynamic, puck-moving back-end"? To be honest I don't really want Carrick, Polak or Borgman to be in our top six. I hope were able to improve our D to a place where none of these 3 need to be on our team. I am also not sold on trying to win with two rookies on the blueline. Holl is probably better off as Marlie right now.

I know no one is betting on the Leafs getting out of the first round but if our D was better some people probably would. I would like to see a trade, we have plenty offensive assets, some of which are likely to walk so let's see what's out there?

 

[Strangelove]

So Babcock cuts Carrick, Borgman and Holl from the line-up to make room for Polak.

I guess having a dynamic, puck-moving back-end was too much for Babcock. Have to get back to chip and chase and stretch passes, since that worked so well against Boston.

Who of three you mentioned is the going to change this team into a "dynamic, puck-moving back-end"? To be honest I don't really want Carrick, Polak or Borgman to be in our top six. I hope were able to improve our D to a place where none of these 3 need to be on our team. I am also not sold on trying to win with two rookies on the blueline. Holl is probably better off as Marlie right now.

I know no one is betting on the Leafs getting out of the first round but if our D was better some people probably would. I would like to see a trade, we have plenty offensive assets, some of which are likely to walk so let's see what's out there?

The Leafs' defence is significantly better when Polak is not in the line=up. So is its offence. Polak hurts the team at both ends of the ice.

The team has better options than Polak available in house and Babcock refuses to use them whenever he's given the opportunity.