Islanders @ Leafs - Feb. 14th, 7:30pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

25-19-10, 60 points | 25-18-11, 61 points

Projected Lines

Lee-Tavares-Bailey Prince-Nelson-Strome Ladd-Beauvillier-Chimera Kulemin-Cizikas-Gionta Leddy-Boychuk Hickey-Pelech De Haan-Seidenberg Greiss ​

Hyman-Matthews-Brown Komarov-Kadri-Nylander JVR-Bozak-Marner Martin-Smith-Leivo Rielly-Zaitsev Gardiner-Carrick Hunwick-Polak Andersen​

Scratches

Alan Quine Scott Mayfield ​

Alexey Marchenko Martin Marincin Nikita Soshnikov​

Game Notes

NYI
?Thomas Greiss (17-9-3, 2.42 GAA, .922 Sv%) will likely start for the Islanders
?New York is 8-2-2 since Doug Weight took over behind the bench, and have vaulted themselves right back into the playoff conversation
?The Islanders top line have been leading the way in that stretch: Tavares & Lee each have 14 points in 12 games, while Josh Bailey has 9

TOR
?Andersen (22-12-10, 2.79 GAA, .914 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?The Leafs still currently occupy the final WC spot in the East and based off points percentage would be 3rd in the Atlantic, but they really need to start taking advantage of Boston's bye-week
?No line-up changes occured at practice on Monday, so it's expected that Sosh and Marchenko will continue to sit

Injuries

?Cal Clutterbuck - Lower Body - Injured Reserve ?Travis Hamonic - Lower Body - Injured Reserve ?Mikhail Grabovski - Concussion - Injured Reserve​

?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely ?Joffrey Lupul - ?\_(ツ)_/? - Out indefinitely ?Stephane Robidas - Old - Out indefinitely ?Nikita Soshnikov - Upper Body - Day to day​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[Kaberle15]

Huge game for the Leafs.

Go Kids Go!

 

[Zee]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

 

[Kin]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

You don't mess with success.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

Maybe the Leafs waive him too in a few weeks and assign him to the AHL. This is all just a brilliant ploy to stack the Marlies D up.

 

[Zee]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

You don't mess with success.

For real huh?  I mean I could understand if the Leafs defense was this amazing top 6 that nobody could seem to crack.  They regularly lock down leads, win games 2-1 without the opposition getting a sniff of a scoring chance.  The way it's going you would think they might want to give someone else a look on the back end, just to see if there's ANY improvement. 

 

[louisstamos]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

You don't mess with success.

For real huh?  I mean I could understand if the Leafs defense was this amazing top 6 that nobody could seem to crack.  They regularly lock down leads, win games 2-1 without the opposition getting a sniff of a scoring chance.  The way it's going you would think they might want to give someone else a look on the back end, just to see if there's ANY improvement.

Especially with 2 back-to-backs this week.  Maybe in both cases you play Marchenko-Marincin in one, and Polak-Hunwick in the other.  Or Polak-Marincin and Marincin-Marchenko.  Or whatever combination.  Keep guys fresh for the b2b.

 

[bustaheims]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

To be fair, due to the schedule, I believe he only just had his 2nd full practice with the team (or maybe his 3rd - either way, there haven't been many). It's entirely understandable that Babcock may not feel he's quite up to speed with the way the Leafs want him to play.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

To be fair, due to the schedule, I believe he only just had his 2nd full practice with the team (or maybe his 3rd - either way, there haven't been many). It's entirely understandable that Babcock may not feel he's quite up to speed with the way the Leafs want him to play.

He said exactly that shortly after picking him up.

 

[Zee]

I see Marchenko has filled in Corrado's spot quite nicely

To be fair, due to the schedule, I believe he only just had his 2nd full practice with the team (or maybe his 3rd - either way, there haven't been many). It's entirely understandable that Babcock may not feel he's quite up to speed with the way the Leafs want him to play.

I don't want to second guess Babs, but I don't think that Polak or Hunwick are entirely up to speed with how the Leafs want them to play either.

 

[disco]

3 pts back of Boston for third in Atlantic with 4 games in hand. Bruins have 7 days off. Time to get back where we belong starting tonight!

 

[CarltonTheBear]

To be fair, due to the schedule, I believe he only just had his 2nd full practice with the team (or maybe his 3rd - either way, there haven't been many). It's entirely understandable that Babcock may not feel he's quite up to speed with the way the Leafs want him to play.

Hockey players step right into new line ups mid-season all the time. Ben Smith was in Babcock's line-up the day after being claimed. Marchenko isn't in the line up because Babs still feels like Polak is the better option right now.

 

[herman]

Hockey players step right into new line ups mid-season all the time. Ben Smith was in Babcock's line-up the day after being claimed. Marchenko isn't in the line up because Babs still feels like Polak is the better option right now.

Gotta fatten up the trade bait.

 

[bustaheims]

Hockey players step right into new line ups mid-season all the time. Ben Smith was in Babcock's line-up the day after being claimed. Marchenko isn't in the line up because Babs still feels like Polak is the better option right now.

Hey, I know that, and you know that, and Babcock knows that, but . . . ummm . . . I forgot where I was going with this.

(Though, I'm willing to believe Babcock is giving more time here because A) Marchenko is a young defenceman, B) he was brought in to do more than win faceoffs of the PK, and C) Babcock hopes to have him on the team past this season.)

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

Didn't Marchenko play for Babcock in Detroit?

 

[bustaheims]

Didn't Marchenko play for Babcock in Detroit?

A grand total of 14 games, and that's over a year and a half ago. SO, technically, yes, but, not to the point where I'd say he's got the system down pat.

 

[Frank E]

Didn't Marchenko play for Babcock in Detroit?

A grand total of 14 games, and that's over a year and a half ago. SO, technically, yes, but, not to the point where I'd say he's got the system down pat.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but it's not like the Leafs are playing a great defensive system at this point with guys that have been there all year.

Throw him in there and see what he can get done.  It's not like they've got a super-set 6 guys that are all on the same page and getting it done.

 

[bustaheims]

Just playing devil's advocate here, but it's not like the Leafs are playing a great defensive system at this point with guys that have been there all year.

Throw him in there and see what he can get done.  It's not like they've got a super-set 6 guys that are all on the same page and getting it done.

Sure, but, if they think the kid has potential to be a longer term piece, is it really in their best interests to throw him into the lineup with a group that is already bad defensively, and risk putting him in position where he's seemingly making a bunch of mistakes because he's out of synch with his teammates? He's not going to have much of a positive impact on his own, but he could have a negative one if he and his teammates aren't on the same page.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

That was a fantastic individual effort to almost create a goal by Leivo there.

 

[herman]

Carrick got smoked three times in that shift and draws a powerplay for his troubles.