Panthers @ Leafs - Mar. 28th, 7:30pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

@

33-31-11, 77 points | 35-24-15, 85 points

Projected Lines

Huberdeau-Barkov-Jagr Jokinen-Trocheck-Smith Vanek-Bjugstad-Marchessault Sceviour-MacKenzie-Thornton Yandle-Demers Matheson-Petrovic Kindl-Pysyk Berra ​

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander Komarov-Kadri-Brown JVR-Bozak-Marner Martin-Boyle-Kapanen Gardiner-Zaitsev Rielly-Carrick Hunwick-Polak McElhinney​

Scratches

Michael Sgarbossa Aaron Ekblad Roberto Luongo ​

Martin Marincin Alexey Marchenko Ben Smith Josh Leivo Nikita Soshnikov​

Game Notes

FLA
?Reto Berra (0-1-0, 2.24 GAA, .907 Sv%) will likely start for the Panthers
?The Panthers lost to Buffalo last night by a score of 4-2. Reimer was pulled in the 2nd after giving up 4 goals on 22 shots
?Roberto Luongo is nearing a return to the line-up after being out since the beginning of March and could be the surprise starter
?On March 11th, Aaron Ekblad suffered his 3rd concussion in the past 14 months, and 4th concussion of his young hockey career. He was medically cleared to play in just 10 days, and the Panthers threw him back into the line-up as they were chasing a playoff spot. He played just 1 game and is now out of the line-up again with a "sore neck" and "headaches" which the team SWEARS isn't related to his concussion issues at all

TOR
?McElhinney (6-6-2, 2.61 GAA, .921 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
?Polak will return from his 2-game suspension
?Kasperi Kapanen will make his Leafs season debut playing on the 4th line. He has 43 points in 43 games in the AHL this season
Injuries

?Denis Malgin - Concussion - Questionable Tuesday ?Roberto Luongo - Lower Body - Questionable Tuesday ?Aaron Ekblad - "Not" Concussion - Week to week​

?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely ?Joffrey Lupul - ?\_(?)_/? - Out indefinitely ?Stephane Robidas - Old - Out indefinitely ?Eric Fehr - Hand - Out indefinitely ?Nikita Soshnikov - Undisclosed - Day to day ?Josh Leivo - Undisclosed - Day to day ?Frederik Andersen - Undisclosed - Day to day​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[Zee]

Humongous gigantic game that needs a win!

 

[Redleaf]

With the 7-2 drubbing from the Panthers still fresh in their minds, I hope they respond appropriately tonight!

 

[gunnar36]

Looking forward to watching Kapanen skate on 4th line. Hopefully we never have to watch Ben Smith take another shift.

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/HennyTweets/status/846706089404063744

 

[disco]

?On March 11th, Aaron Ekblad suffered his 3rd concussion in the past 14 months, and 4th concussion of his young hockey career. He was medically cleared to play in just 10 days, and the Panthers threw him back into the line-up as they were chasing a playoff spot. He played just 1 game and is now out of the line-up again with a "sore neck" and "headaches" which the team SWEARS isn't related to his concussion issues at all

... poor Ekblad. That's just piss-poor management. When he's got a history like that you do a Crosby. Shut him down for a year. But eeeeveryone wants to keep their jobs so you put him back out there. Now his career's in jeopardy. They're one of the lucky ones and draft a number one defense-man and treat him THAT way? Man, I'm so glad we're a model franchise now. That kind of thing happens to Marnthewders, they wouldn't be back for a long, long while.

 

[Redleaf]

https://twitter.com/HennyTweets/status/846706089404063744

Hendricks is so smart. Yeah when you have 4 guys in their late teens. early twenties, and you average their ages you'll get ...surprise...20.5. That's some good math there Paul! They're young. I think most of us get that.

 

[Kaberle15]

I'm expecting nothing less than a revenge from that 7-2 fiasco.

Go Leafs Go!

 

[Crucialness Key]

https://twitter.com/HennyTweets/status/846706089404063744

Hendricks is so smart. Yeah when you have 4 guys in their late teens. early twenties, and you average their ages you'll get ...surprise...20.5. That's some good math there Paul! They're young. I think most of us get that.

The way he wrote it, it kind of sounds like the average age of each of our 4 wingers is 20.5, somehow.  Like Connor Brown is 20.5 years old (on average).

 

[Redleaf]

https://twitter.com/HennyTweets/status/846706089404063744

Hendricks is so smart. Yeah when you have 4 guys in their late teens. early twenties, and you average their ages you'll get ...surprise...20.5. That's some good math there Paul! They're young. I think most of us get that.

The way he wrote it, it kind of sounds like the average age of each of our 4 wingers is 20.5, somehow.  Like Connor Brown is 20.5 years old (on average).

I remember when Sundin used to roll his eyes in some of his interviews with this guy.  : just some embarrassingly stupid questions.

 

[Bender]

Were unusually snippy today lol. I think most people understood what he meant.

 

[Zee]

I'm expecting nothing less than a revenge from that 7-2 fiasco.

Go Leafs Go!

I hope so.  Tonight is guaranteed win night in my books, if the Leafs can't beat this team on a back to back, big issues may be in store the rest of the way.

 

[herman]

Doop de doop: Just trying some configs out. Seems like we have a lot more flexibility without Martin.

Same as now, but better?
Komarov - Kadri - Brown
JvR - Bozak - Marner
Nylander - Matthews - Kapanen
Hyman - Boyle - Leivo

Traditional
Drivers: Matthews - Kadri - Marner
Sniiiiipe: JvR - Nylander - Kapanen
Alright: Leivo - Bozak - Brown
Hits: Komarov - Boyle - Hyman

Could be FUN
Highlights: Nylander - Matthews - Marner
Annoying: Komarov - Kadri - Soshnikov
What's Defense?: JvR - Bozak - Brown
Coarse Grit Finnish: Hyman - Boyle - Kapanen

Not-Too-Distant Future (maybe)
Rychel - Matthews - Marner
Leipsic - Kadri - Griffith
Timashov - Nylander - Kapanen
Soshnikov/Leivo - Brooks - Hyman

 

[crazyperfectdevil]

Were unusually snippy today lol. I think most people understood what he meant.

it's the playoff race..we're all on edge.

 

[disco]

Doop de doop: Just trying some configs out. Seems like we have a lot more flexibility without Martin.

Same as now, but better?
Komarov - Kadri - Brown
JvR - Bozak - Marner
Nylander - Matthews - Kapanen
Hyman - Boyle - Leivo

Traditional
Drivers: Matthews - Kadri - Marner
Sniiiiipe: JvR - Nylander - Kapanen
Alright: Leivo - Bozak - Brown
Hits: Komarov - Boyle - Hyman

Could be FUN
Highlights: Nylander - Matthews - Marner
Annoying: Komarov - Kadri - Soshnikov
What's Defense?: JvR - Bozak - Brown
Coarse Grit Finnish: Hyman - Boyle - Kapanen

Not-Too-Distant Future (maybe)
Rychel - Matthews - Marner
Leipsic - Kadri - Griffith
Timashov - Nylander - Kapanen
Soshnikov/Leivo - Brooks - Hyman

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/846405008434368513

 

[Zee]

I hope Kapanen can be as impactful as the 3 rookies of legend from this season.  A future of Matthews-Marner, Nylander-Kapanen as the top 2 lines could be an offensive dynamo.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Doop de doop: Just trying some configs out. Seems like we have a lot more flexibility without Martin.

Not-Too-Distant Future (maybe)
Rychel - Matthews - Marner
Leipsic - Kadri - Griffith
Timashov - Nylander - Kapanen
Soshnikov/Leivo - Brooks - Hyman

BARF! 

Seriously though, you left Brown off the future roster and put Rychel, Leipsic, and Griffith on it when they are all about the same age and worse?  Also, Soshnikov and Leivo are about the same age as those guys and are better too.  They shouldn't be 12th/13th forwards.

Using just those names above (and adding Brown):

Leivo - Matthews - Marner
Hyman - Kadri - Brown
Soshnikov - Nylander - Kapanen
Rychel - Brooks - Griffith 

And I don't think we'd do much better with that lineup than we are right now.  Probably worse.  It's not that exciting.

 

[herman]

Oh hey, that's who I forgot.

Leivo - Matthews - Marner
Hyman - Kadri - Brown
Soshnikov - Nylander - Kapanen
Rychel - Brooks - Griffith 

With my original unintentionally sans-Brown lineup, I was thinking something along the lines of Marner's London Knights line. Big C with wheels and a nose for the net + snipe potential, and a big angry-crashy LW with hands, which is why I went with Rychel. Leivo is not a bad option, but I don't know about his speed there. I completely forgot about Korshkov/Grundstrom/Dzierkals/Aaltonen as potential LWers in 2-3 years.

 

[disco]

Go Leafs, and Nashville Go!

 

[Al14]

Go Leafs, and Nashville Go!

Bruins up 2-0... Thanks Nashville!