Leafs Fall in Overtime and JT Miller A Leaf?

 

photo from CBC

After coming of an embarrassing loss in Montreal the Leafs traveled to Columbus to battle the Blue Jackets last night. Jack Campbell would get the start in goal and making his Leafs debut was newly acquired defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin taking the spot of Justin Holl on the blue line. This game started favorable for the Leafs because unlike the night before where Montreal was able to constantly walk in with scoring chance after scoring chance Toronto managed to keep Columbus away from the slot meaning that when Jack Campbell would face a shot it would come from a low scoring area giving a better opportunity to make the save. The Blue Jackets would start J-F Berube who is quite low on their goalie depth chart, but he played well all game because Toronto would outwork their opponent for most of the game, but Berube would go on and make some big saves to keep his team in the game. Midway through the first the Leafs would open the scoring. Columbus would turn the puck over in the slot, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews would then pull off a give and go play. Marner would be tripped up but as he was falling to the ice, he threw the puck on goal and Michael Bunting would deflect the puck into the net for his 17^th of the season and he continues to lead rookies in goals. The Leafs would head into the first intermission with the 1-0 lead.

 

Within the first five minutes of period two Columbus would tie the game at ones when Mitch Marner would turn the puck over at the Jackets blueline and because Morgan Rielly jumped up in the play Columbus would head back on an odd man rush with Patrick Laine carrying the puck and as everyone knows when he’s in possession he is always dangerous and this opportunity was no different as Laine would send a wrist shot off the post beating Campbell glove side giving Laine his 17^th goal of the season. Despite giving up the lead Toronto would get back to work searching for the go-ahead goal and late in the second Toronto would regain the lead. Michael Bunting would dump the puck into the zone as David Kampf would chase after the puck and then throw it in front to Matthews who would score on the backhand giving him 34 goals this season as he continues to chase the league in goals. Matthews’s goal would give the Leafs the 2-1 lead once again, and they would be twenty minutes away from ending this little losing streak.

Unfortunately, the third period would be a frustrating one for Toronto as Columbus would score the first two goals of the frame. The first Columbus goal would come just one minute into the period when Adam Boqvist would skate end to end and beat Campbell on a goal that he surely wanted back. However, on this goal I would look at the play of Travis Dermott, as Boqvist entered the zone Dermott kept moving back doing this gave the shooter enough space to not only get the shot off but also use Dermott as a screen against Campbell. All Travis needed to do was step up on the man this would have taken away the time and space and who knows a shot could have bounced off the shin pad of Travis Dermott leading to a potential counterattack. Just six minutes later the Leafs would find themselves trailing for the first time in the game. With the puck in the Jackets zone Engvall would cycle the puck back to the point where Lyubushkin was waiting sadly the puck would bounce over his stick and he would lose the foot race with Brandan Gaunce who would beat Jack Campbell for his third goal of the season sliding the puck through the pads of as Jack’s five hole was wide open.

I’m going to take a few minutes to address something that I noticed after the game. I saw a lot of fans absolutely destroy Lyubushkin for this goal again I understand everyone is entitled to their own opinion but as I said in a previous article there are times where I can’t stand being a fan. To dump on Lyubushkin is completely unfair for one simple reason, he hadn’t even practiced with his new team. He Traveled to Columbus on Monday and met his new teammates Tuesday morning and said he was ready to play that night. He hasn’t had any time too learn an entirely new system or even begin to develop any chemistry with his new teammates. For the most part in his fifteen minutes of ice time I thought he played a decent game he threw a nice hit early on and there were many times when in his own end he would make the simple play and relieve any pressure the Leafs may have been facing. Again, I completely understand losing games is frustrating but blaming the newest player in his first game is completely unfair.

With the Leafs trailing thanks to the Gaunce goal they would begin to press for an equalizer, but Berube was great in goal for Columbus and made several important saves for his team. As time was expiring and the Leafs battling the clock Sheldon Keefe would take a big risk by pulling his goalie with over two minutes remaining. The Leafs would have the puck in the Columbus zone applying all kinds of pressure. Rielly would keep the puck in the attacking zone Matthews would fire a shot that was stopped but Tavares would have an attempt that was stopped and with a crowd in front Jason Spezza would have the puck go off his skate and in. There would be a review, but officials determined it was a good goal and Spezza’s 10^th goal of the season would tie the game giving his team a chance to win this game in the overtime session as regulation would expire.

Although the Leafs showed a great effort and a massive amount of character in getting this game to overtime picking up at least one point the over time would last just twenty seconds and once again Patrick Laine would end this game with his wrist shot finding the top of the Leaf net. Columbus would go on to win this game by a score of 4-3 and with the cannon going off four times last night I remembered how much I hated that thing. Even though Toronto lost this game there were a lot of positives to take from it. The team gave a strong effort they worked hard to tie the game and John Tavares although his frustration is beginning to mount as his goalless streak continues he is still getting chances he had a number of shot attempts that were off just slightly but those chances will go in and I guarantee he is very close to breaking out of the slump he is in also note that he picked up an assist in last nights game giving him 47 points in 49 games this season so although he isn’t scoring right now he is still producing in other ways, he has 30 assists on the season which means he has helped 30 teammates score goals so if anyone wants to criticize him and his production just know there are 32 General Managers who would love to have John Tavares in their locker room. The Leafs who sit two points out of second in the division will be in action once again Thursday night when they host Cam Talbot and the Minnesota Wild.

Photo From Vancouver Is Awesome

I am sure you’re all aware of this, but Jake Muzzin is in concussion protocol and out indefinitely it is believed that he will end up on long term injury reserve giving the Leafs approximately six million dollars in cap space. In the second intermission Elliott Friedman believes that Vancouver’s JT Miller is a potential target. Miller comes with a cap hit of 5.25 million dollars and is under contract untill 2023. Miller has 53 points in 50 games so clearly, he produces consistently. He also has size as he stands at over six feet tall. He can play physical as well so there could be a fit in Toronto. The issue is he is a Left Winger that can also play center which would mean Dubas would have to move a forward out. I would assume Alex Kerfoot would be the forward that would be exiting. On TSN’s Insider segment Daren Dredger said the Leafs would hope to add a forward and a defenseman, if Muzzin is on LTIR the Leafs would have around 5.8 million dollars and if they moved Kerfoot they would have 9.3 million in space now Miller comes in that would leave Dubas with 4.1 million left to spend. TSN mentioned that Anaheim’s Hampus Lindholm is a Leaf target for a blueline addition. Lindholm is on a deal that expires at the end of this season so it would be a clear rental, but he has a cap hit of 5.25 million and the Leafs would need to move a defenseman. Financially moving Justin Holl would free up another 2 million dollars in space giving Toronto just enough space to make this work under the cap. Lindholm has twenty points so far this year. He shoots left but weighs over 200 pounds and stands at 6 foot 3 so again he’s a player that can help produce on offense occasionally but will also provide a boost for the Leafs in their own end which as we have seen the Maple Leafs are in clear need of an upgrade. By no means am I saying that these two players are 100% going to become members of the Leafs by the deadline but in recent trade rumors surrounding the Leafs Friedman has hit on them. A few years ago, he said the Leafs were in search of a goalie and suggested Jack Campbell and after a Michael Hutchinson loss to the Rangers after the game Campbell was traded to Toronto and of course last week against the Blues he reported that the Leafs were close on a deal with Arizona and that turned into Ritchie for Lyubushkin so who knows there could be some traction with these rumors.

Photo From Sportsnet

Now as I was writing this the Maple Leafs released a statement with some heart-breaking news. Kyle Dubas announced that 2020 Leaf draft pick Rodion Amirov has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. There weren’t many details given but what was shared was that Amirov who plays for Salavat Ufa in the KHL suffered an injury to start the season and during the recovery for said injury some new symptoms showed up meaning further testing was needed and doctors discovered the tumor. So Rodion will obviously miss the remainder of the season because health is more important than hockey and is now in Germany receiving the best care possible. The Leafs closed the statement saying that out of respect for Amirov and his family they will have no further comment. There was a little bit of positive news to come out of this announcement and it came from his agent who said that Rodion Amirov has continued skating while undergoing treatment and will trust the care of his doctors and remain positive.

One thing is for sure the hockey world joins Amirov and his family in wishing him a full recovery during this difficult time. Thanks as always for reading.