A Few Questions and Concerns

 

Photo From Sportsnet

There’s quite a lot to talk about in this article so we’re just going to jump right into it. Yesterday afternoon the Maple Leafs announced that starting goalie Jack Campbell would miss two weeks with a rib injury. It is unclear when this injury happened, but I remember the other night against Seattle Campbell had made a save where although he finished the game he was hunched over and slow to get up afterward. So, with Campbell sidelined for at least the next six games in his morning availability coach Sheldon Keefe announced that these next few weeks are a great opportunity for Petr Mrazek to step up and perform for the Leafs. Keefe also announced that being called up on an emergency basis was Marlies goalie Erik Kallgren. Erik has posted some a strong record of 15 wins and 9 losses with one of those losses coming in overtime. With Mrazek handed an opportunity to start for the Leafs looking at the schedule the team thought playing Arizona would be a matchup in Mrazek’s favor, but then the game started.

 

The first period saw the Arizona Coyotes open the scoring just two minutes into the game and the goal came from a nothing play, Riley Nash literally walked over the Leaf blueline and lobbed a wrist shot on goal. Mrazek then lazily tried to knock the puck into the corner with his blocker, but the puck would end up bouncing down to the stick of Alex Galchenyuk who would score his 5^th goal of the season. Mrazek’s start would get worse because minutes later the Leafs would find themselves down 2-0. Phil Kessel and Jakob Chychrun would come into the Leaf zone on a two on one rush, Kessel would send the pass to Chychrun who would fan on his shot but because Mrazek was far too aggressive thinking Phil was going to shoot Mrazek looked like a fish out of water, but he would have a great look as the puck slowly slides over the goal line. The first period would end with Toronto trailing 2-0 and I am sure Leaf fans watching were thinking things couldn’t get any worse but sadly they did because one minute into the second period Travis Boyd would be credited with Arizona’s third goal of the night as a backhand shot by Clayton Keller would go pinballing all over the place before Boyd managed to bang in the loose puck. So, Toronto is now trailing 3-0 to the worst team in the Western Conference everyone at home watch on tv and those in attendance began wondering if we were going to see Kallgren come into the game? Toronto would calm the situation slightly as Pierre Engvall would get the Leafs on the board with his 10^th goal of the season, but the celebrating wouldn’t last long because Mrazek would give up a fourth goal as Christian Fischer would score his 5^th goal of the year after firing a wrist shot over the shoulder of Mrazek. Petr Mrazek would get pulled after this goal making just eight saves on twelve shots against and rookie netminder Erik Kallgren would be called in to try and stop the bleeding for Toronto. Kallgren would face a handful of shots in the back half of the second period and receive cheers from the Toronto fans as they prepared for the final twenty minutes hoping for a miracle comeback.

 

Toronto came out for the third period a completely different team, and honestly, I don’t think Arizona was ready for it. Three minutes into the third Toronto would get a much-needed early goal as Nylander and TJ Brodie would both pick up an assist on Alex Kerfoot’s 10^th goal of the year as his wrist shot into traffic would beat Arizona starter Scott Wedgewood over his glove hand shoulder. With Toronto now trailing by two they would now continue to climb their way back into this contest. After forcing a turnover Michael Bunting and Auston Matthews would come in on the attack, Bunting would send Matthews in on goal and Auston would slide the puck around a sprawled Wedgewood. There was no call on the ice by the official but after a long review from the video room upstairs Matthews would be credited with his with his 44^th goal of the season. I just want to mention that with Matthews leading the league in goals and him receiving a lot of buzz about being this years Hart Trophy winner thanks to another highly productive season, we should also keep an eye on the race for the Art Ross trophy because with his goal last night Auston Matthews is only 6 points from tying the leagues point leader Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers. With Toronto now trailing by one and the with the fans back on board the Leaf come back would be complete when just ten seconds later Alex Kerfoot would set up William Nylander who would score his 23^rd goal of the season and the Leafs managed to find themselves level in this game. Toronto would come close to gaining the lead in this game, but Scott Wedgewood would make some big saves and the game would remain tied as regulation expired giving the Leafs a very important point at least.

Here is where things get interesting because in the overtime the excitement would continue as early on the Coyotes would come in on an odd man rush, but Kallgren would make an unbelievable save that not only kept the overtime session going but sent the entire building to their feet because the rebound would send William Nylander all alone on a breakaway, but Wedgewood would make the save. The winning goal would come off the next faceoff as Arizona would score the game winner on a two on one that Chychrun would finish off. Here’s the thing the goal game because Chychrun was holding the stick of Auston Matthews keeping him from defending the Arizona attack. This infraction happened right in front of the official, but no arm went up. Earlier this season after a game against Winnipeg I wrote an article where I criticized the NHL’s officials, and in the last few days we fans have seen glaring examples of terrible officiating Wednesday night we saw Alex Ovechkin blatantly hook Oiler forward Zach Hyman right in front the referee with no call made and sure enough Ovechkin wound up scoring on that play. Then theirs is last night’s game where with 65 minutes played there was only one penalty was called, it was against Toronto for delay of game after a failed challenge on the second Arizona goal. There is no possible way anyone who watched that game last night can say that was officiated well, I am not just frustrated or complaining about the missed call on Matthews the entire game was bad for crying out loud Justin Holl cross checked a Coyote player that injured him with no call. Penalties for any team are frustrating but if they are called consistently and fairly fans wouldn’t complain. I know he will likely never see this, but I don’t give a damn what Gary Bettman says the officiating in his league is an absolute joke and its because of games like last night and the night before that the fans who have continued to buy tickets and watch games after numerous lockouts don’t take the league seriously. Fans know that despite what everyone running the league says we fans know that the four men in striped shirts decide the outcome of games. I say again all fans ask for is call the penalty when it happens regardless of the time in the game, whether its in the first period or overtime do your job and make the damn call when the infraction happens. What frustrated me even more was after the game on the postgame show when Anthony Stewart gave one of the worst takes, I have ever heard, and he proved that anyone can make money giving their opinion on the game of hockey. Stewart said and I quote “Auston Matthews has to skate through that play” and my response to that is, its very hard to skate through a play when your opponent is holding your stick and interfering with your ability to skate. If Anthony Stewart can make money with statements like the one made last night, it gives me hope that someone running a media outlet will see this blog and think “hey this guy is talking about hockey he must know what he’s talking about here’s a pay cheque.”

My question is too the National Hockey League, what needs to happen for the decision makers to decide the officiating issue needs to be addressed and fixed. Every other major league in North America holds their officials accountable for blatant mistakes but not Gary’s NHL no this league cries foul when a player or coach tells the truth and rips an official for a bad call the league fines the player or coach, but the referee gets away with it, he won’t get fined or suspended for screwing up he’ll just move onto the next game where he will likely do another terrible job. Untill something changes for the better the NHL will continue to struggle to attract knew audiences and will even continue to struggle longtime fans on board.

 

Another thing I noticed last night was that once Kallgren came into the game and started making saves you saw a different Leaf team. Now we have seen this team play long enough to know that Toronto likes to play a run and gun style and if the Leafs can use their offense to its full potential, they are a dangerous team that pile the goals on against their opponent. A lot of this has to do with the goalie, whether it’s Jack Campbell, Freddie Andersen, or Curtis Joseph in the early 2000s when the Leafs have a goalie they can rely on the entire team plays with much more confidence but when they play in front of a goalie that isn’t as strong someone like Michael Hutchinson in previous years or in this case Petr Mrazek I find that the Leafs play a fragile game then and they end up making mistakes because the team tries to do too much because they don’t know if Mrazek will make a save when it’s needed. There is no excuse for giving up four goals on twelve shots and last night isn’t a one off for Petr he has been inconsistent all season. Despite posting a 10-5 record the 3.8-million-dollar backup goalie as allowed four or more goals in 9 of his 17 appearances. With Campbell sidelined and Mrazek struggles continuing I ask do the Leafs need to shop for a goalie as the deadline approaches? The other day Kyle Dubas gave a press conference and in it he stated that the team is likely only going to make one move to improve their team and he said they would like the addition to come on defense but after last night I wonder if the Leafs front office considers moving on from Mrazek and bringing in a goalie that will compliment Jack Campbell. Recently Frank Seravalli said he believes that the Leafs and Marc Andre Fleury would be a fit. Don’t get me wrong I would love to have Fleury in the Leafs net who wouldn’t? He is no doubt a member of the hall of fame when he’s eligible he’s one multiple cups he would be a massive addition and boost for the Leafs in their push for a extended playoff run but I don’t think this will happen simply because I think Chicago’s asking price will be too high and we don’t even know if Fleury is willing to accept a move to Toronto, and that was also echoed by Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun on TSN’s Insiders segment, they stated that Toronto and Chicago have had conversations but the decision at the end of the day comes down to Fleury and neither insider believes Toronto is on his list of teams for a trade.

After the game last night Sheldon Keefe said he wanted to pull Mrazek from the game after the second goal but felt that wasn’t fair to the young call up. Once Kallgren came in he played well in the situation and helped the Leafs earn the important regulation point. With the Leafs next game coming Sunday in the Heritage Classic against Buffalo Elliott Friedman said he would start Kallgren because for the team’s confidence you need to get points and wins. Even though Kallgren had a solid debut stopping ten of eleven shots I think Keefe will once again go with Mrazek as the Leafs starter, but I hope he is on a short leash and if Mrazek lets in a few soft goals like he did last night then hopefully Erik Kallgren will come in, in relief.

 

That’s all for this one thanks as always for reading.