Leafs Panthers. Praying it wouldn’t be a repeat of December. PRAYING.
First Period
The Leafs get pounced on early. Jake Gardiner is caught on the Florida blueline and Nazem Kadri delivers a lackluster backcheck leaving Nick Bjugstad in alone on Bernier. 1-0 Panthers
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Leafs got into penalty trouble. One was undeserving, Gleason shouldn’t have gotten a penalty, but the other one didn’t need to happen. Thankfully, the Panthers have the WORST PP in the league.
There’s still this thing called 5 on 5, though which Cody Franson apparently forgot about. A brutal giveaway leads to a short 2 on 1, which leads to a goal, which leads to me swearing.
Franson atones for his sin though, with about three minutes left. He rips a shot from the point past a screened Clemmensen. 2-1 Leafs
Not the best period the Leafs played this season
The period ended 2-1. Shots were 11-9 Panthers.
Second Period
Things changed quickly. Mason Raymondbroke in alone and ripped a shot past Clemmensen 27 seconds into the second. 2-2 L….BUTWAIT THERES MORE. Scott Gomez takes a high sticking penalty and JVR tips in the first shot of the PP. 3-2 Leafs less than a minute into the second.
*Gasp* Okay. There was no more scoring in the second. The Leafs play was improved over the first, but there were still some shoddy moments in there. Hemmed in their own end a few more times than I would like, but overall, minimal complaints.
The period ends 3-2. Shots were 15-12 Panthers, 26-21 overall.
Third Period
Leaf Dominance! Four minutes, Nik Kulemin unleashes that Russian Laserbeam he has equipped into his hands leaving Clemmensen in the wake 4-2 Leafs.
Two minutes later, Joffrey Lupul takes the feed from Kadri and BLASTS it past Clemmensen, getting the monkey off his back, making it 5-2 Leafs.
Dimitri Kulikov brought the lead down to two, but Tyler Bozak scores off the rush with under two to go to cap this one off at 6-3 Leafs.
The game ends 6-3. Shots were 12-11 Panthers, 38-32 Florida overall.
Your Three Stars were Nazem Kadri, JVR, and Tim Gleason
Glove Taps
Glove Tap to Tim Gleason again, blocking shots like a machine.
Glove Tap to Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly for showing off some slick hands near the end of 2nd.
Glove Tap to Lupul for getting that monkey off his back.
Player of the Game
The Stars of the Game have it. Kadri again. He started off with goat-like play in the first few minutes, but he moved on, assisting on the Leafs first goal and on the two insurance markers in the third. 60% from the faceoff circle, 52.9% FF%, +1 on the night, and he got it all done in just under 13 minutes of ice time. GIVE HIM MORE ICE TIME RANDY.
Final Thoughts
Man oh man, this started off bad. I cursed the TV out pretty hard after that second goal, but the Leafs surprised me. They showed poise and skill and came out firing in the second, and then came out firing again in the third. And furthermore, as tweeted by ExtraSkater.com’s Twitter account, the Leafs were 45% CF when they had the lead tonight. That’s up from their usual 39%. The turtling disappeared for the most part tonight, and that’s a big step forward. The third period has been terrible for the Leafs this season, they’re last in goals allowed in the third, but the elimination of the turtle can help that stat a lot. Better, smarter defence leads to wins, wins in regulation at that, and into the home stretch of this season, that’s what they need. I thought I was going to be sour after this one. I was pleasantly surprised.
Ottawa’s up on Saturday folks. CBC. OHhhh baby.
Frank on Sports 