Florida Panthers @ Toronto Maple Leafs

Air Canada Centre; Toronto, ON

7:00 p.m.; TSN4: THE QUATTRO

SBN West Point Grads: Litter Box Cats

The Leafs

*extremely serious TV announcer voice* PREVIOUSLY ON...TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS.

  • Auston Matthews scores goals.
  • William Nylander also scores goals.
  • Auston Matthews scores more goals.
  • Some other people score some goals.
  • The Leafs lead after two periods in 5 of 6 games.
  • Footage of Matt Hunwick......doing something. I'm not exactly sure what, though. He nominally plays defense. Having said that, you know in the EA Sports games when you slide the momentum way down on one team, and the players on that team look like they have cement skates and fall over simply trying to make a stride? That's more or less how Matt Hunwick plays hockey.
  • Good players on other teams are inexplicably left wide open to catch rebounds and do what good players do, which is score goals.
  • Frederik Andersen either forgot how to goaltend or is being usurped by some Leafs jedi mind trick; either way, his goaltending style has become about as aggressive as an egg avatar on Twitter.
  • Despite having a lead in 5 of 6 games, the Leafs have also lost 5 of 6 games. Andersen has an .850 SV%, which despite my firm insistence it's unsustainable and he'll pick it up eventually......still really, really sucks.
Most recently, the Leafs played the Tampa Bay Lightning in an extremely "Tuesday night home against the Southeast" game, where they......you know what? You know what happens. You don't want to see this. You don't need to see this. Just know Auston Matthews scored yet another goal because he is amazing and just plain better at life than everyone combined. Instead of dwelling on that game, here's David Pumpkins.



See, now wasn't that more fun than remembering a rebuilding team got the stuffing beaten out of it by a legitimate Cup contender? I think so.


So far, the Leafs have been what we thought they were, which is to say a bad, but fun team with a lot of good spots. There's gonna be a lot of ugly nights, but there will be fun ones, too. We might even win some of those fun games eventually!


Some minor roster tinkering to report: Seth Griffith will make his debut with the Leafs after being claimed on waivers from the Boston Bruins on October 11; Peter Holland is likely to sit in his place. While James van Riemsdyk did not practice Wednesday, it is likely that was simply a maintenance day as he is expected to play.


The Other Guys

The Panthers, fresh off an Atlantic Division title, were expected to be a contender and one of the top teams in the division. It's only been six games, but it has been a bit of a slow start, going 3-2-1 and dropping three of their last four. To be fair, all three of their losses have come to contending teams (Penguins, Capitals, and Lightning in a shootout). They've beaten the teams you would expect them to beat, which probably doesn't bode well for the Leafs.

Take a guess without looking at who is their leading scorer. Ekblad? Nope. Barkov? Nah. Jagr? Uh uh. The correct answer is Jonathan Marchessault, who moved a short drive down Highway 41 in Florida after the Lightning no longer wanted him. Another surprising name atop the Cats' scoring list is Michael Matheson; the rookie has 2 goals and 4 points in 6 games. Granted, he's no Auston Matthews, but that's still pretty good.

I should also mention that the Panthers roster has a player unforgettable to most Leaf fans. An old friend of ours...

No; not that one! This one:

Yes, James Reimer will return to Toronto for the first time since being traded from the organization in February. He won't play, however; coach Gerard Gallant confirmed they will start Roberto Luongo. Still, it will be interesting to see how Leaf fans will treat him (hopefully well, or I will find you and I will give the Jehovah's Witnesses your home address). He deserves some kind of crowd acknowledgement for...y'know, dragging the Leafs kicking and screaming into the playoffs that one time.

Prediction

Auston Matthews scores again, but it still isn't enough; Leafs lose 4-3 to a pretty good Panthers team. Florida gets goals from Greg McKegg (thus satisfying the ex-Leaf goal quota) and Reilly Smith (thus satisfying the GTA boy goal quota).

Any questions?

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