Puck Drop: 7pm
Game Thread Drop: 6:45pm
Broadcast: LeafsTV - Canada, NHL Network - USA
This is why I love the pre-season. There are games almost every night and new players to evaluate. Last night's game is still a blur, mostly because that's all that we saw of Viktor Stalberg, but Tyler Bozak's shorthanded goal has already whetted our appetite for more. Tonight, London, Ontario gets the honour of hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers. Not that it'll clean away the stain of housing the University of Western Ontario but if they give The Heroes the support they deserve it'll be a start.
There were four fights last night and if you think that there will not be more you'll be sorely mistaken. The Flyers are apparently very sure that there might be a donnybrook or two since they watched last night's game and have two eyes:
And if you think there's a chance this is going unnoticed by the Flyers, think again. Is there a reason Matt Clackson made this trip? Are you naive enough to think that it was just a coincidence last night when Riley Cote, Dan Carcillo, and Arron Asham all sat out last nights game in Detroit?
There are going to be fights tonight, and there are going to be lots of them. Get ready.
And who is lining up for the Leafs?
Offense: Niklas Hagman, Lee Stempniak, Christian Hanson, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Ben Ondrus, Jay Rosehill, Nikolai Kulemin, Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri, Viktor Stalberg, Rickard Wallin, Mikhail Grabovski
Defense: Luke Schenn, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Kaberle, Carl Gunnarsson, Andy Rogers, Jesse Blacker.
Goal: Joey MacDonald, James Reimer
Update: Courtesy of Leafies' Fanshot here are the guys the Flyers are trotting out:
Forwards: Matt Clackson, Mike Richards, Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk, Jeff Carter, Arron Asham, Dan Carcillo, Jon Kalinski, Darroll Powe, Riley Cote, Blair Betts, Mika Pyorala, Jared Ross.
Defensemen: Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Danny Syvret, Logan Stephenson, Ryan Parent, Oskars Bartulis, Joonas Lehtivuori.
Goalies: Johan Backlund, Brian Boucher.
I can't wait to see how the dance cards work out tonight. Memorial Cup Winner Jesse Blacker will get his first taste of the pre-season and I'm excited to see what he can do. Andy Rogers, who came over in the controversial Lightning trade last year, is also going to lace up as a Leaf for the first time. He's a former first round pick that has had a run of injury problems. Think of him as Mike Van Ryn minus the hype.
So who's taking the over on the number of fights? The line is set at 3.5.
Will you be taking the over or the under on number of fights?The line is 3.5
| Over | 133 |
| Under | 51 |
