Capitals @ Leafs - Nov. 25th. 7:00pm - CBC, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

@

13-10-1, 27 points | 15-8-1, 31 points

Projected Lines

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie Connolly-Eller-Smith Pelly Stephenson-Beagle-Chiasson Orpik-Carlson Orlov-Niskanen Chorney-Bowey Holtby ​

Hyman-Matthews-Marner Komarov-Kadri-Leivo JVR-Bozak-Nylander Martin-Marleau-Brown Rielly-Hainsey Gardiner-Zaitsev Borgman-Carrick McElhinney​

Scratches

Nathan Walker Aaron Ness ​

Dominic Moore Nikita Soshnikov Roman Polak​

Game Notes

WSH
?Holtby (12-5-0, 2.62 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Capitals
?The Capts are coming off a 3-1 win over Tampa last night where they did the unthinkable and held the Kucherov/Stamkos duo to only a single point. Back-up Philipp Grubauer got the start in that one
?After a disappointing 16/17 season where he only scored 33 goals, Ovi is back to doing what he does best and is 2nd in the league in goals with 15 in 24 games. Ovi recently went on a 6-game goalless drought but has goals in each of his past 2 now. As we all probably already know, Ovechkin loves scoring against the Leafs: he has 33 goals and 60 points in 43 career games against Toronto

TOR
?McElhinney (2-1-0, 3.05 GAA, .910 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?Taking a bit of a guess with the line-up. Babs said even before the Carolina game that Martin would be playing tonight. With Leivo scoring and Soshnikov having a pretty rough game I'm going to guess Sosh sits
?Kadri will look to extend his current point streak to 10 games tonight. He has 5 goals and 5 assists in his past 9 games
Injuries

?Christian Djoos - Upper Body - Injured Reserve ?Andre Burakovsky - Thumb - Injured Reserve​

?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely ?Joffrey Lupul - Actually Injured - Out indefinitely​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/934445139162009600

Ok...

 

[Frank E]

Well, Leivo is used to this, I guess, and signed another contract after being on this roller coaster forever...but it's kind of nuts that he's not playing since he did bring some offense last night.

 

[ZBBM]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/934445139162009600

Ok...

I think the theory is to eke out a moral victory by laying a beatdown on the Caps en route to their 7-1 win.  Pooty's boy with the quadtrick.

 

[cujo4ever]

Seems crazy that Leivo would be out after that beauty goal last night.

Oh well...

GO LEAFS GO!

 

[Bender]

This makes absolutely no sense. He's clearly giving the vets a shot who haven't earned it. Shove off and make room for younger, cheaper, better and more useful players.

 

[disco]

itsgamedayyeahhhhboyyyyeeethxctb

 

[L K]

Babcock is proving to be an idiot at times. The Leivo screw job is getting annoying.  Babcock needs to shut up about players making the most of opportunities.

 

[azzurri63]

This makes absolutely no sense. He's clearly giving the vets a shot who haven't earned it. Shove off and make room for younger, cheaper, better and more useful players.

Babcock and his favouritism.

 

[azzurri63]

Babcock is proving to be an idiot at times. The Leivo screw job is getting annoying.  Babcock needs to shut up about players making the most of opportunities.

I'm starting to get tired listening to him after most games same repetitive crap. Last night again with the slow start s**t. We'll fix it he said. How long does it take Mike to get your players coming out with some energy? If it wasn't for Andersen the last month we would be a .500 hockey team and yes I know he sucked a** for the first month but the way the teams played from October to November is night and day.

 

[Frank E]

This makes absolutely no sense. He's clearly giving the vets a shot who haven't earned it. Shove off and make room for younger, cheaper, better and more useful players.

Well, there's an effect to this too.  If you want the players to sign long term deals, you can't create too much of a "play well last game, play the next game" rule because that may create too little job security for them.

There has to be a bit of a balance here...but the Leivo thing is just ridiculous. 

 

[L K]

This makes absolutely no sense. He's clearly giving the vets a shot who haven't earned it. Shove off and make room for younger, cheaper, better and more useful players.

Well, there's an effect to this too.  If you want the players to sign long term deals, you can't create too much of a "play well last game, play the next game" rule because that may create too little job security for them.

There has to be a bit of a balance here...but the Leivo thing is just ridiculous.

I think this is fair.  You can?t just dump guys after 1 bad game or bank on a good start to guaranteed ice time but as you said with Leivo it?s gone well beyond 1-game and for a guy like Martin he?s had 100 games with the team.

 

[bustaheims]

So, we're back to that Borgman-Polak pairing tonight - because it worked so well when they tried before. Ugh.

Actually, looks like we're basically back to business as usual:

jonassiegel: Lineup changes for the Leafs: Marner back with van Riemsdyk/Bozak; Nylander with Hyman/Matthews; Marleau back to wing:

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Komarov
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner
Martin-Moore-Brown

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Borgman-Polak

McElhinney starts.

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/934569442268233728
MATTHEWS

 

[lc9]

It makes no sense to put Matt Martin back into the lineup and Leivo out.  Why does babcock hate Leivo so much? 

Babcock often time ices the worst possible lineup combinations possible based on available players.  He continues to tie one hand behind Matthews back by continuing to saddle him with Hyman.  I just don't get it.  Be better. 

 

[lc9]

The weirdest thing with Martin; I watched 95% of the games Babcock coached the Red Wings.  They never iced a player like him.  Always went with guys that could skate.  Martin has a real tough time skating, he can't sharply turn, he has trouble starting his motion; he is an ankle bender.  Then Mike comes over to the leafs and insists on playing a guy that can't skate or stick handle.  It confuses the heck out of me. 

 

[herman]

TeamAnalytics last night had a shot. Didn?t play great, and had to eke out a win on goaltending. TeamOldSchool gets the call tonight to reassert their place on the team, if they can.

 

[lc9]

Orlov with two straight cross checks to Matthews, no call.  Leafs get cross checked rather often, without a call. 

 

[lc9]

Nylander got faked out twice on the PP here.  Had the puck on the half boards with Komarov in front.  Looked like he could feed Leo, but the D was just baiting him. Both times it got broke up and cleared.  Have to recognize after the first time that you need to move the puck otherwise.

Marner still refuses to shoot.

 

[ZBBM]

Man, did Ovie whip that.