Islanders @ Leafs - Jan. 31st, 7:30pm - SN, TSN 1050

[ZBBM]

Nylander sure is good at celly jumping.  At least he didn't floor Dermott like he did Lundqvist.

 

[x.jr.benchwarmer]

Genuinely surprised that Babcock kept Komarov on the 4th line after they lost Hainsey. That would have given him a perfect excuse to move him back up since the forwards would have needed to take on more defensive responsibility. Obviously the right call was made and that makes me pretty optimistic that Babs has finally turned a corner there.

Also really happy to see Holl get called up. Even going back to his rookie season Marlies folks can't seem to stop gushing about his play. Nice to see he was finally rewarded.

What a terrific game that was to watch.  Both Holl and Dermott scoring is an incredibly uplifting story.

The Leafs with the younger players are a better team.  With Martin and Polak not playing, and Leo playing the 4th line, it seems that finally the consensus of the majority of fans was realized by a stubborn Babcock.  Hopefully the line-up will remain with the focus on the younger faster players, since Babcock's dogmatic focus on the slower veterans has simply not worked.

The Leafs will be even better once Reilly and Hainsey come back, so the next couple of months should be interesting.

 

[mr grieves]

Man, the Islanders look AHL-awful tonight.  Perfect timing for the diaper dandies to show their stuff.

They only had 5 regulation wins in the their last 27 games coming into tonight. They might as well be the 13/14 Leafs with a better 2nd line.

But how many regulation wins since they optimized their line-up, busta?

 

[hockeyfan1]

Entertaining win from fast, young, and refreshing line combos.  Congrats to Travis Dermott & Justin Holl on their scoring firsts.

 

[puckinthehead]

JVR got double shifted on that PP as many have suggested.

Make no mistake: Babcock lurks here.

That would be fair game, get your info. where you can. I'm pretty well a novice poster, but I see a many here that have high skill, deep details and good ideas.

 

[cabber24]

My favorite game in a long time! Amazing to watch those kids play. Couldn't of scripted a better game. Totally thrilled with our trajectory.

Maybe Babcock really is that good and that he intentionally reigned the kids in enough to build this hunger and once given the opportunity the kids are not letting go. I questioned his treatment of Reilly last year but it worked! I guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks.

Go Leafs Go!

 

[bustaheims]

Man, the Islanders look AHL-awful tonight.  Perfect timing for the diaper dandies to show their stuff.

They only had 5 regulation wins in the their last 27 games coming into tonight. They might as well be the 13/14 Leafs with a better 2nd line.

But how many regulation wins since they optimized their line-up, busta?

I honestly don't know what this means, but, not many?

 

[louisstamos]

2 things:

1) This is the first game of the season where every Leaf player has been in the blue.

2) Dermott 3.16 says I just whopped your ass!

 

[Zee]

I don't think I mentioned it last night, but that Dermott goal celebration, then the dad reaction and the crowd reaction was just insanely good.  What sport should be all about.  Almost got verklempt watching that.