Toronto Maple Leafs: Expect Some Ongoing Juggling
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be doing some more internal juggling.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs offense is of no concern (15 goals in two games), their defense is, seeing as though they were able to allow the New York Rangers to get their footing in the game.
The Leafs still got the win and two points, but it just goes to show that defense is the foundation to winning hockey games.
For the most part that’s true, but if your team can pile up the goals, then it’s not 100% accurate.
The only caveat here is that momentum plays a major role in scoring and if the opposing team is able to poke holes here and there, momentum will shift and the scoring switches sides.
That’s exactly what happened Saturday night.
Luckily, Mike Babcock isn’t satisfied with just scraping by with a win like that, so he’s still shuffling the lines around a little, which is good.
It shows that nobody’s job is safe, making everyone cautious of the internal competition.
Juggling
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Having a coach that’s not afraid to pull the trigger on roster moves is nice because it shows he’s always willing to do whatever it takes to win a well-played game.
And that’s what he wants, a well-played game that’s defensively sound.
For tonight’s tilt against the Chicago Blackhawks (who have also scored 15 goals in two games, but only have two goals against – the Leafs have five), Eric Fehr will replace Dominic Moore and it appears that Andreas Borgman will also suit up.
Connor Carrick missed Sunday’s practice with an undisclosed illness, so Borgman will slide into the bottom left side and Calle Rosen over to the right.
The Swedes are coming, folks.
I’m of the opinion that Fehr earned his spot in the lineup from preseason play and even more so with his regular season debut in Winnipeg.
He had quite the strong showing, especially on the penalty kill, but don’t think I’m knocking Moore who had a decent regular season opening, I just think Fehr’s proven a little more.
No pun intended.
The last topic of conversation I’ll bring up in this article is in regards to the James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Mitchell Marner line, who were on the ice for all three-second period goals against the Rangers.
That line is a defensive nightmare, but an offensive dynamo.
There, that’s all I’m going to say on that, for now.