Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs - Mar. 9th, 7:00pm - SN, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

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Montreal Canadiens
24-29-10, 58 points​

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Toronto Maple Leafs
36-19-8, 80 points​

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[td]Projected
Lineups[/td]
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[td]Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky
Roy-Newhook-Armia
Gallagher-Evans-Anderson
Pearson-Harvey?Pinard-Ylonen

Matheson-Guhle
Xhekaj-Savard
Struble-Harris

Montembeault[/td]
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[td]Knies-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Domi-Nylander
McMann-Tavares-Jarnkrok
Gregor-Kampf-Reaves

Rielly-Lyubushkin
Brodie-McCabe
Edmundson-Liljegren

Samsonov[/td]
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[td]Scratches[/td]
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Michael Pezzetta
Johnathan Kovacevic[/td]
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Connor Dewar
Pontus Holmberg
Simon Benoit
Martin Jones[/td]
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[td]Injuries[/td]
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?Colin White - Upper Body - Injured Reserve
?Chris Wideman - Back - Injured Reserve
?Christian Dvorak - Pectoral - Injured Reserve
?Kirby Dach - Knee - Injured Reserve[/td]
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?Mark Giordano - Concussion - Injured Reserve
?Connor Timmins - Mononucleosis - Injured Reserve
?John Klingberg - Lower Body - Injured Reserve[/td]
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[td]Game notes[/td]
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MTL
?Sam Montembeault (13-11-5, 3.14 GAA, .905 Sv%) will likely start for the Canadiens
?Montreal made just one move at the trade deadline, moving out goalie Jake Allen to New Jersey for a draft pick. That leaves the net to 27-year old Samuel Montembeault and 24-year old Cayden Primeau
?This will be just the 2nd match-up between Montreal and Toronto this season, and the 1st since the opening night game that saw Toronto win 6-5 in the shootout

TOR
?Ilya Samsonov (16-5-6, 3.14 GAA, .885 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?Knies of course left the game on Thursday with an injury but Treliving said that he's expected to be fine to play against Montreal
?Toronto's awaiting the debut of their two newest players in Edmundson and Dewar. Of the two Edmundson seems more likely to play Saturday since he joined the team on Thursday. What the defence looks like with him and who comes out is undetermined, but I think my guess is likely what we see at the start

	Streams
	OnHockey NHL Webcast

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[ZBBM]

Why is Holmberg getting scratched in favor of Gregor?  Keefe really is an idiot sometimes.

 

[herman]

Why is Holmberg getting scratched in favor of Gregor?  Keefe really is an idiot sometimes.

Holmberg had some missed assignments lately, so he will likely be scratched for Dewar, until Reaves falters. Gregor is just a body at this point.

It?s all prep for the playoffs anyway, where rookies are generally not quite welcome, especially in the bottom of the lineup.

We?re likely to see Liljegren and Holmberg and Robertson in the same boat (popcorn duty) until injuries or performance force the coaching staff?s hands. Knies is an outlier here given his previous playoff experience + lack of substitute. Boston/Florida are not exactly good matchups for their respective areas for improvement.

 

[ZBBM]

Why is Holmberg getting scratched in favor of Gregor?  Keefe really is an idiot sometimes.

Holmberg had some missed assignments lately, so he will likely be scratched for Dewar, until Reaves falters. Gregor is just a body at this point.

It?s all prep for the playoffs anyway, where rookies are generally not quite welcome, especially in the bottom of the lineup.

We?re likely to see Liljegren and Holmberg and Robertson in the same boat (popcorn duty) until injuries or performance force the coaching staff?s hands. Knies is an outlier here given his previous playoff experience + lack of substitute. Boston/Florida are not exactly good matchups for their respective areas for improvement.

I appreciate the explainer.  Still, Holmberg > Gregor.  In every way.  You put your best players on the ice.

Knies makes all kinds of mistakes yet they keep rolling him out on L1.  Holmberg ought to get the same consideration.

And if Keefe isn't going to play Liljegren in the playoffs, then Keefe needs to go.

 

[herman]

I appreciate the explainer.  Still, Holmberg > Gregor.  In every way.  You put your best players on the ice.

Knies makes all kinds of mistakes yet they keep rolling him out on L1.  Holmberg ought to get the same consideration.

And if Keefe isn't going to play Liljegren in the playoffs, then Keefe needs to go.

As someone who penciled in Holmberg as Matthews? LW in a mock lineup before he was even called up before, I get it. Line 4 has looked the most offensively dangerous with Holmberg-Kampf-Reaves (largely because of Holmberg).

Again, Knies is still there because his job is to just keep up with Matthews/Marner who can cover up mistakes and outscore them in the long run. Mistakes on the 4th line are back breakers, so the priorities there are quite different, especially in a playoff series where weaknesses get targeted.

Playoff starting rosters are rarely the rosters that end the series or run, so I don?t put much stock in them, similar to opening day rosters. The Leafs have a lot of ?side-deck? options now to swap into at the bottom of the lineup. Holmberg and Robertson might not be high on the bottom-6 sub list, but they are high up on the top-6 fillers if anything sideways happens there (after Jarnkrok).

 

[dappleganger]

I do think Knies has looked good on the top line even if the points/goals have not been there.

I do wonder how a, clearly pass-first, player like Domi would look on the top line with his speed.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Knies is going to be prone to more mistakes than Holmberg for the simple fact that his line plays at a higher/more dangerous level. The 4th line plays a simple "get it deep, bang bodies, keep it out of your net" style which is less likely to cause glaring f ups unless they lose the line up battle.

 

[herman]

https://x.com/dalter/status/1766505377464496626
Marner torqued his knee on that hilarious non-shot-on-the-empty-net when he came back around the side.

This should be fine against Montreal, but it can get dicey against the playoff opponents if we can?t stretch 3 attack lines.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1766503930526085384

One interesting thing to note here is that throughout his young career Liljegren has never really played with a defensive defenceman, or even a defenceman with size. Throughout his time here he's generally played with Sandin, Giordano, and Dermott. He's had some limited playing time with Muzzin and McCabe but it was pretty infrequent. Having a regular partner like Edmundson would be a first. Could be something that helps him.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Marner torqued his knee on that hilarious non-shot-on-the-empty-net when he came back around the side.

This should be fine against Montreal, but it can get dicey against the playoff opponents if we can't stretch 3 attack lines.

I did start to wonder if we'd see Kampf tried at 3C a little more with Treliving calling Dewar a centre so often. Obviously, don't really love it, but I understand the idea. The middle-6 was a defensive mess for awhile now (all season?). I also think it was only a matter of time before Bertuzzi saw another chance on the top line. He's deserved another look there. Safe to assume Marner returning bumps everyone on the right down a slot. If Roberson returns too then we could see something like:

Bertuzzi-Matthews-Marner
Domi-Tavares-Nylander
Knies-Kampf-Jarnkrok
Robertson-Dewar-McMann

 

[herman]

Knies-Taveres-Jarnkrok strikes me as a Knies-ROR-Acciari approximate

Bertuzzi-Matthews-Nylander
McMann-Domi-Marner
Knies-Tavares-Jarnkrok
Dewar-Kampf-Holmberg/Reaves

Rielly-Lyubushkin
Brodie-Liljegren
McCabe-Edmundson
Benoit, Giordano/Timmins/whoever is not dead

I like Carlton?s L4 as well. I think another thing to keep in mind is lines should try to have 2+ shit-disturbers or none. A singleton is tricky.

 

[Guilt Trip]

One interesting thing to note here is that throughout his young career Liljegren has never really played with a defensive defenceman, or even a defenceman with size. Throughout his time here he's generally played with Sandin, Giordano, and Dermott. He's had some limited playing time with Muzzin and McCabe but it was pretty infrequent. Having a regular partner like Edmundson would be a first. Could be something that helps him.

This is what Simmonds was saying yesterday. Simmonds loves Liljegren and hopes he gets a longer leash with a guy like Eddie. He thinks all Liljegren needs is confidence. It would be nice if Keefe would put him back on PP1 as well.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

One interesting thing to note here is that throughout his young career Liljegren has never really played with a defensive defenceman, or even a defenceman with size. Throughout his time here he's generally played with Sandin, Giordano, and Dermott. He's had some limited playing time with Muzzin and McCabe but it was pretty infrequent. Having a regular partner like Edmundson would be a first. Could be something that helps him.

This is what Simmonds was saying yesterday. Simmonds loves Liljegren and hopes he gets a longer leash with a guy like Eddie. He thinks all Liljegren needs is confidence. It would be nice if Keefe would put him back on PP1 as well.

I've long said one of my issues with Liljegren is that he's about to turn 25-years old and we still don't know what he is. Since Keefe had him as a Marlie it's felt like they've tried to mold him into a defensive-first penalty killer. At 5-on-5 he's generally had to be the more defence-first guy on his pairing, particularly with Sandin. 7 seasons later I really think it's clear that's just not working. He was an offensive guy coming up as a prospect. He's shown great flashes of offence when playing for Sweden internationally. There's nothing wrong with beefing up his defence game but I'd like to see him play more with his offensive abilities. Maye this will signal a change in that mentality with him.

 

[Guilt Trip]

One interesting thing to note here is that throughout his young career Liljegren has never really played with a defensive defenceman, or even a defenceman with size. Throughout his time here he's generally played with Sandin, Giordano, and Dermott. He's had some limited playing time with Muzzin and McCabe but it was pretty infrequent. Having a regular partner like Edmundson would be a first. Could be something that helps him.

This is what Simmonds was saying yesterday. Simmonds loves Liljegren and hopes he gets a longer leash with a guy like Eddie. He thinks all Liljegren needs is confidence. It would be nice if Keefe would put him back on PP1 as well.

I've long said one of my issues with Liljegren is that he's about to turn 25-years old and we still don't know what he is. Since Keefe had him as a Marlie it's felt like they've tried to mold him into a defensive-first penalty killer. At 5-on-5 he's generally had to be the more defence-first guy on his pairing, particularly with Sandin. 7 seasons later I really think it's clear that's just not working. He was an offensive guy coming up as a prospect. He's shown great flashes of offence when playing for Sweden internationally. There's nothing wrong with beefing up his defence game but I'd like to see him play more with his offensive abilities. Maye this will signal a change in that mentality with him.

I hope you're right. He's never going to be that defensive stalwart back there but there's no issue with him being a RD offensive guy. I'm glad he's still here and hopefully he gets a good run with Eddie here.
Simmonds did mention you need a good puck mover with a guy like Eddie as well and Liljegren is good at that...except for the occasional flub lol

 

[Guilt Trip]

https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1766505377464496626
Marner torqued his knee on that hilarious non-shot-on-the-empty-net when he came back around the side.

This should be fine against Montreal, but it can get dicey against the playoff opponents if we can?t stretch 3 attack lines.

I actually like these lines. Knies and McMann should get good matchups, although not sure about Kampf at 3C but why not try it. Interested to see what Domi can do on the wing with JT.
And Kyper actually mentioned Marner's injury yesterday and when asked by Bourne, he did the raised eyebrow, head tilt and said he heard it could be dicey. Wouldn't elaborate. Let's hope it's not serious. And speaking of that hilarious missed empty netter, Marner said he was shocked he received a pass there...wasn't expecting it from Benoit lol.

 

[herman]

Marner couldn?t handle a taste of his own magic.

https://x.com/dalter/status/1766517256811319521

 

[dappleganger]

https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1766505377464496626
Marner torqued his knee on that hilarious non-shot-on-the-empty-net when he came back around the side.

This should be fine against Montreal, but it can get dicey against the playoff opponents if we can?t stretch 3 attack lines.

I actually like these lines. Knies and McMann should get good matchups, although not sure about Kampf at 3C but why not try it. Interested to see what Domi can do on the wing with JT.
And Kyper actually mentioned Marner's injury yesterday and when asked by Bourne, he did the raised eyebrow, head tilt and said he heard it could be dicey. Wouldn't elaborate. Let's hope it's not serious. And speaking of that hilarious missed empty netter, Marner said he was shocked he received a pass there...wasn't expecting it from Benoit lol.

Kampf is a big body and can cycle, keep the puck down low in the offensive zone. Let's see what Knies and McMann do do on this line. They're all big. Hopefully they'll use their size and make it difficult on their opponent.

 

[Redleaf]

I?m wondering (hoping actually) if Dewar turns out be a pleasant surprise. It looks like he has a good combination of grit & skill. Interesting to see him play on a more offensive team, even if he?s on the 4th line to start.

 

[cujo4ever]

Go Leafs Go!

 

[Arn]

Harsh on Benoit I feel.