Preseason: Canadiens @ Leafs - Sept. 19th, 7:00pm - SN1

[herman]

Meanwhile, in Montreal, Leafs are down 0-2 and have multiple tussles and tilts on the board already.

 

[cw]

Henrik Rybinski (1) PPG from
R. Tverberg (1), B. Brisson (1)
Colton Sissons from
O. Ekman-Larsson (1), E. Cowan (1)

2-2

 

[herman]

Matthews robbed

Raddysh bomb not robbed

 

[L K]

Matthews looks really good

And Raddysh with his first

 

[YYZ]

Raddysh canon breaks a habs stick, then a hab deflects it in his own net.

 

[herman]

Late PP for Leafs and they’re mixing Knies into unit 1. He has managed to kill two Leaf chances (accidentally)

 

[cw]

Marc Johnstone (1) from
H. Rybinski (1), M. Pezzetta (1)
3-2 Leafs

 

[YYZ]

Good on Rifai.

 

[herman]

Away team has taken the lead lol

 

[YYZ]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[herman]

Away team has taken the lead lol

Same in Toronto

 

[herman]

I get they’re trying to develop chemistry, but they’re overpassing off the rush

 

[YYZ]

Danford looks GREAT.

 

[herman]

I like that the ‘kid’ lines keep trying that slash tip play

 

[herman]

Lmao

 

[cw]

Montreal game MTL 4 Leafs 3 OT

 

[YYZ]

Whatever. Who cares. It's pre-season.

What is encouraging is all the players that should look good, look good.

 

[Bender]

I didn't watch. Anyone stand out?

 

[YYZ]

I didn't watch. Anyone stand out?

Danford for sure. He looks NHL ready.

I though Andrae looked pretty good. He can skate and pass. He looks like a fire hydrant on skates out there.

Raddysh looked good.

Mckenna looked really good. But he does look like a boy amongst men out there. With some more physical growth, he will be so crazy good.

Matthews looked more like his old self. It's great to see the last two years were an aberration and not the new norm.

I didn't see much of the other game. Just the last few minutes of overtime. Cowan looked good from what I saw.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2101489686375997566

Good signs as noted above:
The guys you want generating chances generated lots of chances.

I think Blankenburg might have a leg up on Stecher as he can press into top 4 min more consistently when needed, and we are collecting former Blue Jackets for some reason.

Joshua dealing with something so he’s unable to play. I suspect what he’s dealing with are potential deals for picks.

I have no idea what playstyle the Leafs are going for other than try to move the puck quickly and then do whatever the forwards feel like in the OZ (over pass for potential pretty plays), but it’s just the first three days.

Lots of special teams slop meant we didn’t see much of Koblar/Nansi. They looked adequate and energetic but reactive as expected.

I wonder if the pucks were frozen lopsided. Or if ScotiaBank arena did their ice differently. Everyone mishandled the puck in strange ways.

Matthews looked really good and comfortable even if the timing was a bit off; line mates were not much help.

Willy looked dangerous at times, especially weaving around with McKenna and Tavares; a bit more defensively engaged than usual (PK reps must’ve helped). Timing was quite off though.

Tavares looked spritely with the puck but still has a good deal of tunnel vision when he sees 1v3.

Knies helped holding the puck down low but not much else, so I wonder how long until he becomes part of a heavy crash line with Paul and Sissons.

McKenna has that sticky puck ability that Matthews has when puck handling, but without the body size to truck through legs and sticks. He is very eel-like and needs to shoot on the open looks.