LFR19 – Game 11 – Columflush – Maple Leafs 3, Blue Jackets 6

LFR19 – Game 11 – Columflush – Maple Leafs 3, Blue Jackets 6

Man, I if the next words out of your mouth aren’t something about Treya Savage, I don’t want to hear it. Valid. That’s valid. That’s valid. Let’s go. It starts with an A and ends with anxiety. Off the sharp levels of passion. That’s just a with you wherever you are. Welcome to Lf. [Applause] For those of you who still care, Leafs lose 6-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now look, oh my gosh, there’s a lot going on there. It It’s the eighth inning right now. Right now. And I’m pointing to where my TV is. I’d rather be there, but I am I am wedded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. I am wedded to this team. And it is your expectation that I deliver a postgame sermon about this team every time they play, win or lose. Full disclosure, I wasn’t even able to watch this game. I was in my car because I recorded two episodes of the Steve Dangle podcast today. Our regular Wednesday episode and then our VIP episode which will be coming out soon. Then I drove to Kitchener to do an event with James Duffy about his book Certified Beauties. Look at that. It’s his book Certified Beauties, the second one. Just as I’m about to leave, as James is signing books and stuff and I’m meeting a few people in line, I am showed that the score is 1- nothing for the Blue Jackets in a game that I didn’t know it started yet. Literally, someone showed me on their phone the Anthems followed by what seems like – 20 seconds later, the Leafs down. Now listen, we’ve talked about the Leafs at length and I was actually pretty complimentary of them earlier today on account of the game that they had played the night before. They won and they looked good while winning it with some exceptions, but few games are rarely perfect, especially this time of year. this game against the Columbus Blue Jackets from what I gather. Um, listen, the Leafs outshot the Columbus Blue Jackets by like a fairly hefty margin and they were outshooting them by that fairly hefty margin most of the game, all of the game. There were a few mistakes. There were a few mistakes that the Leafs made defensively from their forwards, from their DO. There there were some plays that Columbus made that were impressive and they earned their chances, but ultimately at the end of the day, it’s a lazy narrative. It’s a simple narrative, but sometimes it’s just the true narrative. The Leafs goalie was not good enough. Not even close. You are going to allow shots. You are going to allow chances. Your goalie’s job is to save some of them. The Blue Jackets had 24 shots. The Blue Jackets had six goals. That means Kaden Primo allowed a goal for every four shots he faced. That’s a no chancer. That’s a simple nochancer. The Blue Jackets are getting very good goalending out of Elvis MS Leakans. They’re getting very good goalending out of Jet Grease. They’re getting some of the best even strength goalending in the NHL right now. You’d like to see the Leafs do a better job against the Blue Jackets, do a better job at creating better chances, do a better job getting quality shots, do a better job just beating the goalie. At the end of the day, they had one goal until it was very late. John Tvaris scored his 500th. We’ll get to that in a minute. Might have been offside. Blue Jackets didn’t even care. And then Robertson scored one in garbage time. It was one goal that the Leafs mustered that mattered. And it was from Sammy Blade, who I didn’t even know was playing until I found out he scored. I was talking to my wife on the phone on the way home. She’s like, “I’ve never heard of this person.” And I go, I’m like, “Uh, Matias Machelli, Dakota Joshua, Nick Wah, uh, Philip Meyers, Eastston Cowan. Listen, it’s not her job to know the team, it’s mine.” Finally, I’m like, “Sammy Blade?” And she goes, “Yeah, what?” And of course, she scored. You know why? Go to the net. Andy got an assist on the Nick Robertson garbage time goal. Maybe that’ll have him play in more than one in every 11 games. There are some things that the Leafs need to clear up. There are some things that they weren’t very good at on this evening. And there were some things the Blue Jackets were good at. Beginning, middle, and end. I’m sorry, Kaden Primo, that was not good enough. Now, I don’t think it’s worth it to come on here and completely trash the guy because at the end of the day, Kaden Primo is an emergency solution to an unforeseen problem. The Leafs heading into training camp had one of the healthiest, most stable, enviable goalending tandemss in the NHL. There are some that you would consider better, but it’s not a huge number. You have Anthony Stallers who came off a 926 last year and Joseph Wool who would have been an adequate starter more than adequate starter on a ton of NHL teams last year who is essentially the backup 1A 1B whatever you want to call him. All of a sudden heading into the season we find out Wall is taking a leave. We don’t know what it was for. We don’t know what was going on. It’s not our job or we don’t need to know. We don’t need to know. He needs to know. The team needs to know. That’s enough. He’s rejoined the team. He’s practicing and he’s on the ice and it sounds like he’ll be back soon. Thank goodness for that. With that news breaking, the Leafs sign James Rhymer to a PTO and decide, okay, if we’re not able to get anyone on waivers, we’ll have to go with James. Well, they do get someone on waivers, which wasn’t guaranteed because they’re very high in the waiver pecking order because they won the division last year. They end up getting Kaden Primo. Kaden Primo had unbelievable numbers in the American Hockey League last season and unusable numbers in the NHL. He was 212 and two with a 927 save percentage in the AHL. That is nearly literally unbeatable. He was only beaten twice. He allowed 50 goals during those games. He had a goals against average under two. You were not going to score two goals against him in the AHL. That is really good in a really good league. In the NHL last year, he had an 836 with a record of 23 and one somehow. How is your record that close to 500 with an 836? and he still had terrible numbers this season in limited play with the Leafs. But you want to know something insane? He hadn’t lost a game yet. This was his first one. They won the other ones. In his last game before this one, he was downright admirable. Goal here or there that you maybe don’t like very much, but at the end of the day, this is that gif of Seth Rogan putting duct tape on a crack in the foundation. Like, he is a duct tape solution right now. And when Wool comes back, he’s going to get put on waiverss and maybe he clears. He probably doesn’t, honestly. Kaden Primo is an adequate third stringer. And you could say, “What? No, he isn’t.” Okay, now we’re arguing about the quality of a third stringer. Kaden Primo is not as good as Dennis Hill to be. That’s an interesting one. That’s an interesting argument that we can have. the Leafs top goalending prospect in Dennis Hill to be might be a better option in net. But why isn’t he in net then? Well, because they want him in the AHL and they want him developing there because they believe in him and they should believe in him. He’s the size of a house. Here’s what I always come back to. When a third stringer gives you a third stringer performance, it’s not the third stringer’s fault because at the end of the day, they’re the third stringer, which means they’re not an NHL goalender. By his statistics in the AHL and the NHL, Kaden Primo is the definition of a tweener. Like he he’s going to go down to the AHL and dominate no matter where he ends up, whether it’s with the Marlies or someone else in the NHL. Oh man, like he’ll give you adequate goalending at best and hopefully you’re the better team and you squeak out a win. But the ugly truth is sometimes your third stringer costs you a game and it’s not that third stringer’s fault. Stallars gives you that performance when he’s your starter and you just gave him this big contract. Yeah, then you hammer him. Like what the hell, dude? We expect better from you. But if you expected better from Kaden Primo, I why? How come? The one thing I will say about the Leafs, uh, the second line, which I have loved a lot, didn’t have their best game. Tvarus ended up getting his 500th and the team doesn’t even celebrate. While I don’t put this game on most of the team, I think they generally played okay. I know you’re getting clobbered. I know you’re getting clobbered. And I know if you celebrated this goal, people would have criticized you anyway. John Tvaris just scored 500 goals in the NHL. That ties him with Lanny McDonald who had exactly 500 goals for 48th all time. 49 people have ever scored 500 goals in the NHL out of the 7,817 players to ever skate in the NHL. And this team barely got out of their seats for it. One thing I’ve said on the podcast a few times is this team doesn’t even play like they like each other. They’ve played a lot at home recently. You would think that’s an advantage. It ought to be. Well, they had a winning record before this game. Now they’re 500. This road trip might be exactly what the team needs. They need to bond. They need the camaraderie bad because they’re playing joyless hockey. And they don’t even look like they enjoy each other’s company. One little side quest I’d like to go on and it’s a very mini tangent. What are the reasons why the Leafs can’t win that we get told? Right. the fans. I two fans threw jerseys on the ice tonight in Columbus. That’s kind of unhinged, but the fans, the media, the scrutiny, the pressure, the pressure. People in Toronto barely know the Toronto Maple Leafs exist right now. How many people watch this Wednesday night game against the Columbus Blue Jackets? Trad Savage just broke a World Series record. The Blue Jays just hit home runs, the first two batters of the game. It was the first time it had ever been done in World Series history in 705 World Series games since the 1700s or whenever they started playing baseball. And and the Leafs can’t win because of pressure. In an October game, nearly literally no one was watching. I just think it’s funny how I don’t say this often when it comes to the Leafs. You take that game and you flush it. Hopefully, you’re a little healthier. I’ll I’ll be very interested to see if Sammy Blade gets in again. I wonder if Scott Lton’s back. I wonder if Anthony Stallers gives us the type of performance he was giving us earlier in the season when he was making 10 bell saves. But mostly, I just hope the Blue Jays are able to win in six so that I don’t have to stream the Leafs Flyers game during potentially game seven of the World Series. So, join me Saturday night for what might be the most irrelevant game in Toronto Maple Leaf’s history. But my friends, for now, that is it for this one. Thank you very much for watching. Click like if you like this video. Click subscribe if you really liked it. Tell all your friends. Let’s go Blue Jays.

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Steve Dangle recaps and analyzes Game 11 of the Toronto Maple Leafs season against the Columbus Blue Jackets

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