LFR19 – Game 3 – Process – Red Wings 3, Maple Leafs 2

LFR19 – Game 3 – Process – Red Wings 3, Maple Leafs 2

HAT GUY: Well, you know, that was a fun first game for Easton Cowan.
STEVE: It’s going to be remembered for all the veterans who couldn’t get the job done.
HAT GUY: Just mid-season pessimism, buddy. That’s That’s something.
STEVE: I usually save that for April! HAT GUY: Oh my. Th This guy This 
guy, you’ve been doing this a while. LET’S GO – It starts with an A and ends 
with nxiety! – VARIOUS SCREAMS – Off the charts levels of PASSION! – MAXIMUM DOMI – 
THIS IS A NIGHTMARE! – Every year! – GO TO THE NET! – I AM GOING TO BECOME THE JOKER! 
– With you wherever you are. Welcome to LFR! Leafs. Oh. Oh! Ah. You thought it was going to 
overtime. You thought it was going to overtime! Leafs lose 3-2 to the Detroit Red Wings in what 
will hopefully be the most unnecessary loss of the entire season. Outshooting them 40-15! Coming back 
from a two nothing deficit and choking on one, possibly two points in the standings. 
So, we’re going to talk about this game, the good and the bad. But first – you know what’s 
great? NHL Fantasy Stars because it’s fantasy. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. And blow it with 
under a minute to go while I’m there by the way! Where was I? NHL Fantasy Stars is a great 
fantasy app that you can download on the Apple Store and on Google Play and it’s in the link in 
the description. You know what? My mentions have been full of people saying, “Boy, it sure looks 
like the Leafs could use someone on the right wing.” You know what? I like my fantasy team a 
lot, but I could also use someone on the right wing. What pack should I open? A gold, a silver, 
a base? No. You know what you got to do? You can actually get a straight up pack of just right 
wingers. That’s what I’m going to do. What do we got? Half the price of a gold pack. Let’s see 
what we get. Tyler Toffoli is a good add. Jordan Eberle is a good ad. Alex Tuch, tough start to 
the season, but a good ad. I am happy with that. You can take on myself, Adam, and Jesse all 
season because it’s a daily contest. So, you can play daily and start whenever the season already 
started, but you haven’t. It’s not too late. And right now, they got a special offer for the new 
season, a brand new 10 player pack. Usually I only get three. So, download NHL Fantasy Stars from 
the Apple Store and on Google Play and from the link in the description down below. Just click 
it. All right, let’s, let’s get to it. I would like to thank the Detroit Red Wings for continuing 
with Operation Make Steve Forget His Dog Died. It hasn’t worked yet, but I appreciate the effort all 
the same. So, look, the Leafs are beginning a long homestand here. This is the first game. The Leafs 
don’t really know what they want to do with their lineup. They have a bunch of new faces and Craig 
Berube is going to want to shuffle things. Well, it’s easier to do that at home. and he does a very 
bold thing which is take Cowan from the press box and throw him not only into his first NHL game but 
straight onto the first line with Auston Matthews, and when he wasn’t with Auston Matthews he 
played a couple shifts with John Tavares. There were a lot of things to not like about this 
game but Eastston Cowan up on the top line with Matthews and Knies was not one of them! From Arun 
Srinivasan, “Matthew Knies Auston Matthews Easton Cowan 10 to nothing on shots. 16-5 shot attempts. 
80.3% share of expected goals in 10 minutes and 7 seconds at five on five.” No actual goals. McMann 
with an assist on the Knies goal. He was on for Easton Cowan. Matthews with a team high eight 
shots. So basically how you view this game is how you view things in general. What is more important 
for game three out of 82? Process or result? The correct answer is process. The emotional 
answer that a lot of us are feeling is result, because the Leafs had a very good game against 
Detroit. Maybe you think the shots were telling lies a little bit. Maybe you think the game was 
a little closer than that. 40 to 15 is a crazy result, and it wasn’t just score effects because 
the Red Wings were winning. But the Leafs put on a clinic in how to lose a game you’re supposed to 
win. First period, Leafs are kicking the Red Wings up and down the ice. The Red Wings had two shots 
on goal and hilariously, they might have both been scoring chances but generally speaking, the Leafs 
are running the show on home ice. Great! Penalty late in the period. Rielly in the box, and you 
know how that’s going. You – You know how that’s going to go. If the shots were even, I would have 
been okay, but the shots weren’t even. The Leafs were dominating. You take a late period penalty. 
What does that mean every time? You can ask Ryan from the Winged Wheel podcast because he was kind 
enough to invite me to the game and I sat next to him even though he was in a smelly Detroit Redwing 
sweater and I said, “You know what’s coming, right?” And he goes, “Yeah, I do.” What I did not 
anticipate was the delay of game penalty that was originally given to Auston Matthews until they put 
it on the screen and we realized that’s wrong. So, they throw in Simon Benoit. Listen. Okay. I don’t 
– I don’t want to – I don’t want to miss the point here and I don’t want to distract from the very 
valid points that I’m going to make here. That, that penalty sucks. I understand the purpose 
of the delay of game penalty. I do. But what I don’t like is when Benoit is going for 
the puck that’s up in the air. Matthews is going for the puck that’s up in the air. 
Someone in the Red Wings was going for the puck up in the air and the only difference 
is Benoit is the one who actually got it. Is that the spirit of the rule? Anyway, I got to 
open up my own store. the spirit of the rule and it gets rid of 80% of delay of game penalties! 
Anyway, it’s five on three. The Leafs had the decency to kill off the five on three but not 
the five on four. Detroit scores. Dylan Larkin, it’s a nifty backhand because things aren’t 
going right for Detroit and at the last minute, Larkin says to himself, “What do I do best? Oh, 
I know. I’m going to dive.” That dude’s feet are Patrick Star and they were all game. “Wait, I 
have an idea. Really? What is it? Let’s leave!” But he used his forces for good on this one 
and it’s one- nothing Detroit after one like we all knew it would be the moment the Leafs 
took that penalty. The second period, more of the same. Generally speaking, the Leafs are the 
better team. Are any of their attempts going in? No. But through 40 minutes, can I go on a mini 
rant? Craig Berube is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his lines. He’s on home ice. 
I understand why he went with this line. I NEVER want to see McMann Domi Robertson ever again. 
Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever again. You want to change the DNA of this team? You will 
never put that line on the ice again. They need to be sheltered to oblivion and when they’re not 
scoring, it doesn’t come across as cute. Stop doing it. NO! Rielly’s going to get a lot of stick 
for this game and for what he did at the end of it and on the last two goals of the game, of course. 
But if we’re talking about process versus result, the ones against Rielly ended up in the back of 
the Leafs net. That could have easily been the fate of the McMann Domi Robertson line. There was 
one shift where they iced it three times. What?! While you’re doing that, we can’t get Matthews 
on the ice. We can’t get Nylander on the ice. We can’t get Tavares on the ice. Knies on the ice. 
It’s just you three! And I thought Bobby McMann had a very good game. So I’m not screaming 
at Bobby! And I don’t love Domi at center, but I got to be honest, most of my concern wasn’t 
Domi at center. Things are going to get late real real early for Nick Robertson if he doesn’t 
start doing the little things right. He’s a gifted player. Great shot. He set up Bobby McMann 
for a scoring chance. I like that very much. But generally speaking, it’s just more harm than 
good when that line is on the ice. And I’m long tired of it. The Leafs are tired of it. That’s 
why they didn’t want to go into this season with it! I can’t for the life of me understand why it’s 
still taking the ice! So anyway, uh the Leafs are out playing Detroit pretty heavily. You want to 
see something that can’t be a goal? This is off an o-zone faceoff. This turns into a goal. What?! 
Okay, so it’s the Leafs pairing of Rielly-Carlo. Top pair, second pair, whatever you want to call 
it. Carlo falls down. That’s generally bad. You know who I didn’t realize had the puck the whole 
time? James Van Riemsdyk! In his first game of the season after being drafted 18 years ago! 
Respectfully. You lost a foot race to WHO?! JVR has the hand still and that’s how he was able 
to bury the goal to make it two nothing. The hands are the last thing to go. I said that when 
Spezza was a Leaf and now that JVR is in Detroit, it still rings true. Have a look at Patrick 
Kane by the way. The hands are the last thing to go. That is just – it’s an insane result from 
a matchup, a favorable matchup off an ozone draw. That, that can’t end up in the back of your 
net 5 seconds later. That’s insane. That’s not how you win anything. How do the Leafs drag 
themselves back into the game? The little things. Bobby McMann using Chris Tanev as help. Gets 
onto the ice, gets around a defender. Guess what? Uh-oh, I’m in no man’s land with the puck and 
Detroit’s in a tough spot. McMann puts a pass on Knies’s stick that’s so perfect that Knies didn’t 
even really score it on purpose. That’s not even a tap in for Knies. It’d be a tap in if he moved. 
That’s essentially a McMann goal that went off of Knies. That’s how nice of a feed it was. Knies, 
GO TO THE NET! McMann, little shifty move and the Leafs are on the board. Lots to like there. 
And Auston is getting more and more stick. I’m seeing more and more grief. He was on the ice. Few 
minutes later, as the minutes tick off the clock, who’s on the ice? The right winger isn’t Cowan 
again. It’s also not Nylander. I think these things are purely coincidental, but Auston’s 
on the ice. Knies has Sandin-Pellikka on him and he spins off and from his knees between the 
legs and straight at Calle Jarnkrok! Snipes it! Mitch Marnkrok! His third of the season already. 
Somehow goal a game Calle Jarnkrok is a thing and it’s a tie game. To borrow from TicTacTOmar, he’s 
aura farming in the third game of the season. It’s Calle Jarnkrok. Listen, a lot of us owe Calle 
Jarnkrok an apology. I know it’s very early, but it’s not just that the puck is going in. He looks 
good. He looks legitimately good. He’s winning lots of battles. He’s good on the PK. He’s a good 
skater. Last year he was hurt and when he came back, he probably came back too early. It might 
have been best to just have him sit out the rest of the season and see what else you can do. He’s 
been a good player in this league for a very long time and one bad season, we were done with him. 
That’s wrong and we were wrong. Do you know how many consecutive seasons Calle Jarnkrok had with 
double digit goals as in 10 or more goals before last season? Nine! He played 52 or fewer games in 
three of those nine! I don’t know if he’s going to continue the goal a game pace, but this is a very 
capable offensive player with some little perks on the defensive side. This is a useful player 
not making a ton of money at 2.1. He was worth keeping and I’m glad they did. Now, here’s how you 
just throw a game in the garbage. You throw a game that was going great straight in the bin. Little 
over a minute to go. The Red Wings get an odd man rush. Uh-oh. This ain’t good. Brandon Carlo’s the 
only one back which means where are you Mo? Where are you Mo?! And Stolarz makes the save. Oh phew. 
He gets the save and now everyone’s back – MO! Morgan Rielly cleared this for an icing. There 
is no reason for this to be an icing. None. Zero. Ever. WHAAAAAA – Look at the pressure. Look 
at the pressure! What?! It’s Larkin against you and the rest of the team. Why? Matthews is 
right there. Oh, Larkin’s right there. Okay. Well, Nylander’s right there. Well, Larkin’s 
okay. Okay. Go behind you. Go behind you! Carlo’s going to skate that out – You could have skated 
that out. There’s Look at it. No one’s there! Get over the blue line and then figure it 
out. Or just go to Carlo. Just go to Carlo, get to overtime, get the point, and figure it out 
after. You got all the momentum. You’ve been the better team all night. What? You came back in this 
game. You’re down two nothing in the third. Like, it’s fortunate to get a point out of that. That’s 
– that’s actually a good result even if you lose in overtime and you ice it for no good reason. 
NONE. Those are the little plays that kill you. Certainly doesn’t help that he was out there 
when the Red Wings then scored! Mason Appleton, the winner, with under a minute to go. Maybe 
you should have won the faceoff. Maybe you could have handled it better after the Red Wings won 
the faceoff. It all comes back to why on earth are you icing that puck? And I’m being hard 
on Morgan Rielly because Morgan Rielly was hard on Morgan Rielly. He was hard on himself 
because he had a bad season last year and Brad Treliving talked to him about it and Craig 
Berube said Rielly and they’re they’re talk they’re talking about it. They’re talking. The 
first game of the season is one of his best as a Leaf honestly. He was City TV everywhere and 
he had a bunch of shots and he had the game winner. Some shaky moments in game two. This 
cost them the game. This cost them the game. And I’m seeing people go, “Oh, you know, I wish 
Auston had Mitch.” Auston had eight shots. They were scoring chances that had nothing. Cowan set 
Matthews up for a beauty breakaway that led to a shot that was stopped by Talbot and a rebound 
that was also stopped by Talbot. A really good save. Matthews got eight shots in this game and 
had lots of scoring chances. His problem isn’t getting fed the puck and it’s not getting looks. 
I would happily see Easton Cowan next to him tomorrow. I would happily see that. I think things 
went really well. He was on the ice for the two goals they needed to tie it. People are being way 
too lazy about all this. Way too lazy. Marner has fewer points than Calle Jarnkrok if we’re going 
to play this stupid game! But we all – we don’t expect that to stay the same because we’re not 
stupid. Easton Cowan, the young kid in this game, did a fine job. The guy who screwed this up at 
the end was the longest tenured Leaf. That can’t happen. It cannot cannot cannot happen. It’s 
– It’s like we let our foot off the gas after one good game. That’s not acceptable. That’s not 
how winning teams behave. Listen, there was lots to like about that game. Lots of guys need to 
pick up their socks. Mattis Maccelli is trying like hell out there. I still don’t know what you 
are. I still don’t know where you fit, but you just lost your job to a kid who played his first 
game in the NHL. In my opinion. Dakota Joshua, I’d love to get to meet you because through three 
games, I have not. There’s a lot to like about that game. I would have liked it a whole lot more 
if they’d won. And now you have a game, second half of a back-to-back. Yes, it’s at home, but 
you’re probably starting Cayden Primeau in that one. I keep saying there was a lot to like. Is the 
process acceptable if the result is unacceptable? You can’t come out of that game with no points. 
You can’t. You can’t. The way it was with a minute to go. You cannot come out of that game with zero 
points. That’s exactly the sort of thing that kills you. Questions? Craig Berube says, “William 
Nylander three shots in three games. Needs to attack more, shoot more, and get to the inside. 
I don’t know exactly what it is to be honest with you. I’ll have a conversation with him, see where 
he’s at and what’s going on.” This is even worse because I don’t think Nylander has looked bad. 
And now I’m trying to think of the game that I watched in person. And now I’m trying to think 
of a William Nylander moment at all. Three shots in three games. Some of the highest paid and 
longest tenured guys on this roster are letting them down the most. That’s a theme, and that 
theme continues in the absence of you know who. “Why did Rielly ice the puck when he could 
have just skated with it?” I spoke with him after the game and he said to ruin all of our 
Thanksgiving. 2025 and I feel obligated to tell you that’s a joke. “Are we happy with the effort 
after Saturday and just chalk it up to getting goalie’d or we freak out and blow the team up? 
Note, there is no in between since we are Toronto fans and those are our only options.” Yeah, I’m 
screaming into a camera so I can avoid the Jays playoff game. So yeah, I get it. So, this isn’t 
the first game of the season. It’s the third. But remember last year the Leafs got 47 shots on 
Sam Montembault and he shut them out. I think it was record-breaking or something like that? 
And you get shut out on opening night and no one feels good about it. The process was there. 
We were happy with the process. No one’s happy with the result. Well, what happened? It’s the 
first game of the season. What happened? Well, the Leafs won the division. They ended up being 
fine. But if the DNA is truly changed, that means you’re different. You got to show us who you are. 
So, you take some solace in it and generally, yeah, it’s a it’s it’s a good process game. The 
way they lost it was completely infuriating and disturbingly on brand. Knock it off. And anyone on 
this roster who cannot knock it off needs to join another roster. 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 
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Steve Dangle recaps and analyzes Game 3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs season against the Detroit Red Wings

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