LFR19 – Game 14 – Willy Mammoth – Mammoth 3, Maple Leafs 5

LFR19 – Game 14 – Willy Mammoth – Mammoth 3, Maple Leafs 5

STEVE: Dude, that was awesome. How 
about the Matias Maccelli game? HAT GUY: You know how I know we’re so back?
STEVE: How? HAT GUY: because you’re saying 
nerdy nonsense like the Matias Maccelli game. How are you married?
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!
Nerds get married too. How dare you. LEAFS WIN! 53 over the Utah Mammoth. A sentence 
I have never spoken before. And you know what that means? A Leafs win means victory 
puppy. For every single Leafs win this season, I’m going to be donating $20 to the Humane 
Society of Durham Region. I encourage you to match with that one or any pet related charity 
near you because they need our help, too. And I’m going to ask you for more money, but just give 
me a second. It’s the last time! The Eric Lindros Celebrity Hockey Classic is tomorrow. Basically. 
The draft is tomorrow night where all the teams get together and they pick the celebrity that they 
want to play with. And then on Friday, we get to play our games. Now, at the draft, whatever team 
raises the most money for Easter Seals Ontario, that’s a charity that helps out kids with physical 
disabilities. I’ve said it a thousand times. It’s like muscle memory. Whoever raises the most 
money gets to pick first, and you win this very shiny trophy. The draft happens tomorrow 
night at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Now, I don’t know exactly when the cut off 
is, so if you plan on donating, please do it before 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. If you do 
donate any amount to anybody on Rachel’s Raiders, you are automatically entered to win 
a pair of tickets, that’s two tickets, to Leafs-Sens on December 27th. Does that sound 
like a great Christmas present to you? It does to me. Promise I’m almost finished. Easter Seals is a 
wonderful charity that my family relied on growing up. As a lot of you know, maybe you don’t. Uh my 
sister Rachel, our team is called Rachel’s Raiders in honour of her. She has cerebral palsy as well 
as several other disabilities and the Easter Seals summer camps that my family went to twice allow 
for an inclusive family experience where everyone gets to get in on the fun. I’ve told the story on 
the podcast before. I hate the beach. I still hate the beach because of when I was a kid. “Why do you 
hate the beach?” Have you ever tried to bring a wheelchair to the beach? But somehow Easter Seals 
Ontario at those amazing summer camps found a way to make that fun. They also help with equipment 
like AFOS, wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs that can cost so much. And these camps cost about $250 
per person per day. I’m sure the price has gone up because the economy and all that. So far, Rachel’s 
Raiders has raised over $51,000 this year alone. We’re the top team right now, but there’s other 
teams hot on our tails. Let’s get it done. The tournament as a whole has a goal of raising half 
a million dollars. Right now we’re at $329,000 at the time I am shooting this. Let’s get it! Now. 
The Leafs and Mammoth. This is very funny because it was one- nothing for the Mammoth after one. And 
how you felt about that describes the kind of Leaf fan that you are. Cuz like I hated the goal. It’s 
not a great goal. With just over a minute to go, Brandon Carlo loses it to Lawson Crouse, but then 
Crouse goes behind the net and it shouldn’t be an issue because Rielly’s there and Max Domi is 
coming in support. Why Rielly decided to go behind the net, I don’t know, because that 
created an unwinnable situation in front. Michael Carone, who used to have a 
contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scores because of course he does! And the Leafs 
are down one- nothing after one. Now, the Leafs are on a shorter leash this year with a lot of 
fans than they have been in years previous, and you can hardly blame anyone for that on account 
of they’re the Leafs! But I will say that first period was one of their most encouraging of the 
past month. So, basically of the whole season. The reason I say that is most of this season so far, 
the Leafs have not looked like the Leafs. They’ve looked like an assorted pile of garbage. It’s like 
if you ordered 10 assorted Timbits through the Tim Hortons drive-thru and instead they just gave 
you a box of buttons, staples, and toenails and you open the box and you’re like, “What the? This 
isn’t what I ordered at all.” And then people are accusing you, “Yes, it is. Marner’s gone. This 
is exactly what you wanted.” And you’re like, “Just cuz Marner’s gone doesn’t mean I asked 
for button staples and toenails!” I’ve always been like this. But in this first period, even 
though they came out of it down one-nothing, they looked the way they did last year, which is 
a compliment, by the way, because they won most of their games and won their division. What was it? 
Well, they got outshot, but, but there were a lot of games last year, and like after a few months, 
we just got used to it. “Oh, okay. This is just how they play.” Where they got outshot in terms of 
shots on goal, but the Corsi was a lot more even than that and in this particular one, the actual 
puck possession, the time spent with the puck, the Leafs way out seat – exceeded the Mammoth. Way 
had the more – had the more puck. Am I okay? Way had more. They had the puck more! So yes, you hate 
the brain fart at the end of the period. You hate that they’re down one-nothing, but in terms of 
process, that first period was pretty good. Now we go to the second period where the Leafs 
have been awful all season long. They are a minus 9 on the season heading into this second 
period, which is weird because they were the best second period team in the NHL last year. Until 
Florida completely figured them out and exposed them in the second round. Now, one thing about 
this year’s Leafs that’s kind of carried over from last year’s Leafs and the year before that and 
the year before that and the year before that is the big guys are still doing the vast majority of 
the scoring. Cue, William Nylander, who is one of the best scorers in the NHL right now. He honestly 
might be leading the Art Ross race right now. Had he not missed any games, but he’s missed several. 
John Tavares, doing great work down low. He gets it to Matthew Knies. How hard is it to defend 
Matthew Knies? It’s this hard. He makes you put two guys on him, which leaves William Nylander 
wide open to do William Nylander things! Knies gets his 13th assist of the season. Yeah, he’s 
on one! And Willie pots his sixth. The game is tied. Like Tavares is having a good season. We 
knew that. Knies is having a good season. We knew that. Willy’s having a good season. We knew 
that. What about – There he is! Matias Maccelli is playing his first game against the Utah Mammoth, a 
team that had him last year and decided to scratch him a whole big bunch. We could point and laugh 
and call the Mammoth stupid for doing that. Uh but um the Leafs actually did that to Maccelli last 
game. Now, you might remember, apart from the 20 minutes where they actually decided to show up, 
the Leafs were buns last game. Maccelli decides, “Well, we can’t have that and we definitely 
can’t have that against my former team.” So, here’s a slick little backhand pass to Auston 
Matthews. And Auston cocked that stick back. And he looked at that puck. And he very calmly 
explained, “You deserve this. You know you deserve this. We all know you deserve this.” I’m doing 
this with a mustache, too. It’s not lost on me. “You deserve this!” And he whacks that thing 
like an uncle with a magazine at a barbecue full of wasps! AUSTON! MATTHEWS! With his eighth 
of the season and goals in three straight. The Leafs have their first lead of the game.
Now Auston Matthews, holy cow. For a while we’ve been wondering where the guy has gone. Like he’s 
back. Like over the past few games, like that is exactly what Auston Matthews looks like. The way 
he’s finding open space, the way the puck touches his stick for a microsecond and it’s in, the way 
he can toe drag and release it, the way he slaps it, the way he gets on the backcheck, the way he 
works doggedly in puck battles. This is the guy who scored 69 goals. He only had two shots on goal 
in this game, but in his past several games, four, five, five, six, he had two before that. He wasn’t 
himself before that! I would say since about the Calgary game, roughly the Calgary game, you could 
argue the Buffalo game, Matthews has been playing better and better and better. Of course, he wasn’t 
very good for the first 40 minutes the other night against Pittsburgh, but neither was anybody and 
who led the comeback charge? Him. The captain leads. And the Leafs are outscoring Utah two 
nothing in the second period, which is a big deal this year. Except Utah got one back and it kind 
of sucked. Not long after Anthony Stolarz makes an absolute 10 bell save getting across to rob the 
mammoth. Mikhail Sergachev from the point, um that that can’t go in. And it just sucks the air out of 
the building and it’s 2-2. Now let’s get something straight. You have to win this game. I mean, 
you don’t have to win any game as we’ve learned, but you kind of have to win this game. Because 
you won last game playing like garbage and got screamed at by your coach. We didn’t hear that, 
but like we’re not dumb. That’s what happened. And I got to imagine that’s terrifying.
So, you got to have a big performance because of that. But what else? The Utah Mammoth 
are having a great season. So little bit of a measuring stick game, but like you’re on home 
ice. You have home ice advantage. And the Mammoth are giving you Vitek Vanecek tonight. And I’m not 
taking a swipe at Vitek Vanecek, but he is their backup goalie. Karel Vejmelka is their starter 
and a wonderful one at that. Why are they giving you Vanecek? Cuz they played last night. Dude, 
you got hammered by your coach. You’re playing their backup in your barn. They’re tired. You 
have to win. And win they gosh darn do! Bobby McMann remaining on a line with John Tavares. 
John Tavares who actually picked up points on two plays on two completely different lines on 
this one. McMann after going through a drought, he’s now got points in back-to-back games, does 
hard work in front of the net and if you do hard work in front of the net, they got to commit more 
attention and resources to you. And when they do that and the puck squirts loose, whoever is there 
has a clear shot. And who was there but Tavar500! Wearing his Tavar500 shirt. John Tavares on the 
backhand makes it 32 Leafs! With goal number 501. Now I can’t remember if we talked about this 
in an LFR or not, but John Tavares scored the saddest 500th goal ever. He scored the 500th goal 
of his career and it was late in the Blue Jackets game where the Leafs were getting their bums 
kicked. Not a single person in that building, John included, cared about that goal. I said this 
before and I’ll say it again – John Tavares is one of only 49 people to reach 500 goals in the NHL. 
He is on the first year of a 4 year contract. If he hits 600 goals, which it seems rather likely he 
will, every single living, breathing human being who has ever scored 600 goals in the NHL and is 
eligible to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. You can point to the 
personal hardware. You can point to the playoff success. Facts are facts. Fewer than 50 people 
have ever done what John Tavares has done and if he hits 600, it’s a guaranteed hall of fame. 
There are three guys who have scored 600 goals in their NHL careers and aren’t in the Hall of Fame 
and that’s because they are all still currently being paid to play hockey. Alexander Ovechkin 
who just hit 900. Sidney Crosby and hilariously Jaromir Jagr. Who was born in 1972 and is second 
in all-time NHL scoring and just won’t retire. And somehow that wasn’t even the most satisfying 
goal of the night! On a play that was basically started by Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua that 
this line all three of these guys are cooking Joshua Roy and Maccelli Joshua gets it back to 
Maccelli in open ice and if you don’t think Leaf fans are intense – This is a Matias Maccelli goal 
against Utah on a Thursday night in November. Listen, that place can be a morgue. I get it and 
we’re all coming down from the Blue Jays. I get it. But when the Leafs get a big goal and they’re 
winning, oh, the pop in that building is something else. There are a lot of times where the silent 
anxiety is something else, too. But when the pop happens! That was nice and late, too. Barely over 
four minutes left to play. Matthew Knies gets the empty netter. Super happy for my fantasy team. 
William Nylander got an assist there as well. Jake McCabe got an assist that just letting you know 
for your fantasy. Dylan Guenther got a goal with a little over a minute ago. We don’t care about 
that. Oh, Nate Schmidt got an assist on that. Former Panther, hope you step on a Lego. And all 
of a sudden, at the time I am shooting this video, since we were paying so much attention to this 
sort of thing, when the Leafs were down and out, let’s, let’s just have a gander. The Leafs are 
third place in the Atlantic Division with 17 points. Detroit has 18. Montreal has 19. The Leafs 
are fifth place in the Eastern Conference and the Leafs are in a four-way tie for eighth in the 
entire NHL. If you really want to split hairs, they’re 11th. The teams they are tied 
with are Dallas, totally, Vegas, totally, and the Ducks. It’s November. This season is going 
to have ebbs. This season is going to have flows. I can handle the Leafs losing a game or two as 
long as they look like the team they’re trying to look like, and when they were losing games a 
week or two ago, they just looked um.. bad. Now they’re crashing the net. They’re winning 
battles. They’re hard to win battles against. They are belligerent after whistles. Dakota Joshua 
just rocked Clayton Keller. That was fun. Oh, and they’re uh winning. I can get behind 
this. Let’s get to questions and this was like the number one question. Easton Cowan 
got sent down. People wanted to know like, is this just a paper transaction? Why would they 
do this? The reason they would do this is well, Simon Benoit wasn’t in the lineup tonight, so the 
Leafs needed an extra D and obviously Chris Tanev isn’t there as well. And the Leafs just straight 
up have too many forwards and specifically – no, sorry. And the Leafs just have literally too many 
players. You can’t have a roster with more than 23 guys on it and specifically, they have too many 
forwards. Easton Cowan has the disadvantage of, the Leafs can just send him down to the miners 
and there’s no waivers. No one can claim him. I really don’t think this is a bad thing at all. 
Easton Cowan’s ice time in the Pittsburgh game was pathetic, and the Leafs had that incredible 
comeback and he just was not part of it. I think he played less than two minutes in the third. 
He’s a first round pick and he’s 20 and he’s very gifted and that’s just not what you should 
be doing with that kind of player. You got to play him in the AHL. You got to give him top 
competition down there. Let him rip it up and then call him up hopefully before too long. By then 
maybe someone gets hurt or maybe there’s a trade or who knows, someone could get hurt tomorrow and 
he’s back on Saturday. I don’t know. But if you want to develop your 20-year-old potential key 
piece to the future, what else is the American Hockey League for? Send them down. Get them some 
playing time and I don’t know, all the other guys seemed pretty good tonight. They got Laughton 
back. Really happy about that. What wasn’t what What didn’t you like? That was a good game. Oh 
yeah, and Matias Maccelli got the game belt. God, that’s great! One last thing before we get to 
your questions. This is just very funny. Luke Fox pointing out “The Leafs have the most comeback 
wins in the NHL with six.:” Justin Bourne says “New Blue Jays just dropped.” Sports are dumb. 
I love sports. Sports are dumb. I love sports. Here’s a question. “Just spitballing here, but 
have we done any research on if we can move the month of November into the late spring?” Yeah. 
So, the Leafs like often struggle in October and then obviously in the spring, but for some reason 
November they kind of kick butt? And to answer your question directly – nothing matters anymore. 
I don’t know if you noticed that. Nothing matters. So, I think November is now April. I think this 
is April. This is April right now. We’re switching them. That’s fine. In Canada, you – we can – if we 
can move Thanksgiving, we can move November. “Do you think the Leafs are finally showing signs of 
an identity?” Yes, they finally look like a Craig Berube hockey team, which there’s a reason like I, 
I said this on the podcast. Berube, even though he was talking to the media after a win, sounded 
like a coach about to get fired. Now, I don’t think he’s about to get fired, but coaches before 
they’re about to get fired sound a certain way and that certain way is usually baffled and confused. 
They have tried to tell their team how to play and they will not play that way. Plenty of good 
coaches, most of the coaches who get fired are good coaches who just the team won’t listen.
I – And that’s part of it. Part of being a coach is not just having a great system, but teaching 
it to a team that will actually do it, and if you’re the Leafs and let’s say they lost the last 
two or three games and they looked as bad as they did in the first 40 against Pittsburgh, you got to 
sit down and sort of have this conversation like, “Uh, Craig’s pretty good, but like they won’t do 
the things he says, so what should we do?” Sure, you can make trades, you can cut guys, you can 
do whatever you want, but the easiest thing is usually firing the coach. Instead, what the Leafs 
have done is they work hard. They mind their P’s and Q’s defensively (most of the time) and they 
make it not fun for you. Heavy on the forecheck, heavy in front of the net, both nets. A key 
piece of the puzzle like yeah, Matthews just looks ridiculous, but the improvement in Nick 
Roy and the improvement in Dakota Joshua has been vital to all of this changing around for 
the Leafs and getting Scott Laughton back, I don’t think can be overstated. It was his first 
game. I don’t expect the world from him in his first game. He really ties the room together. 
“Traveling from PEI to see my first Leafs game on Saturday. Dare I have hope?” I hope so, man. I 
know it’s the Bruins and I know their last place in the Atlantic right now. And last time I looked 
at their roster, Marat Khusnutdinov was their top uh center. I didn’t know he was a – forget first 
line player. I didn’t know he was a center. And he’s gonna score like I don’t know four or five 
minutes into that game because I said that, you know? But if this team is playing well and 
now they have a couple days off and they have home ice, yes! They should win that game! You 
should have hope! We should all have hope! And be calm about it. 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 your friends. Once again, Easter Seals link 
in the description down below. Thank you.

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Steve Dangle recaps and analyzes Game 14 of the Toronto Maple Leafs season against the Utah Mammoth

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