LFR19 – Game 23 – IntensitEaston – Maple Leafs 2, Blue Jackets 1(OT)

LFR19 – Game 23 – IntensitEaston – Maple Leafs 2, Blue Jackets 1(OT)

I’m not going to lie to you, dude. I would hope not. I don’t even know what to do. Like, what do you mean? Like, when the Leafs win, you do a thing in your videos. Like, you do a thing. You have a thing. Oh, yeah. What was that thing? It’s something with your arms. Yeah. It’s like a It’s like It’s like It’s like that. I don’t I don’t think I’ve been doing that for like how many years. It’s like your least win or something like We can just go back and watch. You’re going to have to scroll. Let’s go. It starts with an A and ends with anxiety. Off the charts levels of passion. It’s just a nightmare. You’re the man going to become with you wherever you are. Welcome to LFR. Oh, I remember now. Lease win. 2-1 in overtime over the Columbus Blue Jackets. And I think that means something. Victory puppy. The Leafs finally reached their 10th win of the season. I’m donating $20 to the Humane Society of Durham Region for every win. So, tonight I’m going to send $200 to the Humane Society of Durham Region. I encourage you to match that, but it doesn’t have to be Durham Region. That just happens to be where I live. Or or consider a donation to my Movember page because we are there’s so little to grab. There’s uh not much time left in Movember and the STDPN guys and I are trying to beat Michael Pazetta and he is currently whooping our bottom. And by the way, I should probably promote the fact that we interviewed Michael Pazetta on the Steve Dangle podcast on Monday. It was great and he’s great. Leafs won this game. Let’s talk about it. So, here’s the thing. I think you’re going to look at the some results of this game and like there’s a few lazy ways to view this game. Number one, you’re going to look at the shots overall and be like, “Oh, the Leafs must have been bad in this game.” And it’s partially true. They were bad for a bit of this game. Or you’re going to just be like, “You know what? A win is a win and I don’t care. Hooray team.” I tend to side with a win is a win. Hooray team. Because when you’re last place in the conference, you don’t get to be picky about wins. And to give you an idea of how tight the Eastern Conference is, yeah, I’m cheesed about the Leafs being in last in the Eastern Conference, too. Oh, wait. Whoa. Whoa. Wait. With that win, the Leafs move up to second last in the Eastern Conference. Two points behind uh Florida. What? Yeah, it’s uh it’s tight in the East. Okay. Anyway, all that to say, the Leafs have a record of 1010 and three, which isn’t good, but I’m not sure it’s bad enough for second last in the conference. That’s Bman 500. Do you want an idea of how many overtime and shootout games there have been leaguewide this season? There are 32 teams in this league. How many of those 32 teams do you think have fewer wins than regulation losses? So, we’re not counting overtime and shootout losses. How many teams have fewer wins of any kind than regulation losses after the Leafs won this game? The answer is five, which means 27 out of the league’s 32 teams are 500 or better, which is a lie because that’s impossible. I’m pretty sure if the bottom five teams lost every single game combined, that would be impossible. The Leafs and the Oilers are dead even. Buffalo, St. Louis, Vancouver, Calgary, Nashville are the only teams with fewer wins than regulation losses. On one hand, the Leafs have to knock out five teams in order to move into the final wildcard spot in the East. On the other hand, the Leafs are now three points back. Has this season gone well? No. Has the record been good? No. Have they even looked good while achieving said bad record? No. And yet, this is why almost nobody’s selling right now. Nashville and Vancouver, those are the only two teams that have basically said anything about being open for business. Everyone else still has a shot, like a good shot, like a you’re one hot week away shot. And I’m trying to have a ton of optimism in this video because there hasn’t been very much this season. And part of the frustration is guys, you’re screwing it up and you don’t need to be. You’re right there. Here’s the good news coming into this game. The Leafs got an entire forward line back. Nick Wah, Matthew Ny, Austin Matthews, all back in the lineup. Blue Jackets do get Zack Winsky back, but they don’t have Marchenko. This game is yours for the taking. I saw Max doy was moved to the wing and I was like a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. You have a beautiful voice. Thank you. Nice Matthews Doy like it was always meant to be from day one with Doy on Matthews right wing where he has had success because he’s not an NHL center. I don’t care how many people are hurt. Stop playing him there. Anyway, uh Tavvaris, uh with Willie and Eastston Cowan, big opportunity for the kid. Robertson and McMahon back on the wings, but with Nick Wah in the middle. Eh, nah, not the biggest fan of that line. I do like Robbie in the top six. And a fourth line of Steven Laurent, Scott Lton, and Cali Yarn Cro. Sammy Bla placed on waiverss. My guess is he goes back to the Habs, Matias Machelli, and Dakota Joshua. The healthy scratches. That’s a topic for another time, but summer Brad uh not so great. My guess is he’s on the phone. So, the first period doesn’t go the greatest, but the Leafs survive it. And when I say survive, I don’t mean they were bad and they held on by the seat of their pants. I mean, they got jobbed by the refs. Jobed. And I try to save my bullets when it comes to that. I try not to I try not to be like the officiating was particularly egregious in this game. I don’t always succeed, but the Blue Jackets got three power plays in the first period. One was the third one was perfectly legitimate, but we were all fed up by that point. The first one kind of trumped up charges on Oel, who has the worst whistle for any veteran in the entire league. And the second one, which was the penalty against Dakota Mermis, which was straight up madeup nonsense. Now, sometimes you’re going to disagree with calls, right? You’re you’re going to disagree. I thought this was one thing. You thought it was another. Okay. Sometimes a ref misses a call. And you know what? It’s a fast game out there. You’re going to miss calls. But the call against Mermis was a call concocted from thin air, from pure imagination. And you know what? After American Thanksgiving, you know, once everyone starts playing a little Mariah Carey and that Christmas music, who doesn’t get full of a little imagination and wonder, the magic of Christmas time, but I didn’t want that in my stocking. I’ll walk you through it. Here’s what led to the first Blue Jackets power play. There were only three goals in this game. I feel like I can do this. Cole makes a save. The Blue Jackets get in his kitchen. Charlie Coyle cross checks Oliver Ecman Larson in the chest. Ecman Larson punches him in the face. Now, you can’t do either of those things. Miles Wood comes out of nowhere and grabs Oel around like the neck, jaw, whatever you want. So Oel punches him in the face. I will put my hand up and say I wholeheartedly endorse both punches to the face. It’s a first period. It’s a tie game. Someone cross-checks you, punch them in the face. If someone grabs you around the neck and face in any context, actually, not just hockey, punch them in the face. Two wrongs don’t make a right. But maybe next time they’ll think about who they do the wrong to. Here were the penalty calls. Oliver Ecman Larson, two minutes cross-checking Charlie Coyle. That that’s made up and wrong. Oliver Ecman Larson, two minutes for roughing Miles Wood. Valid. Miles Wood, two minutes for roughing Oliver Ecman Larson. And that’s it. The Blue Jackets got a power play out of that. You could argue what Charlie Coyle did after the whistle happens all the time and isn’t usually a penalty, which is more of a commentary on how normalized crosschecking is in the NHL because it is so professional. But even that, I’m like, okay, I disagree with the call, but I understand. The next Blue Jackets power play, I wish I could just show you the whole sequence, but I can’t because the NHL is just flatly behind other leagues in North America. Maybe one day they’ll catch up. I’m going to show you as many screen grabs as I can without the video getting flagged. If you look to the right of the screen there in front of the net, Dakota Mermis is basically wrestling with Zack Aston Ree. While mid wrestle, Zack Aston Ree puts his arms around Dakota Mermis’ legs and Veronov comes in and shoves down Mermis who falls down because he’s got a grown man wrapped around his legs. Here’s the next screenshot. Dakota Mermis is that white helmet that you might see under a 200 plus pound man who has both hands on the back of his head. Oh, and just for good measure, as Dakota Mermis is trying to stand up, Zack Aston Ree has him in basically a onearmed guillotine choke. That’s another one, by the way. You’re going to notice it more and more as you watch. The NHL basically doesn’t call cross checks anymore. The NHL also has a huge headlock problem. A lot of players are starting to do it. It’s bad. Here are the penalties on that play. Dakota Mermis roughing Zachary Aston Ree. I didn’t know he was going by Zachary these days. Now, did the NHL make the refs available after the game? Well, no. They’re subprofessional. They don’t even like announce like a poorly typed out report at the end of the night. They’re pathetic. But the players got to take grief when they do a bad job. And they also got to stand in front of the mic when they do a bad job. I think the refs in this game should at minimum take some grief for the bad job they did. Scoutingtheresfs.com puts up the refs for any given game on any given night. They’re an incredible website. And Carter Sandlac and Chris Schlanker, you have to do a better job. You did a terrible job in this game. At best, the Oliver Ecman Larson call is simply not one that you make every single night. It’s not. And there’s no justification for the fairy tale nonsense that is the Dakota Mermis penalty that came without a corresponding Zack Aston Ree penalty. You made that up. No, I’m not out here looking for a makeup call, which hilariously for the rest of the game, there were only two more penalties and they both went against Columbus. Blue Jackets fans should be mad, too. They were both legitimate penalties, but those were the only ones going on all night. Come on. Anyone could assume that they looked at the footage from the first period and went, “Oh, we did a terrible job. Let’s try to make it up to the Leafs.” And then they did. And if that’s the case, then you had a bad game start to finish. It wasn’t even just a bad first period. You stink. But of course, I’m just a guy sitting here and assuming because that’s all any fan can do. Anyway, no goals in the first period because of the Leafs penalty kill. It was incredible. They got outshot by the Blue Jackets, but they also had three penalty kills to none, which is going to affect the period. And they come back in the second and they look much better. Outshooting the Blue Jackets 9 to7. And would you look at that, the Leafs got the only power play of the second period. Otherwise, it would have been even up at even strength. Seven seven shots. The more this game wore on, the more it became a goalie duel. Zacharensky would score a goal, or at least he thought, because they were a kilometer offside. Maybe not a kilometer, it was like a foot, but I don’t know. In terms of offside challenges, that’s pretty big. So, that comes back. Joseph Wool is bailing the Leafs out time and time again. Jet Greavves at the other end, he’s looking great, just like he did the last time. I’m telling you, I’ve been beating the drum on this guy for a while. He’s the future in net for Columbus. Then we go to the third period, and this to me was the Leafs one legitimately bad period of the game. Over the past five games, the results haven’t exactly been there for the Leafs, but they’ve been playing better. The one thing that’s been consistent though over those games, their third period’s been awful. Like, they look better, better, better, and they fade. The Blue Jackets outshot the Leafs 14-6 in the third. And that’s with the Leafs getting the only power play of the period. And then a breakdown in the offensive zone. And I felt sick for Max Doi, who I thought had a really good game. He goes to pass it to the point. It’s broken up by Miles Wood. Zach Rinsky picks it up. It’s a threeon two going the other way. I don’t think anyone did anything wrong here. I think it was an oddman rush and an elite player. He walks in. He knows he can beat Wool. He’s already done it tonight. It just didn’t count. And he rips it again. One- nothing Blue Jackets in the third. You have aspirations of two points dancing in your head. And now it looks like you’re going to get another goose egg. You have six and a half minutes to rescue this thing. And so the second line gets out there. East Cowan, he’s been having a great night. I think he leads the team in should have been goals, which um is is lovely in the moral victory game, but he’s got one goal on the season. Don Tvarus is obviously a damn hero. And then there’s William Knander, who got yelled at by Craig Breub again because he was invisible heading into the sequence. He had 17 minutes and one shot on goal, but a magical play that was kind of not allowed happen in the corner. The Leafs go to get the puck. Zack Winsky is chasing the puck and oh, Eastston Cowan stands in his way. Is that a pick? Yeah, you can go back and watch that game. And anyone who watched this game intently, the Blue Jackets did that all night. And I’m saying that as a compliment because that’s what good teams do, especially in the playoffs. They set picks and the amount of times they pushed guys wide off the rush, especially to Matthew Ny, they were doing like quarter and half interference calls all night long. And the standard set from the beginning of the game is they’re not going to call it. Part of your job as an NHL player is to be like, what are they going to call? And if they tell you something’s allowed, you should believe them. And if that thing is effective against your opponent, you should keep doing it. The Blue Jackets did it all night. I have no problem with Eston Cowan doing it here. He’s just lucky he didn’t get the rookie whistle. So, the play goes on. John Tvaris battles until he falls down like he always does. Gives it to William Knander who throws it in front to East Cowan who squirts away from everyone. Yeah, the cowboy. East Cowan ties it. Dude, that shot is nasty. I don’t think you realize how nasty that shot is. I didn’t when I watched it. Belief’s Tik Tok account posted an alternate angle from the like far corner. Oh, does Cowan rip this thing and it’s far corner. I thought he beat Grief’s short side. Oh, is this thing nasty? And he knows it. Huge Syntatist is what it was. And this thing goes to overtime. Now, uh, the Leafs did almost intentionally seem to try to screw it up and Joseph Wool bailed them out many, many times. He was far and away the best player in this game. I haven’t seen it yet, but he better have gotten the belt. And this thing goes to OT. Austin Matthews, I thought had a pretty good game in this one. He was getting his shots. He was getting his attempts. He, you know, was getting back into it. He wasn’t optimal. He’s been what he’s been for a while now, which is a pretty good, effective player, but like we need you to be a superstar. Well, the Leafs have the puck in the dying seconds of overtime, and he hops over the bench. He attacks the net with a head of steam. And what’s hilarious is I look at the assists on this goal and it was Oliver Ecman Larson and Matthew Ny which means Matthew Ny got one of my favorite things in hockey and that’s a bench assist. He gave it to Oel before going onto the bench and Matthews subbed on which means he got an assist while sitting on the bench. I love when that happens. It never happens but I love it. Matthews attacks gets it to Willie and it happens in a flash and it’s a bit of a breakdown from the Blue Jackets but look what’s set up here. The Blue Jackets are screwed right now. Utterly screwed. Willie has the puck and if Greavves drifts a little, Willy’s gonna score, which he did. And you might be like, “Oh, Greavves.” Uh, but like if he doesn’t drift a little, the reason he’s drifting is Matthews has his stick in the air for the one T, which Willie could give him at a at the blink of an eye. You got to wonder if that was Matthew’s plan the whole time, like just hopping off the bench. Whatever it was, it worked. And the Leafs get the most valuable two points of the season so far. I was going to do questions, but like this video’s already run way too long. Producer Drew, I’m so sorry. I’m very excited to talk about a win for a change. So, let me just say this. Movember, there’s only a few days left. Gosh, this is disgusting. Please donate to my Movember page. Movember is raising funds for men’s mental and physical health. Look at this. Look at this thing. This is not a beautiful mustache. I grew it for Movember. So, please donate. Link in the description down below. 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 the Leafs are three points out of a playoff spot. And like they’re one week away from the playoffs, which means they’re like two weeks away from the conference, three weeks away from the president’s trophy. The Avalanche can kick rocks. They can kick mountains also.

Support Mens Health: https://ca.movember.com/mospace/15182986?mc=1&utm_medium=share&utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=copy-clipboard

Steve Dangle recaps and analyzes Game 23 of the Toronto Maple Leafs season against the Columbus Blue Jackets

NEW BOOK!: https://www.harpercollins.ca/9781443469968/hockey-rants-and-raves/
BECOME AN SDP VIP! https://www.youtube.com/sdpn/join
SDPN: https://www.sdpn.ca/
ADVERTISE WITH US! https://sdpn.ca/sales/
SDPN DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/MtTmw9rrz7
AUDIOBOOK: https://bit.ly/2GIgYya