Marner Gets Three Points In Leaf's Win

(Above) Mitch Marner gets three points in last night's win over Columbus

Mitch Marner continues his hot streak as he got a goal and two assists last night in a 4-2 Toronto Maple Leaf's win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

John Tavares opened the scoring at 2:22 of the first period.

Tied 1-1, Tavares scored again at 18:04.

Marner scored the lone goal of the second period  at 9:46 to put the Leafs ahead 3-1.

 Frederik Gauthier scored at 13:44 of the third period to make it 4-1 Leafs.

Artemi Panaren closed the gap 4-2 at 18:32, but it wasn't enough. 

Preview: Islanders Verses Leafs

Tonight 7 p.m. EST.

Scotiabank Arena, Toronto.

Tonight, John Tavares faces his former team, the New York Islanders, for the first time since signing a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1.

Drafted first overall by the Islanders in 2009, Tavares spent nine seasons in New York before joining the Leafs.

Players To Watch:

NYI: Matthew Barzal, Josh Bailey

Barzal has five points in a three game point streak.

Bailey has six points in his past six games.

TOR: John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Nazem Kadri.

Tavares has 11 points in six games.

Marner has 12 points in his past six games.

Kadri has eight points in his past six games.

Injuries:

New York Islanders

Andrew Ladd - Lower Body.

Jordan Eberle - Undisclosed,

Thomas Hickey - Upper Body.

Toronto

Zach Hyman - Sprained Ankle,

Tyler Ennis - Broken Ankle,

Frederik Andersen - Groin.

Preview: Panthers Verses Leafs

Tonight 7 p.m. EST.

Scotiabank Center, Toronto.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are going for revenge tonight after losing to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, (Dec. 15).

The Panthers, however, have won three straight.

The Leafs are 2-2-2 in their last six games and have allowed four or more goals in their last four games.

Players To Watch:

FLA: Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Evgenii Dadonov.

Barkov has 15 points in his past  11 games.

Huberdeau has 25 points in his past 14 games.

Dadonov has 14 points in his past 12 games.

TOR: Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri, and Morgan Reilly.

Marner has three goals in his past two games.

Matthews has 13 points since returning from injury.

Kadri has five assists in his past five games.

Reilly has nine points in his past nine games.

Injuries:

Florida

Jamie McGinn - Back,

Derek McKenzie - Shoulder,

Vincent Trochek - Ankle,

Nick Bjugstad - Upper Body.

Leafs Show How Bad The Devils Are

(above) Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown (below) had three assists last night.

It was really obvious last night that the New Jersey Devils have been terrible lately.

The Toronto Maple Leafs not just beat the Devils, the team crushed New Jersey.

In front of their home crowd at the Prudential Center in New Jersey, the Devils got hammered 7-2.

Both Toronto's Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown finished the night with three assists.

John Tavares scored Toronto's first goal at 6:01 of the opening period.

Toronto went ahead 3-0 with goals by Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau.

Sami Vatanen scored New Jersey's first goal at 18:44 of the first period.

1:45 into the second period, Mitch Marner scored to make it a 4-1 game.

With just three seconds to go in the period,  Leaf's defenseman, Morgan Rielly, scored.

Nico Hischier scored the Devil's second goal at 14:47 of the third period.

Tyler Ennis scored back to back goals for Toronto at 16:38 and 18:30 of the third period.

Toronto host the Florida Panthers tomorrow night.

The Leafs are probably going to want a better result against the Panthers after losing 4-3 to Florida last Saturday (Dec. 15).

Preview: Leafs Verses Devils

Tonight 7 p.m. EST.

Prudential Centre, New Jersey

Tonight's battle features two struggling teams.

The New Jersey Devils are 2-4-5 in their last 11 games and has allowed four or more goals in three of their last four games..

The Toronto Maple Leafs are no better.  The team is 1-2-2 in their past five games.

Players To Watch:

TOR: Jake Gardiner, Mitch Marner, and Auston Matthews.

Gardiner has 10 points in his past seven games.

Marner has 24 points in his past 17 games.

Matthews has 11 points in his past eight games.

NJD: Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri

Hall returns from injury tonight.

Hall has eight points in his past seven games and leads his team in points with 31.

Palmieri has five goals in his past five games and leads the team in goals with 17.

Injuries:

New Jersey

Corey Schneider - Abdominal Strain,

Joey Anderson - Broken Ankle,

Stefan Noesen - Undisclosed. 

Preview: Leafs Verses Lightning

Tonight 7:30 p.m. EST.

Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida.

There's a good possibility that the Toronto Maple Leafs are in trouble tonight.

You see, the Tampa Bay Lightning have won eight straight games.

Lightning's goalie, Andrei Vasilevski has returned from injury and is going to start in net tonight.  He missed 14 games because of a fractured foot.

Players To Watch

TOR: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner

Matthews has 11 points in a six game point streak.

Marner has 13 assists in his past eight games.

TB: Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov

Stamkos has seven points in his past two games.

Kucherov has 27 points in 14 games.

Injuries:

Tampa Bay

Anton Stralman - Upper Body

Marchand Has Three Assists In Bruins Win Over Leafs

(Top) Brad Marchand got three assists in Saturday's game.

Nothing went right for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at TD Garden in Boston.

The Boston Bruins had complete control of the game right from the start.

The Bruins ended up defeating Toronto 6-3.

The Bruins were dominant enough that the team chased Leaf's goalie, Frederik Andersen, out of the game.

Toronto didn't score their first goal until the third period.

Before Toronto got on the scoreboard, the Bruins went ahead 4-0 with goals by Jakob Forsbacka, David Backes, Torey Krug, and Danton Hainen.

Travis Dermott scored Toronto's first goal at 4:03.

Auston Matthews scored Toronto's second goal.

Toronto's defenseman, Jake Gardiner had two assists.

Boston's David Pastmak also had two assists on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Pastmak's teammate, Brad Marchand, had three assists.

The Leafs now head to Carolina to face the Hurricanes tomorrow night.

Preview: Leafs Verses Bruins

Tonight 7 p.m. EST.

TD Garden, Boston, Mass.

The Toronto Maple Leaf's winning streak need on Thursday night when the Detroit Red Wings won in overtime 5-4.

Tonight the Leafs are in Boston to face the Bruins.

The good news for the Leafs is that Boston have lost three straight games and have been outscored 12-4.

Players To Watch

TOR: Auston Matthews.

Matthews has eight points since returning from injury.

BOS: David Pastmak.

A deadly offensive player.

Pastmak has six points in five games and is the Bruins best player.

Injuries:

Boston

Jake DeBrusk - Upper Body,

Zdeno Chara - Knee,

Patrice Bergeron - Ribs,

Kevan Miller - Throat.

Preview: Red Wings Verses Leafs

Tonight 7 p.m. EST

ScotiaBank Place, Toronto, Ontario.

The Toronto Maple Leafs go for their sixth straight win tonight against the Detroit Red Wings.

William Nylander is making his season debut tonight after signing a six-year contract on Saturday (Dec. 1).

Nylander's presence is going to make Toronto's offense stronger.

Frederik Andersen isn't in goal for the Leafs tonight.  Garret Sparks is the starting goalie.

Players To Watch

Detroit - Frans Nielsen, Gustav Nyquist

Nielsen has six points in five games.  Nyquist has seven points in seven games.

Toronto - Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner.

Matthews has seven points since returning from injury.

Marner has 11 assists in a five game point streak.

Injuries:

Detroit

Anthony Mantha - Hand,

Evgeny Svechnikov - Right Knee,

Trevor Daley - Lower Body,

Danny DeKeyser - Left Hand

NHL Coming To Seattle

Well, I didn't know what to think yesterday when NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman announced that Seattle was awarded a NHL franchise.

The Seattle team, yet to be named, is going to start playing in the fall of 2021.

32 teams.  Isn't there enough teams already?

Poor Quebec City.  The city was snubbed again.

There is, however, a bright spot for having Seattle in the NHL.

It'll probably create a rivalry for the Vancouver Canucks.

I have a hard time watching the Canucks.  I find the team boring.

Seattle probably make Vancouver a more exciting team to watch.

Matthews Scores Two, Including, O.T. Winner

Auston Matthews, (No. 34) scored the overtime winner last night.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are on a five game winning streak, defeating the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in overtime last night.

Auston Matthews put the Leafs ahead 1-0, 8:33 into the first period.

Sam Reinhart tied the game at 14:01.

With just 10 seconds to go in the first period, Jake Gardiner put the Leafs ahead 2-1.

There was no scoring in the second period.

Buffalo went up 3-2 in the third period with back to back goals by Jack Eichel.

Patrick Marleau tied the game at 14:47.

With just three seconds in overtime, Matthews scored the winner.

Matthews had three points last night.

Gardiner finished the night with two points.

Leaf's goalie, Frederik Andersen, stopped 38 shots again.  That's three games in a row.

Buffalo's Rasmus Ristolainen had two assists.

The Leafs head home to face the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night.

Hyman Scores Two In Leaf's Fourth Straight Win

(Top) Zach Hyman scores two last night.

It was a heck of battle, but the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-3 last night at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota.

Auston Matthews scored the opening goal on a power play at 6:06 of the first period.

Tyler Ennis put the Leafs ahead 2-0 just a little over six minutes later.

Eric Staal made it a 2-1 game near the end of the first period.

Jordan Greenway tied the game 5:17 into the second period.

At 14:38, Zach Hyman score his first of two goals of the game to put the Leafs ahead 3-2.

9:38 into the third period, Jason Zucker tied the game.

Nazem Kadri, who has been having trouble scoring lately, finally got a break last night.

Kadri scored Toronto's fourth goal at 16:40.

Hyman sealed the deal by scoring an empty netter at 19:04.

Minnesota out shot Toronto 41-23.

Leaf's goalie, Frederik Andersen stopped 38 shots last night.

Red hot Leaf, Mitch Marner, had another two assists last night.

Minnesota's Mikael Granlund also had two assists last night.

Toronto takes on the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. 

Preview: Leafs Verses Wild

Tonight 7 p.m. EST.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are seeking their fourth straight win tonight as the team faces the Minnesota Wild.

The Leafs have scored four or more goals in their last three games.

Toronto is also 10-3-0 in their last 13 games.

The hottest Leaf now is Mitch Marner.  He is on fire.

In three multi point games, Marner has eight assists.

As for Minnesota, the Wild has lost two in a row and has allowed four or more goals in three of their past four games.

Minnesota's hottest player is veteran, Zach Parise.  He has five points in a six game point streak.

Injuries:

Toronto

Ron Hainsey - Face.