Leafs @ Islanders - Feb. 28th, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

@

39-20-4, 82 points | 36-19-7, 79 points

Projected Lines

Hyman-Tavares-Marner Johnsson-Matthews-Kapanen Marleau-Nylander-Brown Ennis-Gauthier-Moore Rielly-Hainsey Muzzin-Zaitsev Marincin-Holl Sparks ​

Lee-Nelson-Eberle Ladd-Barzal-Komarov Beauvillier-Filppula-Bailey Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck Leddy-Boychuk Lelech-Pulock Toews-Hickey Lehner​

Scratches

Igor Ozhiganov Nic Petan Nazem Kadri ​

Tom Kuhnhackl Ross Johnston Scott Mayfield Luca Sbisa Dennis Seidenberg ​

Game Notes

TOR
?Sparks (7-4-1, 2.86 GAA, .908 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?Toronto's injury woes continue. It was announced after Edmonton's game that Dermott, like Gardiner, will be out week to week. Martin Marincin will be called up and he'll play on a pair with Justin Holl
?John "I have 15 more goals and 17 more points than your leading scorers and am enjoying a career year playing alongside elite players for the first time ever" Tavares will make his return to Long Island. A polite reception from the locals is expected

NYI
?Lehner (19-10-5, 2.10 GAA, .930 Sv%) will likely start for the Islanders
?Lehner's career season continues: since December 18th he's 15-4-2 with a 1.75 GAA and .941 Sv%
?Barzal's scoring has dried up a little recently: he has just 4 goals and 7 points in his last 15 games. Surely playing with Leo Komarov, who has 1 goal and 5 points in his last 24 games, will jump start his offence

Injuries

?Nazem Kadri - Concussion - Day to day ?Jake Gardiner - Back - Injured Reserve ?Travis Dermott - Shoulder - Injured Reserve​

​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1100955387308769280

 

[ZBBM]

You've been itching to get this GDT off the launch pad, haven't you?

 

[ZBBM]

Uncle Leo is going to waste us.

 

[herman]

Marincin and Holl finally, but I should?ve specificied that I didn?t want it at the expense of Gardiner and Dermott going down.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Marincin and Holl finally, but I should?ve specificied that I didn?t want it at the expense of Gardiner and Dermott going down.

Stupid monkey's paw.

 

[herman]

Marincin and Holl finally, but I should?ve specificied that I didn?t want it at the expense of Gardiner and Dermott going down.

Stupid monkey's paw.

How the heck do we lose those two before a Hainsey injury?! Old man strength is real.

 

[Kin]

I have to be honest, a small part of me was rooting for a minor Tavares injury.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1100955387308769280

Michael Landsberg clarified with Babcock, and it means that the only opinions that matter are those of family.

 

[Redleaf]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1100955387308769280

Michael Landsberg clarified with Babcock, and it means that the only opinions that matter are those of family.

I took it for an age/size/maturity thing. If your knees don?t touch the bottom of the table when sitting down you?re too young to have a valued household opinion. ?? In other words, grow the F up islander fans still bashing Tavares decision and hard earned right to move on from Long Island.

The guy gave a 100% all out effort for years as an Islander and for the Islander fans, and didn?t leave anything on the table when he played there. Will we see a reaction that endorses his effort and love for New York when he steps onto the ice tonight???? 

Ha!

The only thing that will hopefully save this from being a complete bloodbath is the fact that the islanders are having a much better season without JT than anyone expected. Man, I can?t imagine if they were sitting in the league basement when the Leafs and Tavares came rolling into town. Then there?d be a riot .

 

[WAYNEINIONA]

I'm just hoping we survive this game without losing another player.
Tavares will have a bullseye on his back tonight.

 

[Zee]

Oh yeah, I totally forgot there was a game tonight, it hasn't been talked about in the media at all.  ;D

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/sunhornby/status/1101138029924704256

Henny coming in clutch!

 

[Bullfrog]

I'm just hoping we survive this game without losing another player.
Tavares will have a bullseye on his back tonight.

Will he really, though? Being an elite player he's always the attention of opposing teams. I think it's primarily the idiot fans that are the problem. By most accounts, he's a bland, team-player, kinda guy. I bet he's got a lot of friends still on the Islanders.

 

[Zee]

I'm just hoping we survive this game without losing another player.
Tavares will have a bullseye on his back tonight.

Will he really, though? Being an elite player he's always the attention of opposing teams. I think it's primarily the idiot fans that are the problem. By most accounts, he's a bland, team-player, kinda guy. I bet he's got a lot of friends still on the Islanders.

He does, some of the Islanders were at his wedding this past summer

 

[WAYNEINIONA]

I'm just hoping we survive this game without losing another player.
Tavares will have a bullseye on his back tonight.

Will he really, though? Being an elite player he's always the attention of opposing teams. I think it's primarily the idiot fans that are the problem. By most accounts, he's a bland, team-player, kinda guy. I bet he's got a lot of friends still on the Islanders.

I hope you're right.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'm just hoping we survive this game without losing another player.
Tavares will have a bullseye on his back tonight.

Will he really, though? Being an elite player he's always the attention of opposing teams. I think it's primarily the idiot fans that are the problem. By most accounts, he's a bland, team-player, kinda guy. I bet he's got a lot of friends still on the Islanders.

I hope you're right.

I mean the Leafs have already played the Islanders once and nothing happened. Not sure why this would be much different.

 

[Kin]

If you look back in history, or even at sports beyond hockey, it's really hard to find examples of cases where players left teams as free agents and it created bad blood with other players.

I feel like this is one of those weird transposing fans do whenever players negotiate salaries or the like where they expect players to have relationships with teams the way we do. Players know it's a business. None of us would just stop being friends with someone we worked with if they took another job.

 

[Zee]

I'm just hoping we survive this game without losing another player.
Tavares will have a bullseye on his back tonight.

Will he really, though? Being an elite player he's always the attention of opposing teams. I think it's primarily the idiot fans that are the problem. By most accounts, he's a bland, team-player, kinda guy. I bet he's got a lot of friends still on the Islanders.

I hope you're right.

I mean the Leafs have already played the Islanders once and nothing happened. Not sure why this would be much different.

On ice nothing will be different, only the hyped up angry crowd will make it seem crazy.  If a nut in the crowd throws some dangerous object trying to hit Tavares or something things could get out of hand, but I think players on both teams would be quick to protect each other.  All these guys have friends on various teams and know that on-ice safety is paramount.  They won't stand for any crowd shenanigans despite what colours they wear.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

On ice nothing will be different, only the hyped up angry crowd will make it seem crazy.  If a nut in the crowd throws some dangerous object trying to hit Tavares or something things could get out of hand, but I think players on both teams would be quick to protect each other.  All these guys have friends on various teams and know that on-ice safety is paramount.  They won't stand for any crowd shenanigans despite what colours they wear.

Even if some (probably drunk) fan decided to do this, the odds of them actually connecting on the throw from like 100+ feet away seems pretty much at zero. (Coincidentally the same odds of the Leafs missing the playoffs hey-ooooh)