Leafs vs Sabres: March 5th 2018

 Believe it or not, but tonight is the first meeting of the season between the Leafs and the Sabres. They face off 4 times in the next 5 weeks. This would be better if the Sabres were, um, in the middle of a playoff race, but as it turns out, not every scorched earth rebuild works.

The Leafs head into this game on a bit of a cold streak, although they have 2 points in their last three games, they have failed to win a game on this current road trip so far. This includes a 5-2 loss in Annapolis, at the hands of the Washington Capitals. Last Monday the Leafs acquired Thomas Plekanec from Montreal and haven't won a game since. I don't think this streak is anything to be worried of as of yet. The Leafs do have an insurmountable lead (one would think) on their playoff spot. Sitting 15 points up on the Florida Panthers. MoneyPuck has The Leafs sit at a 98.29% chance to make the playoffs.

The Sabres on the other hand have won 2 of their last 3, including a 2-1 OT victory over division rival, Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins the game before. To say this season has been a season to forget for the Sabres would be a gross understatement. They handed out a huge contract to franchise player, Jack Eichel at the beginning of the year. I'm not saying that they over paid. Eichel is an excellent player, but maybe they should have waited to sign that massive 8 year 80 million dollar contract. Maybe he could have slid in at a bit of a cheaper price. The Sabres currently sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and only 1 point up on the Arizona Coyotes, for bottom spot in the league.

Mitch Marner Leads the Leafs in scoring with 53 points.
Jack Eichel leads the way for the Sabres with 53 points as well.

Matt Martin returns to the #leafs lineup in Buffalo tonight.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 5, 2018

Matt Martin gets back into the lineup tonight. Hasn't played a game since Jan 22. Let's hope this isn't a long term thing.

Stadium Series 2018: Leafs At Capitals

The Washington Capitals host The Toronto Maple Leafs, in what will be both their 3rd outdoor game in team history. This will be the second time the Caps host an outdoor game, and the second time the Leafs will be the visiting team.

Both teams happen to be undefeated in 2 previous games. On January 1st 2011 they beat the host Penguins 3-1 and on January 1st 2015, they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. 

In the two previous outdoor games the Leafs have been apart of, they beat the Red Wings both times. The first time was January 1st, 2014 at the Big House in Michigan, by a score of 3-2(SO) in front of a record crowd of 105,491 fans. Then again January 1st 2017 at BMO Field, coined as The Centennial Classic, by a score of 5-4 in OT. The red Wings tied it up late, with less than 1 second left on the clock to send the game to OT, where rookie phenom Auston Matthews scored the OT winner.

This game, part of the NHL Stadium Series, will be hosted in Annapolis, at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. On Friday, there were some heavy winds that caused the Leafs to practice indoors. The NHL claims to be monitoring the winds to make sure that the game is safe for the players.

Notes:

Ovechkin is 1 goal away from 40 on the season and 3 goals away from #600. 

Backstrom is currently only 3 games away from #800.

van Riemsdyk is 7 games away from #600 and 9 goals away from #200.

Carlson is 10 games away from #600.

Polak is 1 assist away from #100.

Big prediction by our Junior reporter.

The Great 8 vs The Great One

When Ovechkin broke into the NHL scoring 52 goals in his first season, I remember thinking to myself, "how many times does he have to do this to break Gretzky's all time goal scoring record?"

Watching him get 50+ goals year after year, I started thinking that if he could stay healthy, that maybe, just maybe, he might be able to play long enough to squeak past by a goal or two. Then, what seemingly felt like out of no where, Ovechkin, for the first time in 6 years, missed the 40 goal mark. He had three consecutive seasons where he got less than 40. One of those being the lockout shortened season in 2013 to get 32 goals in 48 games. 

After that season, Ovi was able to string together back-to-back-to-back 50+ goal seasons again. Last season was a season that he dipped back down to under 40. However he looks to be on pace for 50 again this season (as of March 3rd). That should put Ovi on pace to hit 607 goals for his career by the end of this season. 

 Wayne Gretzky had 894 goals in his incredible career. That is 297 more than where Ovechkin sits at. #99 is ahead of him by around 500 games. If you take Ovechkin's pace of goals so far, and extrapolate that to the amount of games it takes him to catch Gretzky, the math says that Ovechkin will beat Gretzky by a handful of goals. If Ovi drops his pace, and it takes him longer to reach Gretzky's goal total, than he will have to rely on playing longer to achieve this unreachable record.

Is the following out of the realm of possibilities?

Adjust them how you see fit. Maybe he breaks 50 again next year, and that allows him to score less later on down the road. 

It is still a far ways away, but it's going to be interesting to keep an eye on. Personally, I'd love to see someone challenge one of Gretzky's perceived "unbreakable" records. It will never be his point record, but his goal record, that will be interesting.