Pre-Game Talk: Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs | SN | October 8th, 2014 | 7:00PM

[Cor]

Don't think so.

The lines today will likely be what we see Wednesday, and Kozun was with Kadri and Lupul

 

[Bardown warrior]

God i hate the habs... wanna see us carry on the annual tradition of us beating them on opening night. Go Leafs Go

 

[senor martinez]

Seeing Winnik, Santorelli, Clarkson and Komarov in the lineup makes me happy.
We really had an upper hand on the habs two seasons ago.. Orr, Frazer, Fraser and others really pummeled them smurfs down. So if ether Orr or McLaren aren't playing I'm glad there are other guys like mentioned above doing the job. A physical approach has always worked out very well for us. We do have the hand again.

 

[mattyboy]

God i hate the habs... wanna see us carry on the annual tradition of us beating them on opening night. Go Leafs Go

Feelings mutual.
In all honesty, Habs fans are expecting to lose. We just want to see a good game overall.

 

[Territory]

Komarov Santa and Clarkson could be a really solid line.

Will certainly piss the other team off lol.

 

[mikebel111*]

i've been suggesting for a while 2nd line should be
JVR/Sant/Kadri

Sant takes the faceoffs and then switches with Kadri on offense

Nice to know your not the coach.

 

[Kyle Doobas*]

Nice to know your not the coach.

 

[Duffman955]

Toughest guy on the team is Clarkson...

 

[Thadtheimpaler]

Even though I know a lot of us don't like it. I expect to see Clarkson start on the Lupul-Kadri line because management/coaches mentioned a few times during the off season they were going to give him another shot and expected a strong rebound year so he'll get his chance to prove it was just a bad year. I am fully aware though, that it is the opinion of many on this board including myself that Clarkson really is not a top6 forward and probably shouldn't be playing with Kadri whom should have skilled wingers. All I am saying is that is what I think will end up happening not what should end up happening. I hope I am wrong though and he kills it and lights it up with Kadri and Lupul but I have my doubts as I'm sure we all do.

I would be very happy if Clarkson hits 15 goals this year and plays a strong physical game.

I would hope he gets more than 15 goals on that line however if he does not produce he will not be on that line for long, If he is on the 3rd line what are the expectations for point totals.

I can't believe I'm typing this but GO LEAFS GO. You guys have a new fan…for this year

 

[ThrillinPhil]

When is the last time the Habs beat us on opening night? Im not being cocky or arrogant with that statement, but it seems we always have their number on opening night.

 

[Milan the God*]

When is the last time the Habs beat us on opening night? Im not being cocky or arrogant with that statement, but it seems we always have their number on opening night.

2009-10. In overtime.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I can't wait to see Bernier play. He looks like he could have an even better season than last. Maybe a GAA between 2.00 and 2.20 with a save % close to .930. I think he is going to be great. I don't expect a regression. Maybe it sounds silly, but he looked really sharp as a tack in preseason. I sense some greatness from him.

 

[Galchenioretty]

well, last year was price's best year by far.

he's no lock to repeat it.

2013-14 59 GP, 34-20-5, 2.32, .927, 6 SO is "by far" better than

2010-11 72 GP, 38-28-6, 2.35, .923, 8 SO?

He's no guarantee to repeat his performance for sure (no goalie is really guaranteed to be elite statistically except Rask and Lundqvist) but last year wasn't his first year at an elite level.

 

[crump]

So lines from today...

JVR. Bozak Kessel. (18 minutes)
Lupul. Kadri. Kozun (leafs tv had kozun on the left side) (15 minutes)
Komarov. Santorelli Clarkson (15 minutes)
Winnik. Holland. Frattin (12 minutes)

Phaneuf. Robidas
Gardiner. Rielly.
Percy. Polak

Lots of skill on the top two lines

I think with Komarov and Santorelli digging out loose pucks and finding Clarkson coming into the slot is going to be that lines MO.

If Frattin can play like he did against Detroit...simple with some physicality that will be a good solid 10-12 minute line as well

 

[Warden of the North]

Toughest guy on the team is Clarkson...

Clarkson's pretty brave, and that can go a long way. Give credit where credit is due, hes taken on legit heavyweights.

 

[crump]

Clarkson's pretty brave, and that can go a long way. Give credit where credit is due, hes taken on legit heavyweights.

Got caught with a good one. Once it's healed he will have no trouble putting his face on the line again. He's a warrior.

 

[GoodNewfieBoy]

The hex has been cast

Poor kid never had a chance, it's not his fault!

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Clarkson is not a true heavyweight but he wears his heart on his sleeve and you know he shows up to defend his teammates everytime he laces them up.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

So the first game is at home, on Sportsnet?

What's TVA Sports (looking at the mapleleafs.com schedule listing)?

Whose doing play by play?

Will Saturday's game be the first glimpse of the Strombo experiment?

Sunday game on CityTV.....gonna be weird. Wish Mark Dailey was still around to do some kind of lead in to the broadcast.

Hope we win! But I feel we generally win our first game (and have a good start) in recent history? Law of averages might happen...

 

[Duffman955]

Clarkson is not a true heavyweight but he wears his heart on his sleeve and you know he shows up to defend his teammates everytime he laces them up.

Yes definitely.

But I don't want him going up against the leagues big guys on a nightly basis. He is more like a Tucker type player. Tucker had Domi, Belak, Perrot as guys that handled the Heavies

 

[PuckMagi]

So lines from today...

JVR. Bozak Kessel. (18 minutes)
Lupul. Kadri. Kozun (leafs tv had kozun on the left side) (15 minutes)
Komarov. Santorelli Clarkson (15 minutes)
Winnik. Holland. Frattin (12 minutes)

Phaneuf. Robidas
Gardiner. Rielly.
Percy. Polak

Lots of skill on the top two lines

I think with Komarov and Santorelli digging out loose pucks and finding Clarkson coming into the slot is going to be that lines MO.

If Frattin can play like he did against Detroit...simple with some physicality that will be a good solid 10-12 minute line as well

Overall, I like these line combos. It could be a lot worse.

It will be interesting to see how that third line does. I like Komorov as Clarkson's other winger... but we'll have to see how Santa does in the middle. I had thought that Holland or Winnik might be better fits just because they're bigger... but Santa could be good there too, so we'll have to see how it works.

The gardiner-rielly pair i'm excited about as a fan. I'm kind of surprised Carlyle is going with this because it doesn't seem like his style. But it should be a lot of fun to watch. And those guys seem to be good friends off the ice, and they're probably excited to get to play with each other... and I always think that it helps to be able to play with your buddies and be able to have fun. Ultimately, I think it might be better to split up Gardiner and Reilly because they are our two best puck movers and we really only need one of them on the ice at a time. When I watched Polak play with Gardiner, I got the impression that there were a few times where he passes to Gardiner and it seems like he says "you take the puck and skate/pass it out of our zone, cause I hate doing that"

Kozun on the second line is a gamble... and I like that they're rolling the dice with a rookie and hoping to get lucky. Because there are a quite a few guys who are a lot more proven who could easily play on a second line. Winnik, Komorov, Frattin, Santa, etc. are all realistic options.

I think what's happening is that they're happy with the look of the 1st and the 3rd line. They're going to try Kozun on the second line and hope it works. If it doesn't work, they'll put Leivo there when he comes back and Kozen will be the 13th forward (or maybe take Frattin's spot on the 4th line). So that's probably what they're thinking at the moment. So rather than promoting one of our 3rd line players to the 2nd line RW spot, they'll try and keep everything in tact and then just rotate Kozun, Frattin and Leivo as needed. The best of those 3 gets to play on the second line. The worst gets benched, the guy in the middle plays on the 4th line. When Booth gets back, he gets thrown in the mix too. Kozun gets the first crack on the RW. If he doesn't look good, they'll either think about promoting Frattin (if he does well on the 4th line) or putting Leivo there. If none of those options work, then they might get a bit more creative.

Of course, if things don't start out well, I could see them blowing up these lines and trying something completely different (both on forward and defense).

 

[Cor]

So the first game is at home, on Sportsnet?

What's TVA Sports (looking at the mapleleafs.com schedule listing)?

Whose doing play by play?

Will Saturday's game be the first glimpse of the Strombo experiment?

Sunday game on CityTV.....gonna be weird. Wish Mark Dailey was still around to do some kind of lead in to the broadcast.

Hope we win! But I feel we generally win our first game (and have a good start) in recent history? Law of averages might happen...

TVA Sports is the french broadcaster I believe.

Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson and Glenn Healey.

No, Wednesday's will I believe

 

[zeke]

2013-14 59 GP, 34-20-5, 2.32, .927, 6 SO is "by far" better than

2010-11 72 GP, 38-28-6, 2.35, .923, 8 SO?

He's no guarantee to repeat his performance for sure (no goalie is really guaranteed to be elite statistically except Rask and Lundqvist) but last year wasn't his first year at an elite level.

yes, .004 sv% is by far.

its the difference between good or great, average or good, bad or average.

it was also the difference between price (great) and bernier (good) last year.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

TVA Sports is the french broadcaster I believe.

Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson and Glenn Healey.

No, Wednesday's will I believe

Ahhh the 'ol Hughson/Simpson/Healy thing......



So many changes coming to the broadcasts apparently, yet these guys won't go away

 

[mcleex]

Is there no more Coach's corner with Ron Maclean and Don Cherry or something?
What's this Strombo "experiment" people are talking about??