GDT: Isles at Keafs- 7 p.m.SBA TV: CBC, SNO; Radio: 1050 AM

[crump]

Hutch gets the nod.
(I promised to do the Hutch GDT since he won the only other one I did.)

MAPLE LEAFS LINES

Zach Hyman-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner
William Nylander-John Tavares-Alex Kerfoot
Pierre Engvall-Jason Spezza-Kasperi Kapanen
Mason Marchment/Dmytro Timashov-Adam Brooks-Frederik Gauthier

Defence pairs
Morgan Rielly-Tyson Barrie
Martin Marincin-Justin Holl
Travis Dermott-Cody Ceci

Goaltenders
Michael Hutchinson (starter)
Frederik Andersen

ISLANDERS LINES

Lee-Nelson-Eberle
Beauvilluer-Barzal-Bailey
Dal Colle-Brassard-Kuhnhackl
Martin-Cizikas-Komarov

Defence pairs
Leddy-Pulock
Toews-Mayfield
Dobson-Boychuk


Goaltenders
Semyon Varlamov (starter)
Thomas Greiss

INJURIES
Islanders — RW Cal Clutterbuck (wrist), D Adam Pelech (Achilles).
Maple Leafs — D Jake Muzzin (foot), LW Andreas Johnsson (leg), LW Trevor Moore (concussion), RW Ilya Mikheyev (wrist).

SPECIAL TEAMS
Power play
Islanders: 19.6% (17th)
Maple Leafs: 24.4% (5th)

Penalty kill
Islanders: 81.3% (12th)
Maple Leafs: 75.4% (26th)

and finally...a prayer to the Saint of Hockey Goalies..St. Turkus of Broda

Click to read more...

 

[A1LeafNation]

Sandin in for Marincin in a few days?

Only thing holding out of the NHL is his ability to take an NHL hit.

 

[Leafs87]

Not happy about Hutch getting the start.

Also on paper that NYI team looks like a team that should as close to the bottom as they are to the top

 

[Legion34]

Sandin in for Marincin in a few days?

Only thing holding out of the NHL is his ability to take an NHL hit.

I hope not. We need as much ELC time as we can. Burning a year for a few games makes no sense to me.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Hutch going for #3 win atta boy go get it. He will win maybe even a shut out

 

[Havoc]

Isles are currently like the Bruins except they're taking L's in regulation instead of OT.

Islanders are 9-8-2 in their last 19 compared to 14-4-1 for the Keafs.

It now makes sense why Keefe decided to let Fred sneak in some rest.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

Wow Keefe is just throwing away 2 points just like that eh?

 

[Rogie]

Is playing Hutch, maybe, a kind of 'advanced stats' kind of move.

Everyone's saying, play him against a weaker team, but, from a shots/Corsi/Fenwick/Scoring chances perspective,the Isles get fewer scoring chances and fenwicks and are near the bottom of those categories.

The Isles don't win games because they are a great scoring team; in fact, they're one of the poorer offensive teams, so, maybe this is a better team to play Hutch against?

Hey, just throwin this out there !!!

 

[Kamiccolo]

Wow Keefe is just throwing away 2 points just like that eh?

Yeah. I know he only cares about the Atlantic race and resting Freddy but on the other hand we'll have to listen to Islanders acting like Hutch is Andersen and the Leafs are trash. We never face these annoying fan bases with our full roster it seems.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Wow Keefe is just throwing away 2 points just like that eh?

Freddy can't play literally every game this season.

 

[Babcocks Marner]

I don't get Hutch starting..... but who knows? Maybe he has found a renewed confidence and another win may lead to us having an actually back up again. Confidence is huge for goalies.

 

[stickty111]

Wow Keefe is just throwing away 2 points just like that eh?

You may want to stop over reacting. Andersen has played a lot and there are no back to backs coming in a while, so he needs to get in eventually.

 

[BTP]

don't play lazy and we win handedly.

time for that team to come crashing down to earth.

 

[ULF_55]

Anyone have career stats for both keepers against the Islanders?

 

[Rogue Leader]

If we hope to make the playoffs - Hutch has to win a couple of games for us. Let’s hope the boys show up. Show the Isles no mercy!!!

 

[ImpartialNHLfan]

Hutch going for #3 win atta boy go get it. He will win maybe even a shut out

A nice 4 goals against shutout is what im hoping for. 6-4 leafs.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

You may want to stop over reacting. Andersen has played a lot and there are no back to backs coming in a while, so he needs to get in eventually.

Freddy can't play literally every game this season.

We have like a 10 day break in 2 weeks, and have games against the Devils before the break and the Sens after. In fact it would've made more sense for Hutch to play against the Oilers Monday than today. We've already wasted way too many points this year, I don't really understand playing a guarantee loss against a good team.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

We have like a 10 day break in 2 weeks, and have games against the Devils before the break and the Sens after. In fact it would've made more sense for Hutch to play against the Oilers Monday than today. We've already wasted way too many points this year, I don't really understand playing a guarantee loss against a good team.

I mean maybe Hutch still plays those games? It also it isn't a guaranteed loss lol.

 

[stickty111]

We have like a 10 day break in 2 weeks, and have games against the Devils before the break and the Sens after. In fact it would've made more sense for Hutch to play against the Oilers Monday than today. We've already wasted way too many points this year, I don't really understand playing a guarantee loss against a good team.

Andersen has had a heavy work load, and you need to play Hutchinson.
Pretty simple.

 

[Schenn]

Jabba the Hutch

 

[Kamiccolo]

About the game, Isles seem extra motivated against the Leafs. They know more eyes on on them than usual. But they've been playing meh lately. And they lost one of their top blueliners.

Best case scenario we can get them to try and play run and gun with us. Otherwise hopefully if they try and shut us down their injuries show.

We have like a 10 day break in 2 weeks, and have games against the Devils before the break and the Sens after. In fact it would've made more sense for Hutch to play against the Oilers Monday than today. We've already wasted way too many points this year, I don't really understand playing a guarantee loss against a good team.

Maybe they are going to try and mostly rest him for a month? Between xmas break and a lighter schedule and some meh teams, it's a good chance to give him a ton of rest and bring his projected games played down from 70 to 60.

Rest him into Feb and then slowly increase the work load. Try and replicate the way he plays in season where he can be meh in Feb and get hot near the end of March and into April.

Or maybe Freddy is banged up? There are always reasons for this.

 

[Welsh Maple Leaf]

JT hatty

 

[A1LeafNation]

Interesting experiment.

This definitely not a Babcock coached team anymore.

 

[A1LeafNation]

We have like a 10 day break in 2 weeks, and have games against the Devils before the break and the Sens after. In fact it would've made more sense for Hutch to play against the Oilers Monday than today. We've already wasted way too many points this year, I don't really understand playing a guarantee loss against a good team.

Andersen should have to play every January game...that's what leads to 65+ games.

There are no back to backs in Jan.

 

[Kingstondude84]

Not happy about Hutch getting the start.

Also on paper that NYI team looks like a team that should as close to the bottom as they are to the top

I don't have a problem with it- Freddie has struggled the past 5, giving up 3 plus goals in 4 out of 5, and posting sub 900% in 3 of those. It seems Freddie is burning out a bit, you can't just ride him like a mule the rest of the way and expect good results, if he needs a breather, he needs a breather. Hutch isn't great either, but its not like the Isles are a good offensive squad given they are 23rd overall in GF, nothing wrong with starting him tonight.