The Marlies host Syracuse for Game 6 trailing 3-2, the Senators continue to defy the odds, Canada bounces back with a win over Norway, and more in the links.
Leafs/NHL Links
Marlies Host Must-Win Game 6 Monday Night (Marlies.ca)
The Marlies will look to utilize home ice advantage after dropping Game 5 on the road. The Marlies are 4-0 at home so far during the postseason and will look to keep that streak alive in front of a full house at Ricoh Coliseum. The Marlies will look to continue firing pucks at the net and looking for opportunities in tight. Toronto has outshot Syracuse in each of the past three games and found success in putting away second chances in Games 3 and 4.
[Paywall] How Robidas became integral member of Marlies staff (The Athletic)
If you take an informal poll of the Toronto Marlies young defencemen, most of them are in awe — and a little bit puzzled — as to why they are fortunate enough to be working with Stephane Robidas. They are aware of his contract situation. They know he collected a $3-million paycheque from the Maple Leafs to not play this season and could have just stayed at his home in Sherbrooke, Que. Instead, the Marlies are benefiting from Robidas’ 15 years of NHL experience, learning from a veteran who understands the game on another level and is willing to impart his knowledge every day.
Maple Leafs fan Dart Guy hanging up the darts (Toronto Sun)
I’m the guy formerly known as the Dart Guy,” Maslakow told the Toronto Sun about an hour after having what he hopes is his last cigarette. The 37-year-old is a pack-a-day smoker who picked up the habit at 16 years of age. He shot to infamy after being spotted in the crowd during a playoff game between the Leafs and Washington Capitals last month with a blue maple leaf painted on his face and an unlit smoke dangling from his mouth.
Scoring wingers? Maple Leafs have more than enough (Toronto Star)
The Leafs have plenty of scoring wingers, including Brown, who got to 20 this year. And if any of their scoring wingers get hurt, they’ve got plenty more on the farm: Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson, Brendan Leipsic, Seth Griffith, to name a few. They’d all hit the 15-20 range if given Brown’s minutes and opportunity.
Adam Brooks’ season ends without a cup (PPP)
In his post draft season, Adam Brooks has shown that the Toronto Maple Leafs may have some future centre depth after all. His 130 point campaign followed up a draft where people questioned the Maple Leafs picks – they were too old, too off the board, too big, too slow – and showed he was more than someone passed over 302 times before.
Looking at the unique way the Senators deploy forwards (Sportsnet)
Incredibly, head coach Guy Boucher used 16 different forward combinations during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. No wonder the first thing winger Bobby Ryan does when he arrives to the rink is check the lineup board with the thought: “How are the ping pong balls coming today?” “It’s different,” said Ryan. “You know he’s going to get everybody involved. So, at times, sometimes you get lost in the shuffle where you’re moving down the bench and you’re wondering who you’re going with.”
The Senators playoff run is still hard to believe, even for its fans (Sportsnet)
Before last week, it would have been hard to identify a Senators team that had achieved this much, but who were less beloved, even among their own partisans. Listen in over the Senators Twittersphere, and you can still sense that the roster, as constructed, is filled with question marks, also-rans and underachievers.
Do Senators have ’93 Canadiens magic? (Sportsnet)
This is starting to get a little bit of a 1993 Habs vibe, isn’t it? After Saturday’s Game 1 win, the Senators have now won six overtime games in seven attempts. That’s not quite within range of Montreal’s infamous 10-of-11 stretch that culminated in Canada’s last Stanley Cup, but it’s getting there. And the Senators might be getting to a Stanley Cup final of their own if it keeps up.
Pens work on simplification, power play (NHL.com)
“It’s just heightened awareness and mindset to put the puck on the net,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “When we had our film session we showed them a number of different opportunities where we felt we could have put the puck on the net and chose not to. “I think it’s something that’s crept into our game for the last few weeks and I think we have to simplify our game a little bit.”
Canada back on track (IIHF.com)
The win puts Canada back on top of the Group B standings, but as significantly the loss eliminates Norway from the quarter-finals. It can now finish no higher than fifth in the group. “It’s Team Canada,” said Anders Bastiansen. “We knew they were going to spend a lot of time in our zone. I don’t think we were aggressive enough in our own end. We gave them too much time in the beginning. Our goalie did a great job and kept us in pretty much the whole game. We were just not good enough.”
This lead to an assist on the bomb by Parayko pic.twitter.com/tHDqxQXmeo
— Flintor (@TheFlintor) May 15, 2017
