![]() Taking Engvall’s previous spot with their top-line duo of Anders Lee and Bo Horvat is Swedish rookie Simon Holmstrom. Tonight will be Engvall’s third game on a line with veterans Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri. In the three games since he has two goals, two assists, and seven shots on goal while averaging 15:46 of ice time. Things quickly looked up, however, and he scored in his next game and got more of a regular shift. He started his tenure on the Islanders’ top line with Bo Horvat and Anders Lee and stuck there for three games before getting benched for an entire second period and finishing his third game with only 8:23 of ice time. While Pierre Engvall’s start in Long Island hasn’t exactly been seamless, he has thus far been a very worthwhile investment for Lou Lamoriello and his staff. It’s not something that has been done very often in Keefe’s tenure (Matthews played a little over four games with Micheal Bunting and Ondrej Kase in the first half of last season) but considering that the trio of Kerfoot-Matthews-Jarnkrok was the only line to generate any respectable volume of chances at five-on-five, it’s not surprising to see them stick with it tonight. Possibly the most interesting thing that Keefe and his coaching staff decided to change in the second half of the Friday-Saturday back-to-back was keeping both Mitch Marner and William Nylander off of Auston Matthews’ line. At forward, Noel Acciari is ready to go after missing a game and will rejoin one of Sheldon Keefe’s favourite pairings in David Kampf and Zach Aston-Reese. Tonight, with T.J Brodie scratched after sustaining a minor injury while blocking a shot against Ottawa, it’s the d-corps that will have to deal with some shakeups. While none of this is more than a small excuse for their underlying numbers dipping, it has no doubt made things more difficult for the team. Then, the night they decided to go back to a full four-line setup, Noel Acciari’s night off forced Wayne Simmonds back into the lineup. ![]() Ryan O’Rielly’s injury was the tipping point, as it arguably made it easier for the coaching staff to play seven defensemen, which then took away most of the consistency and normalcy at forward. Through all the talk lately of the Leafs‘ underlying play and how their ability to control the run of play has plummeted since the trade deadline, one thing has been a constant - change. After winning back-to-back games despite being heavily out-chanced in both contests, the Maple Leafs head to Elmont to face an Islanders team that has won five of seven (7:30 p.m.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |