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  • TXHT – 10/16/2018

     

    Join Michael as he breaks down the past week for the Washington Capitals, NHL, and NWHL.

     

    You can watch TXHT Live next Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • News & Notes – October 16th, 2018

    NHL

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, these are your news and notes for Tuesday, October 16th, 2018.

     

    There were four contests in the NHL yesterday.

    • The Montreal Canadiens scoring was hot in their 7-3 rout of the Detroit Red Wings, their sixth consecutive win over Detroit.Johnathan Drouin recorded his fourth multi-goal game of his career and his first as a member of the Canadiens, one of which occurred on his second career penalty shot attempt.

      Brendan Gallagher would also register a goal in the contest, his 11th goal in 18 career games versus Detroit. He has also scored seven times in the current six game win streak against the Red Wings.

      Tomas Plekanec would also play in his 1,000th career NHL game.

       

    • Plekanec also became the fourth player in Montreal history to record a goal while in his 1,000th NHL game.
    • In Toronto, the Toronto Maple Leafs are continuing to be an offensive machine with the line of Kasperi Kapanen, Auston Matthews, and Patrick Marleau all found the score sheet. The line combined for three goals and two assists in the Maple Leafs 7-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.Kapanen entered the season with ten points in 55 career games. Kapanen has register four goals and four assists thus far this season in just seven games.

      With Patrick Marleau also scoring his first goal of the season on a power-play, he now ranks seventh place in game wining goals, sitting five shy from Brendan Shanahan (109).

      Auston Matthews has been on fire thus far for the season and this game was no different. Matthews registered his seventh straight multi-point game and at least one point in the last 17 regular-season contests. By registering his seventh straight multi-point game in as many games, he joined a very special class.

    • Ottawa Seantors D Maxime Lajoie and F Brady Tkachuk scored two of Ottawa’s first four straight goals to lift the Senators to their second straight win and a record of 3-2-1 on the season in a 4-1 rout of the Dallas Stars.This game would also be noteworthy for Lajoie as no Senators defenceman has registered more points in their first six games with the franchise.
    • In the final contest of the evening, Nashville Predators Filip Forsberg scored the game-winner to give himself four goals and two assists as well as giving Nashville their third consecutive win on the season. Nashville, 5-1-0, has earned at least five wins in six games for the third time in franchise history and the second time in four seasons (5-1-0 in 2015-16). Nashville would defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-2.

     

    There are eight games on the NHL schedule tonight…

    Oct_16th_Schedy-16120857 (1).jpg

    Image courtesy of NHL and NHL Public Relations

     

    In NHL news today…

    • The Arizona Coyotes announced that C Alex Galechenyuk has been cleared for contact but the return for on-ice action has not yet been determined.

     

     

    You can watch TXHT Live next Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • 10/15/2018 – Los Angeles Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs

    10/15/2018 – Los Angeles Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs

     

    Los Angeles Kings (2-2-1 2pts) v, Toronto Maple Leafs (5-1-0 10pts)

     

    Lineups:

    Toronto:

    Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau
    Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman
    Pars Lindholm – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown
    Andreas Johnsson – Frederik Gauthier –  Josh Leivo

    Morgan Rielly  –  Ron Hainsey
    Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev
    Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

    Garrett Sparks
    Frederik Andersen

    Scratched: Tyler Ennis , Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

    Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

    Suspension: None

    Los Angeles:

    Aaron Iaffalo – Anze Kopitar – Ilya Kovalchuk
    Tanner Pearson – Adrian Kempe – Tyler Toffoli
    Jaret Anderson-Dolan– Jeff Carter – Mike Amadio
    Kyle Clifford – Nate Thompson – Trevor Lewis

    Drew Doughty – Derek Forbort
    Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez
    Dion Phaneuf – Paul Ladue

    Jack Campbell
    Peter Budaj

    Scratched: None

    Injuries: Jonathan Quick (Lower-Body), Dustin Brown (Finger)

    Suspension: None

    Gameday:

    https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1051933391283662854

    https://twitter.com/LAKingsPR/status/1051980673161056258

    First Period:

    Leafs Goal – 00:46– Kasperi Kapanen (3) from Jake Gardiner (5) and Auston Matthews (5)

    Leafs Goal PPG – 19:38– Patrick Marleau (3) from Josh Leivo (1) and Jake Gardiner (6)

    Kings Penalty – 04:23 – Kyle Clifford, 2 mins for High-Sticking

    Kings Penalty – 18:11 – Adrian Kempe, 2 mins for Holding

    End of 1st – TML – 2         LAK – 0

    Shots              9                     10

    Faceoffs     11/20                11/20

    Hits               8                      9

    PP                 1/2                   0/0

    Analysis:

    Leafs took over the first period from the beginning and just controlled every facet. Kapanen scores again tonight with some fantastic speed and a beautiful pass from Matthews.. Great defence and fantastic goaltending from backup Garett Sparks.

     

    Need to Do:

    Keep the pressure on.  Sweet passing messed with the defensive game.

    https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1051995527443664897

    https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1051995006578413568

    Second Period:

    Kings Goal – 03:38– Ilya Kovalchuk (2) from Aaron Iafallo (3) and Derek Forbort (2)

    Leafs Goal – 08:32– Mitch Marner (4) from John Tavares (5) and Zach Hyman(5)

    Leafs Penalty – 9:05 –Mitch Marner, 2 mins for Slashing

    Leafs Penalty – 12:11–Mitch Marner, 2 mins for Slashing

     

    End of 2nd – TML – 3          LAK – 1

    Shots              8                    15

    Faceoffs       18/40             24/40

    Hits               18                     20

    PP                 1/2                    0/2

     

    Analysis:

    Gave up 1 goal and took a couple of questionable penalties but Sparks came up big again and helped keep the door shut.

     

    Need to Do:

    Stay out of the box. Eventually you will get burned if not.

    https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1052004454092890113

    Third Period:

    Leafs Penalty – 2:10 –Frederik Gauthier, 2 mins for Hooking

    Leafs Goal – 07:45– Kasperi Kapanen (4) from Auston Matthews (6)

     

    End of 3rd – TML – 4         LAK – 1

    Shots              7                   10

    Faceoffs     29/60                31/60

    Hits               26                     29

    PP                 1/2                    0/3

     

    Analysis:

    The most complete game they’ve had all season. Offensively, Defensively and goaltending. This is the way they need to play to win.

     

    https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1052031679542382593

    Next Up:

    Pittsburgh (2-1-1 5pts) at Toronto (6-1-0 12pts)

    NYI (2-2-0 2pts) at Los Angeles (2-3-1 5pts)

     

    You can watch TXHT Live today at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

     

  • News and Notes: October 15th, 2018

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, these are your news and notes for Monday, October 15th, 2018.

     

    There were three contests in the NHL yesterday.

    • Kyle Palmieri recorded two goals, his third consecutive multi-goal outing, to lift the New Jersey Devils over the San Jose Sharks with a 3-2 victory. In addition, Palmieri became the fourth player to record multi-goal games in each of his team’s first three games to kick off the regular-season campaign.

      Also in this contest, Joe Pavelski became the fifth player in NHL history to record at least 700 career points for a player drafted after the 200th overall pick.

     

    Sunday’s results

    • New Jersey 3, San Jose 2
    • Anaheim 3, St. Louis 2
    • Winnipeg 3, Carolina 1

     

    In NHL action today:

     

    In NHL news:

    The Three Stars of the Week were announced earlier today:

    • The NHL Department of Player Safety had a phone hearing with Florida Panthers D Mike Matheson for his interference/unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Vancouver Canucks F Elias Pettersson earlier today. With this hearing, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Matheson has been suspended for two games.

     

    In NWHL news:

    • The NWHL announced the Player of the Week is Lexi Bender. Bender was dominant on both sides of the ice, recording two assists in Boston’s 5-1 win over the Metropolitan Riveters. She carried plays amongst her units in almost every shift on the ice.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    • The Metropolitan Riveters will raise their 2017-18 Isobel Cup championship banner before their contest on Saturday against the Minnesota Whitecaps at 2 p.m. ET.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

     

     

    You can watch TXHT Live tomorrow at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • Game Day Preview: Montreal Canadiens vs Detroit Red Wings

    Game Day Preview: Montreal Canadiens vs Detroit Red Wings

     

    Game time: 7:30 Pm.

    Montreal Canadiens- (2-1-1)

    Detroit Red Wings (0-3-2)

    The Canadiens will face a win-less Detroit team tonight after erasing a 2-0 deficit on Saturday Night vs Pittsburgh to win 4-3 in a shootout. Unfortunately for the Canadiens the flu bug seems to be going around the locker room as Andrew Shaw in questionable for tonight’s game with the flu. Carey Price will be the back-up tonight and according to coach Julien Niemi was scheduled to start anyway.  Tomas Plekanec will play in his 1,000 career game tonight for the Habs.

    Here are the lines for tonight’s game:

    Forwards

    Tomas Tatar-Phillip Danault-Brendan Gallagher

    Jonathan Drouin-Max Domi-Artturi Lehkonen

    Paul Bryon- Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Joel Armia

    Charles Hudon-Tomas Plekanec-Matthew Peca

    Defencemen

    Victor Mete- Jeff Petry

    Mike Reilly-Noah Juulsen

    Xavier Ouellet- Jordie Benn

    Scatches: Andrew Shaw, Jacob De La Rose, Nikita Sherbak

    How the Habs can pick up the W

    The Habs were able to bounce back on Saturday Night in Pittsburgh. Coming into tonight’s game the Habs should be rolling with confidence. Obviously Antti Niemi will look to have another solid start in net for the Habs. With that said no matter how he plays I expect to see Price back between the pipes on Wednesday Night.  The Habs first line looked very good on Saturday and basically got the Habs back in the game. Tonight will be a good test to see how all four lines are able to play against a struggling Red Wings team.

  • Gameday Preview:  Los Angeles Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs

    Gameday Preview:  Los Angeles Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs

     

    Time: Monday, October 15th 2018

    Toronto: 5-1-0 for 10 points

    Los Angeles: 2-2-1 for 5 points

    The Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings come together for a battle of high flying prolific offence vs hardcore shutdown.  The Kings have started off the season mediocrely at 2-2-1 and only scoring 11 goals in 5 games. But this is nothing new for Kings as their defensive system does not allow for much offence. While the Leafs come back home flying high after defeating the Stanley Cup Champions 4-2.

    This will be a different challenge for the Leafs, as the Kings have a way of shutting down big offences. Toronto will probably have to try and win this one in a one goal game and I’d be shocked if otherwise.
    The Kings do have a couple big injuries goaltender Jonathan Quick and gritty forward Dustin Brown, these guys are instrumental in the success of the Kings. Jack Campbell or Peter Budaj will be thrust into the starting role tonight against the Leafs.

    Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

    Auston Matthews – 14 points (10 goals 4 assists) 58% on Face-offs
    Morgan Rielly – 13 points (3 goals 10 assists)
    John Tavares – 10 points (6 goals 4 assists) 47% on face-offs
    Mitch Marner – 10 points (3 goals 7 assists)

    Aaron Iaffalo –4 points (2 goals 2 assists)
    Tyler Toffoli– 4 points (1 goal 3 assists)
    Ilya Kovalchuk, Carter – 3 points (1 goal 2 assist)
    Jake Muzzin – 3 points (3 assists)

    Garrett Sparks
    1-0-0 6.00GAA .806SV%

    Jack Campbell
    2-2-0 2.31GAA .938SV% 1SO

    Lineups & Injuries

    Toronto:

    Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau
    Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman
    Pars Lindholm – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown
    Andreas Johnsson – Frederik Gauthier – Josh Leivo

    Morgan Rielly  – Ron Hainsey
    Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev
    Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

    Frederik Andersen
    Garrett Sparks

    Scratched: Tyler Ennis, Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

    Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

    Suspension: None

    Los Angeles:

    Aaron Iaffalo – Anze Kopitar – Ilya Kovalchuk
    Tanner Pearson – Adrian Kempe – Tyler Toffoli
    Jaret Anderson-Dolan– Jeff Carter – Mike Amadio
    Kyle Clifford – Nate Thompson – Trevor Lewis

    Drew Doughty – Derek Forbort
    Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez
    Dion Phaneuf – Paul Ladue

    Jack Campbell
    Peter Budaj

    Scratched: None

    Injuries: Jonathan Quick (Lower-Body), Dustin Brown (Finger)

    Suspension: None

    4 Keys to Winning against Los Angeles:

    1. Use the middle of the Ice
      1. The Kings will play a trap style, to try and stop you from using the middle of the ice. But Crisp passing, and not being afraid to use the middle of the ice will help in breaking the defensive setup of the Kings.
    2. Win faceoffs in the Defensive End
      1. The Kings will try and cycle you in the defensive end and force you to ice the puck and tire your top lines out. They are built for the playoffs, win draws and get out of the zone quick.
    3. Depth reliability
      1. Leivo, Kadri, Brown, Gauthier, Ennis, Kapanen & Johnsspon need to continue on. Nice showing on Saturday against the Capitals. They showed that they can really take it heavy to other teams bottom two lines with their speed, strength and scoring ability
    4. Capitalize on the Man-Advantage
      1. If the Leafs get the extra man, it needs to go in the back of the net. You may not get very many chances to score.

     

     

    You can watch TXHT Live tomorrow at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • News and Notes: October 14th, 2018

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, there are your news and notes for Sunday, October 14th, 2018.

     

    There were 14 games on the NHL schedule and then there were 2 games on the NWHL Schedule.

    First in NHL action…

    • Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs went on to defeat the Washington Capitals 4-2 at Capital One Arena. In the contest, Auston Matthews went on to extend his consecutive point game streak to 16 contests with 28 points. Matthews also became the sixth player to register multiple points in the first six games of the season.TXHT has your game recaps of Toronto versus Washington here.
    • In his fifth game of NHL action, Rasmus Dahlin registered his first NHL goal and became the youngest defenceman to register a goal. With his goal, Dahlin joined Phil Housley as one of 11 defenceman to register a game winning goal before their 19th birthday.
    • Connor McDavid collected two points on Saturday to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers. McDavid has factored in all of Edmonton’s five goals on the season thus far. There are only four other players that have factored on more than five goals to start off a season.
    • Justin Williams registered the game-tying goal and assisted on the game-winner in overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes over the Minnesota Wild. This would be Williams second game where he registered three points for the season. Carolina would also register 57 shots on goal, the third-highest in franchise history. The record is 65 shots, which occured on March 15, 1984.
    • The Montreal Canadiens went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins for their first home win of the season.

     

    TXHT and Last Word on Hcokey’s contributor Armand Kilsvitch has your recap of this contest here

     

    Yesterday’s results:

    • Edmonton 2, NY Rangers 1
    • Vegas 1, Philadelphia 0
    • Ottawa 5, Los Angeles 1
    • Boston 8, Detroit 2
    • Carolina 5, Minnesota 4 (OT)
    • Tampa Bay 8, Columbus 2
    • Vancouver 3, Florida 2
    • Toronto 4, Washington 2
    • Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 3 (SO)
    • Nashville 5, NY Islanders 2
    • Dallas 5, Anaheim 3
    • Chicago 4, St. Louis 3 (OT)
    • Buffalo 3, Arizona 0
    • Calgary 3, Colorado 2 (OT)

     

    Today there are three games on the NHL slate…

    Oct_14th_Schedy-14020422

    Image courtesy of NHL and NHL Public Relations

     

    In NWHL action yesterday…

    • The Boston Pride went on to defeat the Metropolitan Riveters 5-1 last night. The defending Isobel Cup champions struck first but the Pride went on to score five unanswered goals. Amanda Kessel scored the lone goal for the Riveters. Boston’s McKenna Brand registered her first professional goal just a minute into the second period. Both teams traded penalties but neither team would take advantage the power-play chances.During the third period, Boston would explode with four goals. Dana Trivigno netted the game winner off of a pass from Hayley Skarupa. The duo would team up again but this time Trivigno set up a Skarupa goal to give Boston the 3-1 lead.

      Pride D Lexi Bender assisted on the team’s final two goals with Jillian Dempsey and Emily Field scoring the fourth and fifth goals, respectively.

      Boston G Katie Burt registered 17 saves in the contest and Riveters G Katie Fitzgerald registered 33 saves off of 38 shots.

      Boston will return to Warrior Ice Arena hosting the Connecticut Whale on October 20th. The Metropolitan Riveters will look to get a win when they face off against the Minnesota Whitecaps at Prudential Center on October 20th.

    Boston Pride wins in season opener

    • The Buffalo Beauts would shut out the Connecticut Whale, winning 7-0 at HarborCenter yesterday afternoon. This would be the first time that the Beauts have recorded consecutive shutouts in team history.Beauts rookie D Savannah Harmon opened up the scoring in the contest with a goal 9:06 off of a pass from Dani Cameranesi. This would be Harmon’s first goal of her career. Annika Zalewski would score her first professional goal 42 seconds later.

      The second period would be very quiet between the two teams until midway through the frame when Buffalo F Maddie Elia would jam the puck between Merri Räisänen’s pads that would trickle over the goal line.

      When the second period would come to a close, Buffalo had registered 24 shots and the Whale would register 13 shots.

      Buffalo would open up the scoring more in the third period with Zalewski, Hayley Scamurra, rookie Julianna Iafoll, and Corinne Buie all scoring goals.

      With this win, Beauts G Shannon Szabados recorded her first NWHL shutout as well as her first NWHL win.

      Buffalo will next play a set of games against the Minnesota Whitecaps on October 27th and 28th. The Whale looks to get their first win of the season next Saturday night, October 20th, when they take on the Boston Pride.

    Buffalo Beauts shutout Connecticut Whale

     

    In NHL news…

    • Duncan Keith played in his 1,000th NHL game yesterday.
    • The NHL Department of Player Safety announced the Florida’s Mike Matheison will have a hearing for his interference/unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson tomorrow.

     

    In the NWHL…

    • Metropolitan Riveters F Madison Parker was released from a Boston area hospital and that she did not suffer a serious injury from yesterday’s game. Updates on her status will continue to be updated, per the NWHL.

     

    You can watch TXHT Live this Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • Montreal Canadiens Rally to Beat Pittsburgh Penguins

    Montreal Canadiens Rally to Beat Pittsburgh Penguins

     

    The Montreal Canadiens have defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in a SO. Montreal who was down 2-0 after the first rallied back to win in a shootout. Tomas Tatar played a great game and was rewarded with three points. Jonathan Drouin who hasn’t done much all year scored the game-winning goal in a shootout. Niemi looked okay and made a few key saves down the stretch to get the Habs the W.

     

    Good Things for the Habs:

    Tomas Tatar with two goals and an assist looked very good. He will be a strong part of the Habs power-play this season.

    The Habs finally scored on the powerplay which is a good sign moving forward. Mike Reilly and Victor Mete looked very solid on the offensive end and those two could make up for Weber in his absence.

    Disappointments

    Antti Niemi had a shaky game allowing three goals on a mere 28 shots

    Andrew Shaw for the second straight game takes away a Habs goal. Tonight it was the go-ahead goal by Victor Mete

    Habs had a 5-3 for about a 1:45 and couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the net.

    The Habs are back in action Monday as they hope to have Carey Price back as they face the Red Wings.

  • 10/13/2018 – Toronto Maple Leafs v. Washington Capitals

     

    Toronto Maple Leafs (4-1-0 8pts) v. Washington Capitals (2-1-1 5pts)

     

    Lineups:

    Toronto Maple Leafs:

    Patrick Marleau — Auston Matthews — Kasperi Kapanen

    Zach Hyman — John Tavares — Mitchell Marner

    Par Lindholm — Nazem Kadri — Connor Brown

    Josh Leivo — Frederik Gauthier — Andreas Johnsson

    Morgan Rielly — Ron Hainsey

    Jake Gardiner — Nikita Zaitsev

    Travis Dermott — Igor Ozhiganov

    Frederik Andersen

    Garret Sparks

    Scratched: Justin Holl, Martin Marincin, Tyler Ennis

    Injured: None

     

    Washington Capitals:

    Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Chandler Stephenson

    Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie

    Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly

    Dmitrij Jaskin — Nic Dowd — Devante Smith-Pelly

    Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

    Michal Kempny — John Carlson

    Brooks Orpik — Christian Djoos

    Braden Holtby

    Pheonix Copley

    Scratched: Madison Bowey, Nathan Walker, Jayson Megna

    Injured: Travis Boyd (lower body)

    Suspended: Tom Wilson

     

    First Period:

    Capitals Goal – :18 – Chandler Stephenson (1) from Evegeny Kuznetsov (5) and Alex Ovechkin (2)

    Capitals Penalty – :40 – Jakub Vrana 2 minutes for Hooking

    Maple Leafs – 5:56 – Travis Dermott 2 minutes for Interference

     

    End of 1st – TOR – 0       WAS – 1

    Shots              9                   10

    Faceoffs         7                  12

    Hits               4                    12

    PP                 0/1                 0/1

     

    Analysis:

    Capitals (Michael):

    The Capitals got a good start by getting a quick goal 18 seconds into the game. Plus the Capitals are doing a good job of playing the body and making it difficult on the Maple Leafs. However, they are leaving the slot open, and the Maple Leafs are taking advantage of that, but Braden Holtby has been on top of his game.

     

    Toronto (Steve):

    The Maple Leafs played a lot of this period in the Caps zone. Played a pretty decent defensive game and a solid puck possession game. There was not much to hate about this period. Other than 18 seconds into the period a defensive lapse led to a very easy tap in.

     

    Need to Do:

    Capitals (Michael):

    The Capitals need to play better in their own zone and protect the crease area better. They allowed the Maple Leafs one too many golden chances to tie this game and they need to play tighter. The Capitals also need to break through Toronto’s neutral zone trap and generate some more chances in the offensive zone.

     

    Toronto (Steve):

    The Maple Leafs need to continue to play their game. They hit a post and Holtby robbed Kasperi Kapanen point blank as well as Zach Hyman and John Tavares. This game could easily be 2-1 Toronto, stick to the game plan.

     

    Second Period:

    Maple Leafs Goal – 3:30 – Kasperi Kapanen (2) from Ron Hainsey (2) and Auston Matthews (4)

    Maple Leafs Penalty – 4:17 – John Tavares 2 minutes for Tripping

    Capitals PPG – 4:39 – Evgeny Kuznetsov (4) from Nicklas Backstrom (6) and Alex Ovechkin (3)

    Capitals Penalty – 8:22 – Lars Eller 2 minutes for Slashing

    Maple Leafs Goal – 18:53 – Par Lindholm (1) from Jake Gardiner (3) and Connor Brown (1)

     

    End of 2nd – TOR – 2        WAS – 2

    Shots               14                  19

    Faceoffs          16                 19

    Hits                 10                  19

    PP                   0/2                  1/2

     

    Analysis:

    Capitals (Michael):

    This was a very good period for the Capitals. They tightened up defensively and capitalized on their lone powerplay of the period. However, they did give up two goals this period, and gave up the second one late in the period which let’s Toronto back into the game.

     

    Toronto (Steve):

    The Maple Leafs took a step back this period. Too many giveaways against a dangerous team like Washington. Toronto was trying to be too pretty. Washington came out to push the tempo and did exactly that. Yet the score remains 2-2.

     

    Need to Do:

    Capitals (Michael):

    The Capitals need to stick to the script. They tightened up defensively and caused the Maple Leafs to cough up the puck several times, but a defensive lapse late in the period allowed the Leafs to tie the game at 2.

     

    Toronto (Steve):

    Puck possession is the game plan and the Leafs had zero of it in that period. They need to attack the defence don’t let them carry the puck out of the zone. Be aggressive. Cycle. Don’t be fancy.

     

    Third Period:

    Capitals Penalty – 5:47 – Michal Kempny 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Maple Leafs PPG – 6:28 – Josh Leivo (1) from Andreas Johnsson (1) and Jake Gardiner (4)

    Maple Leafs Penalty – 7:44 – Nikita Zaitsev 2 minutes for Holding

    Maple Leafs Goal – 18:21 – Auston Matthews (10) from Kasperi Kapanen (4) and Morgan Reilly (10)

     

    End of 3rd – TOR – 4         WAS – 2

    Shots              28                   27

    Faceoffs        23                    26

    Hits               14                     28

    PP                 1/3                    1/3

     

    Analysis:

    Capitals (Michael):

    After two strong periods for the Capitals, they laid a dud in the third. For the first 15 minutes of the third period the Maple Leafs dominated the Capitals. However, after the Leafs took the lead for the first time tonight, that was when the Capitals started forcing the play. Too little too late though as Auston Matthews would net his 10th of the season to secure the 4-2 win for the Leafs. Capitals need to play a full 60 minutes to guarantee a win in this League, and the Capitals did not do that tonight.

     

    Toronto (Steve):

    The Leafs once again came out flying throwing 13 shots at  Braden Holtby and containing Alex Ovechkin, who was clearly frustrated. The depth of the leafs came through tonight with Kasperi Kapanen , Par Lindholm and Josh Leivo and of course Matthews puts the icing on the cake. Frederik Andersen was shaky the first 2 periods but came up big in the 3rd. The defence looked solid tonight and its beginning to round in to form. Igor Ozhiganov looks like he’s is hard to take the 6th defender spot hard and looked fantastic tonight.

     

    Next Up:

    Washington (2-2-1 5pts) v. New York Rangers (1-4-0 2pts)

    Toronto (5-1-0 10pts) v. Los Angeles (2-2-1 5pts)

     

    You can watch TXHT Live next Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • News and Notes: October 13th, 2018

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, these are your news and notes for Saturday, October 13th, 2018.

    There were no games on the NHL slate yesterday.

    Today there are 14 games in action.

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    Image credit to NHL and NHL Public Relations

     

    In the debut of the NHL European Game of the Week, the Edmonton Oilers visit the New York Rangers at 7:30pm ET

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    Also, for Hockey Night in Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. and at 10 p.m., the Calgary Flames take on the Colorado Avalanche.

    TXHT has your preview of the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Washington Capitals here and here.

     

    In NHL news, Duncan Keith is set to play in his 1,000th NHL game today.

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    In the NWHL…

    The Connecticut Whale face off against the Buffalo Beauts in the Twitter Game of the Week at 1:30 p.m., ET

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    In the nightcap at 7:30 p.m., ET, the Metropolitan Riveters take on the Boston Pride.

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    You can watch TXHT Live next Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.