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Corey Perry owns the Maple Leafs as Toronto playoff villain!

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have an unlikely weapon in veteran forward Corey Perry. As head coach Jon Cooper explained, he “has been to three straight Finals on three different teams, and that’s not a coincidence.”

While Perry did not have a strong regular season, recording a -28 rating, he’s come out strong in the first game of the postseason as he knows the Maple Leafs very well as a playoff rival. These playoffs mark the third straight time Perry has gone up against Toronto and his stats look good when he plays the Leafs.

In Game 1, Perry put up a goal and two assists, a huge improvement from his one point production in his last 25 regular-season games. He also drew two penalties in just 8:54 at 5-on-5.

He certainly knows when to bring up his game and get under the skins of the Maple Leafs and their faithfuls. Perry is already hated by the Toronto crowd and was booed before the game. If they only knew what he had in store for them…

As Yahoo Sports points out “considering Perry has averaged just 0.41 points per game over the last three seasons, his production against the Maple Leafs is notable.”

But Perry will forever remain, for the postseason in Toronto that is, the man who took out captain John Tavares in 2021. When Perry played for the Montreal Canadiens back then and faced the Maple Leafs in the first round, he collided with Tavares and took him out for the remainder of the series. He didn’t do anything wrong, it was bad luck and Perry even reached out to Tavares right after the game, but the Leafs were left without their captain and, once again, eliminated from the postseason.

And so, Perry is a vilain in Toronto, but one that is not only getting under the Maple Leafs’ skin, but also racking up points.

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Matt Martin attacks Jordan Staal and sits on him in chaotic end of period

Broadcast / Twitter

The rivalry between the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes is quickly heating up during the first round series of the Eastern Conference.

On Wednesday in Game 2 of the showdown, the end of the first period was quite chaotic.

In some weird sequence of events, it ended with Islanders’ Matt Martin cross-checking Canes veteran Jordan Staal before he sat on top of him to immobilize him while play was still going.

The buzzer finally went off and we were left to watch again this crazy attack on Staal.

This is textbook “You can’t do that”!

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Wild makes significant lineup changes minutes before puck drop!

NHL.com

Despite goalie Filip Gustavsson’s great performance in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild has just announced that Marc-Andre Fleury gets the start for Game 2.

Team insider Michael Russo for The Athletic believes the change is due to Gustavsson playing double overtime on Monday and wanting to keep him fresh. 

On Monday night, the 24-year-old Swede stopped 51 of 53 shots, lifting the Wild to a 3-2 double-overtime road win in his NHL playoff debut.

Head coach Dean Evason has repeatedly indicated he thinks there’s a role for both netminders on this run and this is what he meant as he chose to start Flower for Game 2 just moments before the start.

On top of that, forward and overtime hero Ryan Hartman will not play tonight.

Minnesota leads the series 1-0 heading into Wednesday’s Game 2 in Dallas.

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Golden Knights have reportedly sabotaged Jets’ training room!

HabsFan

There are different ways to get under the skin of your opponents, however, the Vegas Golden Knights might have found one sick way to do so against their first-round series rivals, the Winnipeg Jets.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Golden Knights and their management have reportedly sabotaged the training room reserved for the Jets at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas by removing all the pedals from the stationary bikes.

It’s not a joke. The Golden Knights are believed to have taken the time to remove one by one the pedals from the stationary bikes of the Jets players in order to prevent them from training between games.

It is also believed that it’s not the first time the Golden Knights have pulled a trick like this in Vegas. Friedman mentioned that back in 2018, during the series between Vegas and Winnipeg, the team sabotaged and played with the arena’s lighting during Jets’ practice.

Their sabotaging strategy has however fell through since the Jets won the first contest of the series, 5-1. Game 2 is set for Thursday night. Let’s see if the Golden Knights try any more such tactics over the course of the series or if the Jets response once the series shifts to Winnipeg for Game 3 on Saturday afternoon.

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Tough wakeup call awaits Matthew Knies

The Toronto Star

The Toronto Maple Leafs not only lost their opening Stanley Cup Playoff game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in dominating fashion, but also lost forward Michael Bunting for the next three. 

The feisty sophomore forward was suspended for the next three after he was thrown from last night’s tilt after catching Lightning defenceman Erik Cernak up high with what appeared to be his elbow.

“He has put himself into a bad spot, but we have options if needed and we will move things around,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said of Bunting. “We think (Matthew Knies) is a great option for us. In the games that he has played, I think he did a good job. He’s taken care of all he can do in the short amount of time he has been here.”

Not long after the decision came down from the NHL Department of Player Safety, speculation began to grow that forward Matthew Knies, who was recently inked to a three year entry level deal after completing his season at the University of Minnesota, could replace Bunting in the lineup. 

“We think he’s a great option for us,” Keefe said of Knies. “We brought him in here for a reason and gave him (regular-season) games for a reason.”

“That’d be awesome,” Knies himself stated about potentially playing in Game 2. “Every kid’s dream is to play in the playoffs and play for the Stanley Cup, so I’d be super-stoked and pumped to be a part of it and just try to contribute.”

He’ll have to expect major differences between playing at the collegiate and professional levels, however.

“Instead of a 24-year-old, you have a 28-year-old bearing down on you who’s been in the league for eight years,” Zach Aston-Reese explained. 

“Baptism by fire,” Aston-Reese continued. “You learn quick. With one game, you realize, ‘Oh, s—.’”

Tomorrow’s Game 2 between the Maple Leafs and Lightning will get underway starting at 7:30 PM EST from Scotiabank Arena. 

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Dylan Larkin says Red Wings must toughen up

The Detroit Free Press

Detroit Red Wings fans were riding high and dreaming of a postseason spot after an incredible late February 4-1 road swing that included victories over the Edmonton Oiler and Calgary Flames, followed by a complete victory at home over the contending New York Rangers.

But then, Detroit ran into a brick wall in the form of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Russian superstar made 45 saves in a Herculean shutout effort in late February, stealing the game for the Tampa Bay Lightning. But it was two straight brutal losses against the Atlantic Division rival Ottawa Senators that essentially sealed Detroit’s fate of once again being a seller at the Trade Deadline. 

Not only did Detroit lose the back to back series against Ottawa by a combined score of 12-3, but they were completely outmatched physically and offered little pushback, even when yapping Senators captain Brady Tkachuk challenged the Red Wings bench. 

General manager Steve Yzerman talked about the need to be a more physical team to play against next year in his end-of-season media remarks, and it wasn’t long before captain Dylan Larkin echoed his sentiments. 

“There were plenty of times this year I felt guys took liberties,” Larkin said earlier today. “Whoever it was, whatever their role on the other team — their tough guys — they kind of had free nights. I think that’s something that needs to be addressed, to have an answer to that.”

To Larkin’s credit, he’s shown absolutely no hesitation to mix it up with the opposition. Understandably, Detroit wouldn’t be fond of their captain and top player risking injury by fighting. And while the team did add much-needed grit last offseason in the form of Ben Chiarot, more pushback is needed. 

“You can’t have Mo Seider step up and look over his shoulder all night,” Larkin said. “But in terms of playing competitive games, where it’s just battling and competing, I think we’re there. The Ottawa games were more so where those tough guys were running around and we didn’t have an answer for it.”

“But when we stuck together, when we played hard, guys blocked shots — we had countless injuries with broken bones and guys doing it the whole season. So I thought we really competed together and you saw scrums and guys were in there together, sticking up for each other.”

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Hot mic catches some hilarious chirping between Bruins and Panthers

Sportsnet

In case you missed it last night, the Florida Panthers laid an absolute beat down on the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of the two teams’ opening round playoff series. 

It was a close game until the 3rd period when the Panthers absolutely ripped the lid off things by scoring four goals to take a commanding victory. As you might expect, tensions were running high and things got pretty chippy as the game wore on and it was clear the Bruins wouldn’t be mounting a comeback.

Just check out this clip of the two team’s chirping each other in the final minutes of the game, listen closely for a “Nice clean hit, you f***ing loser.”

That’s hockey, baby!

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NHL producing a “regular season” Awards Show

NHL

This just in, the NHL is planning a “Regular Season Awards Show” to be held this Saturday, April 22nd.


Uh… why?

Does the league really think that people give a damn about regular season accolades? What are they gonna do, hand out the President’s Trophy to the Bruins when they’re in the middle of a heated playoff battle? Give Connor McDavid his Art Ross Trophy while he’s in LA for Game 3?

Come on… just save it for the season ending awards show. Which, by the way, will also be terrible because it always is…

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Hurricanes get some brutal injury news, Rod Brind’Amour goes off!

Zuma Press

Despite earning a victory last night and a tidy 2-0 series lead over the New York Islanders, the Carolina Hurricanes received some tough news.

Forward Teuvo Teravainen will be out for the remainder of the team’s series against the Islanders, maybe longer, with a fractured hand.

Teravainen suffered the injury after receiving a slash to the hand from Islanders forward J.G. Pageau:

Suffice it to say that ‘Canes head coach Rod Brind’Amour was NOT happy with the slash and the non-call on Pageau.

That means the trio of Pacioretty, Svechnikov and Teravainen are now out long term… next man up: Jesse Puljujarvi.

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Six misconducts handed out in last 5 minutes of Stars / Wild Game 2!

Bally Sports

While it seemed that everyone was going to get a goal in Game 2 of the first round series between the Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night, there were almost as many misconducts handed out than pucks at the back of Marc-Andre Fleury’s net.

The Stars evened the series at one game a piece thanks to a statement 7-3 win in Game 2, but the ending of that contest was all over the place.

It first started off with almost five minutes to go when Wild star Kirill Kaprizov and Stars’ Max Domi got into it and started swigging heavy blows in front of Dallas’ net. Both were ejected from the rest of the game with misconducts.

Then it was Marcus Foligno and Ryan Reaves’ turns – I guess you’re not surprised – to head down the tunnel before the end of the game with misconducts of their own.

Two more players were then kicked out of the game as Wild’s Brandon Duhaime and Stars captain Jamie Benn were handed misconducts as well.


The referees surely wanted to keep some control on the game as the Wild attempted to set the stage for the third contest of the series, in Minnesota, on Friday night.

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