HORNBY’S MAPLE LEAFS TAKEAWAYS: Jarnkrok darn good vs. Florida
Jarnkrok #Jarnkrok
The Maple Leafs have relied on skill rather than screens to generate goals in the flashy Core Four era.
But in Thursday’s 6-2 win in South Florida, they were hanging around the blue paint like Spring Breakers at a swim-up beachfront bar.
One of the squatters was Calle Jarnkrok, hardly a power forward, but a winger who knows where the action is, as a new linemate of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. On both Matthews’ even strength goals, including the game winner, he was getting in the eyes of Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
“A great screen, just a muffin I threw at the net, but the goalie didn’t see it and I was able to pick a spot,” said Matthews. “Those are just the little things he does night in, night out that maybe go unnoticed. Just a smart player and very easy to play with.”
That’s not all of what coach Sheldon Keefe likes about Jarnkrok as the Leafs get closer to solidifying the top six for the Tampa Bay playoff series in a few weeks.
“He just fits in really well,” said Keefe. “His skill set, he plays with poise, he’s willing to shoot the puck (a career high 17 goals this term). It’s not that he doesn’t care about playing with Auston and other (stars), but if he’s in a spot to shoot and score, he does.
“His game is so efficient; he forechecks, he tracks, he’s good on defensive zone walls. And one of the things you don’t think about is if you’re going to play with Auston and Mitch, you’re going to get really difficult match-ups. It’s not just about being able to score and produce, you’ve got to be able to defend, play against the other team’s best people. And he does that no matter where he is in the lineup.”
Matthews was a dominant force from puck drop on Thursday, clearly comfortable with Marner once more a regular on his right side and both improving their chemistry every night they’re with Jarnkrok.
Matthews’ second goal and 34 th of the year came on his 1,846 th shot, which passed defenceman Ian Turnbull for eighth in franchise history and was one of two Toronto goals generated right from faceoffs. It’s one thing to dominate that stat – Leafs are third in the league at better than 53% – but immediate offence with possession is even better.
With eight minutes still to play and Toronto only up by two, Matthews’ line had a great forechecking shift, with him nearly getting a hat trick on a steal as he then out-muscled defender Gustav Forsling on a rush to the net.
MURRAY MAKING PROGRESS
While Ilya Samsonov has been home on baby watch, the Leafs have watched Matt Murray in two of the best games of his injury-hampered season. After 48 saves in the shootout win over Ottawa to start the trip, he turned aside 33 in Sunrise.
“I thought he looked great,” Keefe said. “First, our guys did a really good job in front of him. That’s a very, very dynamic offensive team and we limited their opportunities.
“But anything they did break free or look dangerous on, he made it look easy. Even the first goal they get – it goes in, but not really – he tracks it and he’s right there.”
Keefe was referring to Matthew Tkachuk’s initial shot off of Murray’s backside, his rebound snared. Unfortunately for Murray, the mesh in his catcher’s pocket revealed from the overhead camera that the puck had fully crossed the line.
TWO MAN SHOW
At 24 th in the NHL with only 204 power play chances, maybe it wasn’t a shock that it took a fast-skating team like the Leafs so long to go on their first 5-on-3 this season. It was a 71-game wait, while other teams were into double figures with the souped-up man advantage.
William Nylander and John Tavares set up Michael Bunting to make all that open ice count.
“We actually luckily practiced that a few days ago,” Nylander said. “We got on pace there. The goal didn’t end up working like we drew it up, but we’ll take it.”
For about one period, Leaf fans were fantasizing about having winger Matthew Knies signed, sealed and delivered by the weekend.
The organization’s top prospect and his top-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers were trailing underdog Canisius 2-1 in the NCAA regional finals in Fargo, N.D., which would’ve freed the point-a-game Knies and second-round pick from 2021 to hook up with fellow Arizonan Matthews. But Minnesota scored the next eight.
TUNED OUT
The Panthers did not list the name of anthem singe Ryan James in the game notes and maybe that was a good thing.
The young crooner was out of key and got lost in the lyrics of O Canada after a couple of stanzas. The many Leaf fans in attendance tried to help him to the finish line. He struggled through the American anthem as well.
Last week, when Toronto’s regular singer, Natalie Morris, had a microphone malfunction during The Star Spangled Banner, the Scotiabank Arena crowd came to her rescue and video of the mass chorus made news in the states.
PRIDE TAKES ANOTHER PUNCH
In the latest distraction of a small group of players who can’t grasp the simple underlying message of Pride Night, Panthers’ Eric and Mark Staal released a pre-game statement that they wouldn’t join mates in wearing the rainbow sweater in warmup.
What began as a gesture that only half the attending fans ever see, signifying that your team welcomes all fans at an NHL rink, has been by distorted by those believing it’s some kind of personal endorsement of values they disagree with. Everything from religion to the fear of supposed Russian retaliation has been dragged into this without much pushback from the league or players union.
LOOSE LEAFS
Joseph Woll was recalled after Wednesday’s 2-1 shootout loss by the Marlies to back up Murray. Perhaps he gets a start in the weekend back-to-back in Carolina and Nashville … Tavares needed one goal to reach 150 as a Leaf, but ended up with three assists Thursday to pass the great Rocket Richard. The captain now has 967 points … Nylander was in a season long four-game goal slump before he scored, Alex Kerfoot had not clicked in regulation since the last time he played Florida on Jan. 17, some 25 games ago, though he had the shootout winner Saturday in Ottawa. He got a nice hug from Keefe on the bench Thursday.
QUOTABLE
“That might have been the save of my life” – Murray, had video review not revealed a puck in the web of his mitt over the line, after he’d stopped the first shot with his ass.
“I hope you guys don’t mind if I sit down for this one.” — Matthews in the dressing room after absorbing a puck in a sensitive lower body area in the closing minutes. He had been hoping for a hat trick.
“We have to create our own sense of urgency.” – Keefe before the game, no doubt tired of being asked why his team has not matched the intensity of clubs fighting for playoff positions. Toronto was able to gain two points on Tampa in the battle for home ice after the Lightning lost to Ottawa, another playoff-desperate outfit.
lhornby@postmedia.com