Tim Hortons Maple Leafs Cup Maple Leafs Please Play Again
Morgan Rielly is of two distinct minds when information technology comes to NHL outdoor games.
The Maple Leafs defenceman was ecstatic when his team picked up victories over the Detroit Cerise Wings in 2014 and 2017.
And then there was Toronto'south defeat to the Washington Capitals in 2018.
"Nosotros didn't play very well," Rielly recalled. "Y'all leave there and y'all call back the whole thing's dumb and yous should never be playing outside.
"The ones y'all win, it'due south like the all-time matter ever."
Rielly will play both in his and the Leafs' fourth outdoor showcase Sunday when Toronto takes on the Buffalo Sabres in the Heritage Classic at Hamilton's Tim Hortons Field.
It's near fourth dimension to encounter these <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HeritageClassic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HeritageClassic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MapleLeafs</a> jerseys in action... 👀<br><br>Cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/adidashockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@adidashockey</a> <a href="https://t.co/s6yui7hlii">pic.twitter.com/s6yui7hlii</a>
—@NHL While the game means the same as any other in the standings, it will also accept many players back to their babyhood.
"It'south very pure at its finest form," Toronto forward Jason Spezza said of hockey exterior. "My dad would drop me off at the metropolis rinks and I'd play for hours.
"That'southward where my game grew a lot. As a kid that unstructured time is amazing."
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe initially sounded like he might turn to the 25-twelvemonth-old Swede, who made seven stops in his NHL debut, with No. one option Jack Campbell out with a rib injury for at least the next two weeks.
But the job will instead fall to a netminder in drastic demand of a solid operation.
"You want to give Petr an opportunity to go back in and reply," said Keefe, who added information technology would be unfair to give Kallgren his first start in an unpredictable environment on a big stage. "Petr'south got experience playing outdoor games.
Mrazek actually wiggled off the hook Th in terms of taking the loss when the Leafs came back to tie the score before falling in overtime. His relieve percentage, still, dropped further to an ugly .884 for a team that'southward given upwardly 4 goals or more in nine of its last 11 games, including a 5-1 defeat to Buffalo on March 2 that saw Toronto booed off its ice.
"We don't feel we've been very proficient consistently enough in front of our goalies," Leafs captain John Tavares said. "We've got to have his back and exercise everything we can to exist solid in front of him."
Campbell, meanwhile, had an .865 salvage per centum in his terminal 13 appearances before existence sidelined.
"Spotlight is what it is," Keefe said of Toronto's crease conundrum. "Spotlight is deserved at this indicate, right? The goalies have got to be better, players accept got to be better in forepart of them. Allow'due south not shy abroad from the spotlight.
"Nosotros've merely got to take care of what nosotros can."
On the other side, the rebuilding Sabres should accept a spring in their pace following Th'south emotional 3-1 victory over the Vegas Gilded Knights in Jack Eichel's return to Buffalo.
The Leafs need, quite frankly, to start playing improve if they're serious about challenging for elevation spot in the Atlantic Division and avoiding the Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
Toronto, which has lost to teams well back in the standings similar Buffalo, Montreal and Arizona in recent weeks, sits six points back of Florida and one adrift of Tampa.
"It'south a little disruption in the season," said Spezza, who's prepare to return to the lineup after two games equally a salubrious scratch. "But maybe information technology's a expert disruption."
Sunday will mark Buffalo's 3rd outdoor game, and just the fourth the NHL has staged in the month of March. The league is likewise probably thankful the Heritage Classic wasn't scheduled for final weekend when temperatures in parts of southern Ontario hit 18 C. Sunday's high is expected to be around -1 C with a chance of light snow.
The Leafs have 14 players with at least one outdoor game nether their belt, while the Sabres have vii. Sun will be the NHL's 35th outdoor competition, 21st to be staged at a football game stadium, and 8th held in Canada.
Keefe said apart from the game, he's looking forward to the team'southward family skate following Saturday's tardily-afternoon practice because the COVID-nineteen pandemic has kept so many people connected to the organisation apart the concluding ii years.
"Those are the kinds of things that nosotros've actually missed," he said.
Buffalo will be the home team, although KeyBank Eye is simply over 100 kilometres from Tim Hortons Field — the 24,000-seat abode of the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats — while Toronto's Scotiabank Arena is roughly 70 kilometres to the east.
Tavares, who played 1 outdoor game as a fellow member of the New York Islanders, said the event will exist special for a number of reasons, including being and so close to where he spent countless hours on boyfriend NHLer and childhood friend Sam Gagner'south backyard rink growing up.
"We'd be out there six, 7 hours," Tavares said. "Even when it would go a piffling warmer out and he'd have the [refrigeration] pipes on keeping the ice common cold. Nosotros'd be scraping downward the slush and the water ice would be half an inch thick, just to trying to brand the most of the amount of time we had to play the game and do what nosotros love.
"Tremendous memories."
Both teams volition be looking to make more Sunday.
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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs-buffalo-sabres-nhl-heritage-classic-hamilton-1.6383240
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