With all due respect to Toronto’s first four opponents, Saturday night’s home ice date with the New York Rangers will undoubtedly pose as the first measuring stick game of the early season.
And it’s shaping up to be quite the doozy.
For me, the cherry on top would be Peter Laviolette electing to dress Matt Rempe. The 22-year-old tough guy, who burst onto the fighting scene last spring, has been a healthy scratch in three of New York’s first four games. I, for one, would welcome a Saturday night tilt between Rempe and Ryan Reaves. Fingers crossed.
Both teams are off to red-hot starts. The Rangers, fresh off smoking the Detroit Red Wings in a home and home by an aggregate score of 9-3 are 3-0-1. In the meantime, the Leafs have won three games in a row, following their 1-0 opening loss in Montreal.
At this point, there are select teams around the NHL who should rightfully be considered legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. Without question, New York is one of them. Just last spring, they breezed to the Eastern Conference Final before falling in six hard-fought contests to the Florida Panthers, who as we know, eventually went on to hoist Lord Stanley.
From a defensive standpoint, this will be a monster test for Craig Berube and company. The Rangers have been scoring goals at a ridiculous clip. In fact, they’ve netted four goals or more in all four of their outings thus far. The Leafs, on the other hand, have been as stingy as they come surrendering just six goals in four games.
On top of all that, the goaltending matchup projects to be an awesome one, too. Barring something unforeseen, Anthony Stolarz is on track to make his fourth start of the year. He’s posted a 2-1-0 record to go along with a 1.70 goals-against average and .940 save percentage. On the other side, Igor Shesterkin, who’s in a contract year and looking for a ridiculous amount of money, is expected to get the call for New York. He’s 2-0-1 with a 2.28 goals-against, .921 save percentage, and one shutout.
Regardless of what transpires over the weekend, it’s always good to see how the team stacks up against one of the NHL’s best. Call me crazy but the Leafs have a chance to put the entire league on notice —even if it’s just game No. 5.
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