Leafs forced to cancel practice on Wednesday
The Leafs were able to escape their 3rd consecutive loss, thanks to a solid performance from Ilya Samsonov, who came in early in the second period in relief of Matt Murray, who allowed 4 goals on 8 shots against the Panthers on Tuesday night.
When Samsonov drew in, the Leafs were down 4-2 in the contest, but were outplaying the Panthers and heavily outshooting them. In the end, a pair of unanswered goals by Auston Matthews and William Nylander (a fluke goal, right off the bucket) forced overtime, where Nylander's electric drive at the 1:53 mark of 3-on-3 OT resulted in a highlight reel goal and sealed the deal for the Leafs.
Following the win, the Leafs were expected to be right back at practice on Wednesday. However, that is no longer the case. The Leafs were forced to cancel practice on Wednesday due to a nasty flu bug that has been working its way through the locker room.
Thus far, we have seen Auston Matthews, Bobby McMann, Rasmus Sandin and Pontus Holmberg miss action due to the virus. It stands to reason that there are some other players who are beginning to feel under the weather, which has led to the managing powers shutting down sessions for the day, just to help curb the outbreak.
Including last night's win against the Panthers, the Leafs are scheduled to play 8 games in 15 days, which is a LOT of hockey. The Buds are essentially playing every other day for two weeks prior to the All-Star break. This means that they'll need everyone as healthy as possible and will likely rely on all 23 roster players to help carry a heavy load before having a 9-day break.
The hope is that by cancelling practice today, it will help limit the spread of the flu bug and lead to more players being healthy and ready to go for what is a very important 2-week stretch where they'll need all hands on deck.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 18 | 1085 ANSWERS Leafs forced to cancel practice on Wednesday How many of the Leafs' upcoming 7-game run will they win? | ||
| 3 or less | 90 | 8.3 % |
| 4-5 | 673 | 62 % |
| 6 | 218 | 20.1 % |
| All 7 | 104 | 9.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
