MAKING AN IMPACT
Kadri stirs it up for Leafs
So here’s how Nazem Kadri’s day at the office went on Tuesday.
The Winnipeg Jets wanted him on the NHL carpet for a hit on Ben Chiarot, who made veiled post-game threats that payback was coming.
Kadri scored the Toronto Maple Leafs’ second goal, a power play beauty that added to his career high 25 and continued his role on the hottest Leaf line with Leo Komarov and Josh Leivo.
He was called for tripping Dustin Byfuglien in a first-period battle behind the Winnipeg net, not the kind of behemoth most players would tangle with. Byfuglien later came after Kadri for the aforementioned hit late in the second period, an unfortunate distraction that led to a Winnipeg goal.
He ended the night, a 5-4 Toronto overtime win, with nine shot attempts, 9-for-16 in faceoffs and three hits. Not a game star, but a certainly a conversation starter.
“That’s what I like to do, that’s where I’m most effective,” said Kadri as his best NHL season continues to unfold and the Leafs remain in a playoff position for now. “I’m just trying to irritate them a little bit with my physicality and produce offensively.”
Irritate is too soft a word, as Kadri’s run at Chiarot was so enthusiastic the Leaf wound up in his own bench. That was evidence enough for the Jets he left his feet and the play should have been reviewed. Keep in mind the Jets are hyper-sensitive to this issue since a recent hit that went unpunished by Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins on Blake Wheeler and their own man, Jacob Trouba, was suspended two games for a blow they equated with Malkin’s.
“At first I didn’t have a problem with (Kadri’s hit),” Chiarot said. “Then you see the video, you see him leave his feet, you see him end up in their bench. It’s not the right time or place to chase him down, but there will be a time down the line, might not be this year, might not be next year, but there will be a time down the line when the shoe will be on the other foot.” Kadri wasn’t fazed. “Not the first time I’ve heard that,” he quipped on Wednesday after most Leafs had an off-ice workout. “On contact is where I kind off got caught off my feet. He’s a pretty big boy, so that’s initially why I popped into our bench.
“I just saw him turn up the wall with his head down a little bit and tried to finish my check. It’s a tough game. No one enjoys getting hit like that, but it will happen. I’m not worried, I’ll be here a few years, but if that was one of my teammates getting hit like that, I wouldn’t be happy, so I expect that kind of reaction.”
Kadri and the Leafs are back at it Thursday at the Air Canada Centre against the New York Rangers. Still missing from the lineup is winger Mitch Marner, though he was shooting pucks Wednesday morning and might play Saturday when Montreal is in town.
The Marner injury created a change of wingers that put the rarely used Leivo into a primetime position with Kadri and Komarov.
“Naz’s line was dominant,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “Since Leivo’s gone on, it has been a whole different level of play.”
Leivo assisted on Komarov’s game opening goal against the Jets, but his best was the setup for Kadri that made it 2-2, after Winnipeg had chances to go up 3-1. That gave him eight points in nine games.
Babcock talked about Leivo being the silver lining to the Marner injury.
“The great thing about (Leivo) is he gets to keep playing and we get to keep watching,” he said.
Auston Matthews had three assists, William Nylander a goal and assist, while defenceman Nikita Zaitsev reached the 25 assists mark to make it six total points by the rookie class of ’17. Matthews noted a growing maturity in games.
“Earlier this season we’d get up a couple of goals and kind of sit back and play scared, not doing the things that got us the lead in the first place,” he said. “We’ve come a long way, but there is still is plenty of room for improvement.”
I’m just trying to irritate them a little bit with my physicality and produce offensively.