It’s a night unlike any other in Toronto sports. A 3-game viewing party for the world’s greatest city. @Raptors Game 5@MapleLeafs Game 7@torontofc CCL Final
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 25, 2018
Gates open 5PM.#StandWitness | #TeamToronto pic.twitter.com/b0JFg7uId9
If Nazem Kadri had received a 1-game suspension, consistent with other playoff suspensions in 2018, do the Toronto Maple Leafs advance out of the first round? Does the 3-game suspension represent a way for the NHL to interfere in the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff success?
You could argue that even if the Toronto Maple Leafs had won Game 7 in Boston last night that the excessive suspension severely interfered with the series. You could argue that the refs hiding their whistles at key points also interfered with the outcome of the series. Boston has consistently been given the gift of whining excessively and not getting crucial penalties called against them.
If only the Referee had a better vantage point of this shot to the head of Frederik Andersen.#TMLTalk pic.twitter.com/KjAAR6yYqJ
— Leafs Hub (@LeafsHub) April 26, 2018
If the Leafs had played a better Game 4, Toronto might have advanced in 6 games. Would have been nice to see the two teams play a fair match over 7 games without any crap or interference and see which team would have come out on top.
Surprised #MikeMilbury making the trip to #Toronto @MapleLeafs for Game 6 on @NHLonNBCSports. He hasn't crossed the #Canada border in this series before now. Maybe he'll say hi to his old buddies at @cbcsports https://t.co/P9xfpGasIM
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) April 23, 2018
Mike Milbury "conveniently" went to Stamford, Connecticut (the NHL on NBC home) while the Toronto Maple Leafs series was in Canada. Milbury returned to Toronto for Game 6 along with Doc Emrick and Pierre McGuire. Ed Olczyk is entitled to as much rest as he needs, but he should have been there for Game 7 with Emrick and McGuire instead of Milbury.
NHL notebook: Mike Milbury gone from CBC, but not why you think
Unlike the network itself, Milbury used to go to Toronto all the time when he provided studio analysis for Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Milbury was on Hockey Night in Canada from the 2008-2009 season until December 2011.
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Doc Emrick did a really nice job getting the NBCSN audience ready for the moment of silence before Game 6 at the Air Canada Centre.
I haven't spent too much time in the Willowdale area of North York in Toronto, but I felt a commonality with that neighbourhood after the horrific attack on pedestrians in that area on Monday. Toronto is a resilient city but that doesn't do much for the heartache of the lost and drastically changed lives as well as the relatively normal peace of mind.
Staying strong and going on with life is a message I firmly get behind whether the attack has been someplace where I've been such as Brussels and London and other places such as Nice, France.
#TorontoStrong is not just a hashtag. Often, Toronto gets dismissed as not being as cool as Montréal. Toronto is not as cool as Montréal. But I have discovered in my recent adventures that Toronto has a more going than you might see on the surface. Willowdale is just one great example.
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2018 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs preview
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
The team that scored first won the first 5 games of the Maple Leafs series. Boston scored first in Game 6 but Toronto furnished the comeback. The Leafs scored first in Game 7 but couldn't hold on to the lead.
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Nashville has a 3-2 edge in regular season play against Winnipeg. The idea that the 2 best records in the NHL regular season go head-to-head in the second round is a bit sad.
We had hoped the NHL would stop listening to NBCU on late starts in the Central time zone. Game 4 in Winnipeg runs at 8:30 pm local time. NBCU can't punish me like the organisation punished Pat Foley for objecting to horrible start times. Since the first game won't be over yet, count on that time being extended.
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Calgary made a very quick decision going with Bill Peters as the new Flames head coach. Peters opted out of his contract with the Carolina Hurricanes after 4 seasons.
Peters is coaching the Canada team again at the cover the 2018 IIHF World Championship. Calgary General Manager Brad Treliving has a good relationship with Peters. So Peters will be the fourth Flames coach in the 9 years along with Glen Gulutzan (2016-18); Bob Hartley (2012-16); and Brent Sutter (2009-12).
The NHL draft lottery is Saturday night. 4 of the 7 Canadian teams have a healthy shot at being in the top 3 picks.
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We only have the Game 1 U.S. crew for the Jets in the second round: Chris Cuthbert, AJ Mleczko, and Brian Boucher.
AJ Mleczko worked a couple of playoff games (Games 1 and 5) for NBCU in the Nashville-Colorado series. Mleczko and Cassie Campbell-Pascall could swap notes, though Campbell-Pascall was limited in the first round to intermission analysis in the Winnipeg Jets series on Rogers Sportsnet.
Mleczko worked with Kenny Albert and Brian Boucher in the first round. Boucher has a pattern of being against Canadian teams, and this series won't change that. Mleczko has been a good influence on Boucher in that he doesn't get to speak as often.
Gord Miller will call one final NHL playoff game for NBCU after he originally thought he was done. Miller will call Game 1 in Tampa. Yes, that could have been with the Maple Leafs in prime time on Saturday night. Miller and Ray Ferraro will be off to cover the 2018 IIHF World Championship in Copenhagen and Herning, Denmark for TSN.
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Winnipeg: Jim Hughson/Craig Simpson/Cassie Campbell-Pascall/Scott Oake
Adams: Paul Romanuk/Garry Galley/Kyle Bukauskas
Patrick: Rick Ball/Greg Millen/Christine Simpson
Smythe: Dave Randorf/Louie DeBrusk/Dan Murphy
Rick Ball gets to do a second-round series while Bob Cole takes an unexpected hiatus from the Stanley Cup playoffs. We knew the first 2 crews would have switched had the Maple Leafs advanced to the second round.
Every game that is produced on CBC will have a Canadian crew. Here is the CBC schedule for the first 4 games of each series:
April 26 Pittsburgh at Washington, 7p // San Jose at Las Vegas, 10p
April 27 Winnipeg at Nashville, 8p
April 28 San Jose at Las Vegas, 8p
April 29 Pittsburgh at Washington, 3p // Winnipeg at Nashville, 7p
April 30 Boston at Tampa Bay, 7p // Las Vegas at San Jose, 10p
May 1 Nashville at Winnipeg, 8p
May 2 Tampa Bay at Boston, 7p // Las Vegas at San Jose, 10p
May 3 Nashville at Winnipeg, 9:30p
May 4 Tampa Bay at Boston, 7p
Twitter captures: @mapleleafs; @leafshub; @canadian_xing
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