Claimed: Ironside Bounces Back, Plus TOR/NY Shenanigans

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Ironside Bounces Back (see final game for fights)

 

Over the past week, Toronto's Torstein Ironside has been very inconsistent. He was the top goaltender over the first games to start the year, and he began to fall off. Let's take a look at his past few games.

 

Game 47: Legion vs. Americans

In this game, it was a big match-up between the two North American teams: the Toronto Legion and the New York Americans. They are two of the few favourited teams to win the cup this season. In the 1st Period, the Legion outshot the Americans a whopping 15-2, but it was New York who came out with the lead. Aksel McKnight scored a short-handed goal in the final minute, giving NY the 1-0 lead into the 2nd. In the 2nd, there were no goals, so we carry on to the 3rd Period. The Americans gave themselves a 2-0 lead early on, where Takashi Fujimoto scored just over two minutes in. After that, the Legion struck back with two goals; Bo Boeser at the 6:50 mark, and Verner Reinholdt on the PP at 11:21. 2-2 game. Although, late in the period Takashi Fujimoto would score his 2nd of the game with under two minutes remaining, which was a heartbreaker for the Legion. That 3-2 score would carry itself to the final buzzer, and NY would beat Toronto by the score of 3-2. Despite having only 14 shots on net to Toronto's 29, New York won. That loss could definitely be placed on the shoulders of goaltender Torstein Ironside, who only saved 11 of 14, giving himself a save percentage of 78.6%. Ike Arkander's 27 of 29 saves for New York was the decider in this one.

 

Game 49: Legion vs. Meute

In this game, it was a blowout for Toronto, but still a bad game for Ironside. Quebec City's Mathieu Bourdon would score on the PP on one of their 3 shots in the 1st Period. Although, Toronto did have many answers for that, with 3 goals and a hat-trick by Marc-Alexandre Leblanc, all in the 1st Period. Leblanc scored his 8th, 9th, and 10th there. In the 2nd, Toronto would score another 3 goals, outshooting Quebec 23-0 in just that period. Lee King Snatch, Roman Sokolov, and Daring Do all had goals there. In the 3rd Period, it was another PP goal from Quebec, where previously drafted and traded away Toronto prospect Phil Bennington would hit Ironside where it hurts. The Legion won the game 6-2, outshooting the Meute 63-11 in total, but Ironside still only saved 9 of 11. That's an 81.8 save percentage, and Quebec was 2 for 3 on the PP, so that is obviously not good enough by Ironside himself or even the Toronto penalty kill in general.

 

Game 53: Americans vs. Legion

Another game against the New York Americans, after their previous loss in Game 47, Toronto looks to bounce back. In the 1st Period, Verner Reinholdt scored his 6th of the year off a feed from Snatch and Boeser. That 1-0 lead would carry into the 2nd where Lee King Snatch scored himself, and brought the game to a 2-0 lead for Toronto. For the rest of the game that score would hold, and Toronto would hold New York to 16 shots, on route to a 2-0 shutout for Torstein Ironside.

 

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Game 58: Legion vs. Americans

In the Legion's most recent game, it was another one, and one of the 3 games they've faced the Americans in their past 4 games. In the 1st Period, defensive defenseman Dexter Lane would put Toronto on the board, off passes from Leblanc and Pablo. 1-0 Toronto, and the period would end that way. In the 2nd Period, Luca Volkov would take a penalty, sending the Legion to the PP, where they would convert. Bo Boeser scored his 8th of the year off a dish from Snatch, putting the Legion up 2-0. The rest of the period would remain the same score, and we headed to the 3rd. In the 3rd, most of the period was scoreless until the final 5 minutes. Toronto would go on the power play again after Colton Rayne took a hooking call. Boeser and Lane assisted a PP goal from Pablo, and the Legion went up 3-0 at that point. At the 18:08 mark of the 3rd, Luca Volkov took a hooking penalty, and the stoppage in play caused a lot of trouble. Lee King Snatch beat up Aksel McKnight in a fight and got thrown out of the game with a game misconduct and an instigator penalty. At the same time, Sergei Komarov beat up Bo Boeser, and both would get fighting majors. Casey Jones and Dexter Lane also both got roughing calls as well at the 18:08 mark, with a stoppage full of penalties. All of these games between these two teams this close together must be brewing up some rivalry. With 30 seconds left in the game though, Chase Keller erased Torstein Ironside from having a back-to-back shutout, bringing the game to 3-1. The game ended that way, and Ironside saved 21 of 22, while the Legion outshot the Americans 39-22.

 

This past week has been an eventful one between both the Americans and Legion, and Ironside followed up some lackluster play with stellar games. We look forward to future games between the two teams after all the late events in the last one.

[Kesler 1,514]

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