LEAFS SNAPSHOTS: Right time and place for Kyle Clifford to step in against Caps tough guy

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The fans came to watch No. 34 score, but it was 43 who won their hearts in a scrap.

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Kyle Clifford, who looked like he might be stuck on the farm for a while, stepped up against Tom Wilson in the second period.

The Washington strong man was having his usual boisterous hometown night against the Leafs, running over Mark Giordano, bumping goalie Jack Campbell in one of those ‘accidentally on purpose’ moments of an intense game and, when the score got out of hand in the middle period, he went looking for a dance partner to inspire his team.

Clifford is hardly a novice fighter, but few tangle with Wilson and his 1,300-plus penalty-minute rap sheet.

Clifford stayed in to get a shot or two in as Wilson connected with force and the two yapped in the penalty box afterwards.

For a team that prefers to intimidate through scoring — but has lost some of that edge when physicality ramps up at playoff time — it was a good time and a good game to respond in kind.

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Clifford and Wayne Simmonds will have that often thankless job as part of their fourth-line role.

KNIES STAYS IN SCHOOL

The Gopher won’t be going to Toronto this year.

Matthew Knies, the club’s first pick in 2021, wants to return to the University of Minnesota, according to multiple reports Thursday night. The big winger had taken a day to ponder his future following a meeting in the Twin Cities with Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas. That it wasn’t a slam dunk that Knies would leave as soon as his team was eliminated from the NCAA playoffs a few days ago indicated there wasn’t urgency on either side to rush a signing.

The Leafs believe they’re well-positioned with enough veteran depth, between the current team and, if needed, the AHL Marlies with forwards such as Nick Robertson.

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The 6-foot-3 Knies, a point-a-game left winger, had a great freshman year and wants to go for the national title again.

OVIE OVERTIME

John Carlson has seen The Alex Ovechkin Show many times, but the Great Eight’s goal total itself makes his head spin. Ovie needed one for 777 before Thursday’s game.

“We’re kind of numb as his teammates,” the defenseman said. “Not that we discount him, but it seems the past six or seven years, every other day, it’s a new record, he passes this guy, that guy or reaches this milestone.

“We might not relish just how lucky we are that we have the best seat in the house to see what he’s done in his career and what he’s doing now.”

Carlson has not seen Ovechkin’s enthusiasm wane, more than halfway to his 37th birthday.

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“He comes to the rink, works hard, wants to score as many goals as possible, Nothing changes with him.

Ovechkin, with 41 goals in 51 games against Toronto in regular season before Thursday, got an early start on hurting the Leafs.

In his first two games against them in a back-to-back in early November of 2005, he started with two on Mikael Tellqvist, including the winner in a 5-4 win in DC, then two more in a 6-4 loss on Bay St., against Ed Belfour.

Auston Matthews would’ve been eight years old, before he took up hockey, but he quickly warmed up to imitating Ovechkin.

“I went yellow laces (on his skates) for a little bit,” Matthews said.

“That was probably the main thing, and probably the tape job. Yellow laces have been a pretty big staple of his, so I remember doing that for a couple of years for sure.

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NET RESULT IS WINS

In a season in which goaltending health and depth have become huge question mark for the Leafs, they’ve still on the verge of a unique team record for netminding wins.

While pressed into using five goalies so far, four of them have records of .500 or better. Campbell (27-9-5 before Thursday), Petr Mrazek (12-6-0), Joseph Woll (3-1) and Erik Kallgren (5-3-1) could be the first foursome to do that in club history. Michael Hutchinson lost his only decision.

The previous time five were employed in one year for Toronto was 1983-84, but all of Allan Bester, Mike Palmateer, Rick St. Croix, Ken Wregget and Bruce Dowie were at or below the .500 mark.

LOOSE LEAFS

There were three Sept. 17 birthdays on the ice Thursday with Ovechkin, Matthews and Michael Bunting and one behind the bench in coach Sheldon Keefe … Not that he was in the running for the Lady Byng Trophy again this year after his two-game cross-checking suspension last month, but Matthews is now at a single-season career-high 16 penalty minutes … When Keefe felt Wilson went down too easily in a positional battle with defenseman Timothy Liljegren, he rushed through the tunnel past his players before the second period to press his point with referee Michael Markovic … Former Capital Nolan Baumgartner has been named head coach of Canada’s under-18 team for the world championships in Germany starting later this month.

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