Pension Plan Puppets

A New Home

2007-08-30T21:43:00.000-04:00

It is my distinct pleasure to announce that yours truly will be the latest blogger to begin writing for SportsBlog Nation. In their infinite wisdom they have decided to allow me the exposure to a larger audience. It will continue to be called Pension Plan Puppets (until I vanquish the OTPP) except now I get my own URL(!), a funny logo (or an obvious one if you want to be a jerk about it), and the tools to build a community for Leaf fans.

The main tool at my disposal will be JFJ. Just kidding. It's what SB Nation calls a diary which in essence allows members (sign up!) to carry some of the conversation by writing their own blog posts. A more complete explanation and some guidelines can be found in the easy to follow post "Where Am I and What Do I Do Here?".

Any good site is more of a conversation than a sermon from the pulpit so I hope that you'll stop by, sign up, and join in the discussion.

Revenge Is Best Served Cold

2007-08-24T16:10:00.001-04:00

Everyone associated with God's Team will remember Game 6 of the 1993 Western Conference Finals when this douchebag blew the easiest call of his career. 15 short years later Leafs' fans will finally have some measure of revenge. No, Kerry Fraser is not going to be hung from the rafters and beaten like a candy-filled pinata but Mike Myers is defiling the LA Kings' jersey by putting Justin Timberlake on the team and some people are upset.

I remember seeing "Toronto Maple Leafs win Stanley Cup" scrolling across the screen during Austin Powers (III?) and laughing. Leave it to a Leafs fan to take things into his own hands and make a moving in which the buds win the Cup. I guess it's that attitude that explains why we always want to play with Leaf teams in the EA NHL games.

Anyway, let's all laugh at the Kings.

Josephine and Mats Sittin' In A Tree...

2007-08-17T11:57:00.000-04:00

Looks like Mats has a new SBP in his life. No, Alfie is not getting traded to the Leafs. Mats is dating new girlfriend Josephine Johansson. A Google Images search has turned up these entries for Mats new plaything (25? Way to rob the cradle Mats!) and I assume that she is the fetching blonde and not the first image. Any confirmation would be appreciated.

Thursday Morning PSA

2007-08-16T08:22:00.000-04:00

This was got dropped in the comments and I thought that it would be something worth bringing to everyone's attention.

Hockey4Life is offering you the chance to play in a fantasy hockey tournament with proceeds going towards saving lives, right here in our community.

When you register to play in the hockey tournament, you will receive a $150 hockey sweater, tickets to an amazing house party/concert, three games in the tournament including the third game with 2 professional hockey legends on your team. There are also playoffs and the celebrity hockey game that you can play in.

Proceeds from Hockey4Life events go to The Mikey Network to place life-saving defibrillators and the related training into our hockey arenas. Your team can donate the defibrillator to your local rink or keep it for you team. Naturally, EMS will train up to 8 members of your team on how to use the defibrillator. For more information, or to register for the tournament please contact Adena at (905) 763-1200 or adena@integratedmar.com.

You can also access more information on our website www.hockey4life.org or here.

It's definitely a good cause to support. Defibrillators helped save Jiri Fischer's life and in a country where far too many people play hockey when completely out of shape (and far too old) you could be saving the life of someone you know.

Prison Mark meet Prison Mike

2007-08-15T12:55:00.000-04:00

Keeping in mind that Bell might not end up in the clink (sentencing is in October) what can he expect if he does end up serving some hard time? Thankfully, Michael Scott has the answer:

The nutritional value of gruel sandwiches might make it tough for Bell to stay in shape.

JFJ Strikes Again

2007-08-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

So this is why the GM needs an advisor. I joked about the Leafs being charged with crimes before but I didn't think Mark Bell would get convicted. Too bad he's a hockey player in California. They treated him like a normal citizen.

I'd like to think that the Leafs were aware of this considering some sens fans at the BoO (Damn you Notch!) were aware of this at the time of the trade. Needless to say, the denizens of Leafs Nation are up in arms and with good reason. The sentence might not start until after the season but as one friend put it "you think Bell will be able to concentrate on hockey with his new cellmate Tito weighing on his mind?"

Now, there are a couple of ways to look at it:

JFJ knew about the pending case and decided that either the odds were good that Bell would not be sentenced to jail time or that he wouldn't convicted. In either case, getting Toskala was worth it in his eyes.
JFJ was completely caught off guard and had no clue that Bell has both a drinking and a driving problem.

Either scenario is pretty grim and this quotation seems to indicate that the truth is closer to the latter scenario:

Leafs' GM John Ferguson had little to say when reached by Sportsnet."I will reserve comment until I can more fully review the situation," he said.

If the team knew then they should have been prepared to deal with any result.

Bell is far from the first NHL player to get in trouble with drinking and driving and some have been able to recover from their mistake to have productive careers (Heatley, McTavish). Sadly, Bell won't even be the first Leaf to have had problems. That article cites Rob Ramage, Jamie Macoun, Tim Horton, and Miroslav Frycer as other alumni that have distinguished themselves as morons.

Hopefully, Bell learns from his mistake as does JFJ although I'd like to imagine that he will be doing his learning in the unemployment office.

Mirtle's take here.

Update: In all of the smug self-satisfaction we should all keep in mind that Bell has yet to be sentenced. Mirtle noted that Bill Watters brought this up on Leafs Lunch. Maybe there is a deal in place that we are not aware of and the MSM jumped on the 6 months in the clink angle too quickly. He could just get community service and a fine.

Leafs' Logic Strikes Again

2007-07-26T10:13:00.000-04:00

What's wrong with this train of thought? When the Leafs have a player like the 28 year old John Pohl (who I like but is unbelievably expendable) why would they think about trading 23 year old Matt Stajan just so that they can sign the 33 year old Mike Peca who is coming off of a major knee injury?

Here's a look at the players that are currently on one-way deals with the Leafs: (Note: Eddie's figure represents the last installment of the buyout)

The Leafs aren't really that close to the cap because one forward and one defenceman will start the season with the Marlies. What kills me about the article is this BS:

There's only one problem. With more than $48 million (all figures U.S.) committed in salary to 23 players for the 2007-08 season, Toronto has pushed itself as far up to the $50.3 million cap as it would like. Short of dumping a one-way contract into the minors, there is no room in the vault or on the roster for Peca.

These are the Maple Leafs!! They have money to burn! They can sit a couple of million dollars in Ricoh Coliseum without batting an eye. It is the Leafs' easiest way to get around the salary cap.

That does not even bring up the idea that if they have roughly $2M in cap space why do they need to clear any more room? Is Peca going to be making close to what he made last season? He just came off his second major knee/leg injury and was not that effective last season. Yes, he would improve the PK but Blake also contributes greatly to an improved PK and the upgrade in net will play a big part in shoring up a PK unit that went downhill fast after Peca's injury.

My main problem with this deal is that after JFJ has held off trading actual young players (unlike picks who are only theoretically young players) he is now potentially going to let a Toronto drafted player that has improved every season. The marginal benefit gained between a healthy Peca and the Stajan of last season is not enough to justify letting Stajan's potential go.

I cannot wait until we trade Steen in order to sign Lindros!

The Pre-Season

2007-07-18T08:49:00.001-04:00

Opening Night is still a ridiculous two months away and free agency is winding down (quick! someone sign Yashin!) but the pre-season schedule has been released. Sadly, this is becoming the only time that the Leafs will see some teams. This year's schedule has two Red Wings games in addition to the February 9th tilt but if the league continues with its scheduling format pre-season will be the only time that these two rivals will meet for two seasons.

Toronto will also tease Winnipeg with a taste of 'NHL Hockey' with a game on September 19th. Just to rub salt in the wounds they'll be playing the team that flew the coop, the Phoenix Coyotes. Actually, looking at their roster, Winnipeg is probably better off.

These games will all be on LeafsTV so odds are that most fans won't get a good idea of what the Leafs can do until the season starts. Fear not, I'll be watching the games and writing game recaps to let you know who plays with Blake.

John Ferguson Sr 1938-2007

2007-07-15T13:10:00.001-04:00

Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr. lost his father this weekend and my thoughts and prayers go out to him. Reality Check has a wonderful look at Senior's life.

2007-2008 Schedule

2007-07-11T15:01:00.000-04:00

The Leafs' 2007-2008 schedule was released today. The season will be kicked off with the renewal of the friendly neighbourhood rivalry with ottawa which features a home and home series kicking off the festivities. These two games will set the tone for the early part of the season. The defending Stanley Cup Finalists will look to get their season off to a good start after meekly bowing out in the Finals. Who is starting in goal could be a question as Emery still has his arbitration hearing and teams are rumoured to be waiting to see how Ottawa deals with an award.

One year after eliminating the Canadiens from the playoffs the Leafs will once again be able to put the final nail in their season's coffin as they play them twice in the final week of the season including the finale. This season will have the Leafs hosting the Central Division and travelling to the west to take on the Pacific Division teams. The Buds will play 26 Saturday night games most of which will grace Hockey Night in Canada since the CBC likes high ratings. The nights that they choose to show another game at 7pm will feature their lowest ratings of the year.

Highlights of the schedule can be found below.

Battle of Ontario:

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 - senators
Thursday, October 4th, 2007 - @ senators
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 - @ senators
Saturday, November 17th, 2007 - senators
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 - senators
Monday, February 25th, 2008 - @ senators
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 - @ senators
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 - senators

English Canada takes on French Canada:

Saturday, October 6th, 2007 - Canadiens
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 - @ Canadiens
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 - Canadiens @
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 - Canadiens @
Saturday, December 15th, 2007 - @ Canadiens
Thursday, February 7th, 2008 - @ Canadiens
Saturday, March 29th, 2008 - Canadiens
Saturday, April 5th, 2008 - @ Canadiens

Defending Champs:

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 - @ Ducks

Original Six matchup that comes around once in a blue moon:

Saturday, February 9th, 2008 - Red Wings

Looks like someone in the scheduling office listened to the complaints about spreading the games between division rivals out. Except, of course, for the Bruins once again who the Leafs play 5 times between February 16th and March 25th. Great work NHL.

February 9th will also double as Hockey Day in Canada with the Red Wings and Avalanche acting as guests as they take on the Leafs and Canucks respectively while the Oilers and Flames renew the Battle of Alberta and the senators and Canadiens fight each other for the title of 'Fanbase that most hates the Leafs'.

Movin' On Up

2007-07-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

I hate it when they play that song at the ACC. Aside from the 'Move of the Game' it doesn't make any sense to play the Jefferson's theme song. However, the Leafs have done their best over the past week to shore up their weak spots.

The signing of Jason Blake will help to make the Leafs offence more balanced and more consistent. While the Leafs ended last year as the 8th ranked offence they struggled at times against teams that set up their defensive stall (see: Bruins, Boston) as they generally need many chances to create one goal. Blake is a player that showed that he is capable of turning a single chance into a goal.

Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell were acquired from the San Jose Sharks for the Leafs' first and second rounder in the 2007 draft and a fourth round pick in 2009. Bell is essentially a throw-in so that the Sharks could clear some salary cap space after a disastrous first year for the former 20 goal scorer which included a quick demotion from the top line and a DUI charge. If he can get back to his form then he will be yet another good reclamation project by JFJ.

Toskala is the key to the trade and he was quickly signed to a 2 year $8M extension. The trade I liked because it addressed the Leafs' need to get better in net. Raycroft will benefit from the competition as well as from not having to start 42 games in a row. The extension bothers me a bit because Toskala has not earned it. Who knows how he will deal with the media fishbowl? The best way to look at it is that he is getting paid $9.375M for 3 years and after a great year the extension could look like a piece of brilliant work by JFJ (likely good enough to save his job) but if not then it will be the next GM's problem.

Cap Relief

2007-06-29T14:19:00.000-04:00

The league has announced the cap figure for the 2007-2008 season and the Leafs suddenly have a bit more wiggle room. The cap will be set at $50.3M which, based on Bitter's cap work, leaves the Leafs (is that still considered clever by the anti-Leafs brigade?) with $4,964,672 under the cap.

You'll notice a few things from looking at the roster. First, is that the Leafs are already at 20 players that could be on the big club's roster. The second is that $4.97M doesn't seem like enough to land the big free agent. However, with some clever moves they could be able to free up some more cap space.

The team won't be carrying 8 defencemen. They'll be carrying 7 defencemen and the bane of my existence (swingman Wade Belak) who, while hilarious, tends to bring the humour to the ice. In terms of dream moves, the Leafs would move White to the Marlies and save $850K dollars of salary. That brings us up to $5.72M of cap space available. Even with Woz out of the picture the Leafs would still have an extra $463K to offer.

Of course, that is a pretty basic scenario involving just putting salary on the Marlies. There are innumerable trade rumours (McCabe to the Isles?) that could also free-up a lot of cash. I am sure that waiver considerations will come into play but the Leafs have a change to figure in the UFA frenzy that was not possible with a $48M cap.

I'll be back Tuesday to rehash the Leafs' moves (non-moves?). It should be a wild weekend.

Mind Boggling

2007-06-28T09:34:00.000-04:00

The big news around the NHL is that Balsillie will not be sold the Nashville Predators. Instead, Leipold will be selling to "Boots" DelBiaggio (who has absolutely no connections to the mob) so that he can move the club to Kansas City and their brand new arena. Will no one rid me of this meddlesome commissioner? Seriously, why does he hate hockey and Canada? I guess Jimmy can buy the team from Boots in about 5 years once it's losing money hand over fist in yet another non-hockey market.

The bright side is that all of the apostate Leaf fans that declared their allegiance to the team that never was are left with nothing to do but wait for their ticket deposits to be returned. If you are one of those don't pretend to cheer for the Leafs. Slink over to the sens and join that bandwagon.

In other insane news, I haven't found written confirmation but word on the Sportsnet ticker last night was that the result of the MLSE board meeting today will be that JFJ will NOT be offered a contract extension until next year when they see how the team is doing. This is why the Leafs have not won a cup in 40 years. If they weren't sure that Ferguson was the man then why let him run TWO drafts, TWO trade deadlines, and TWO free agency periods? And why tell him that his third time around better be the charm or he'll get fired? Why not fire him when you first had doubts?

I pray for the day of a single owner. Peddie and Tanenbaum and the rest of the board are absolute idiots. The Leafs could have had Scotty Bowman running the hockey operation but Peddie would not let him fire Junior. Why were they able to admit that they were clueless about basketball but they can't make the same admission about hockey? You guys are great at business but stay the hell away from the sports franchises. Look at how you guys let Mo Johnston run Toronto FC without interference. Please stop meddling!

National Lampoon Sports Minute (Or So)

2007-06-28T09:30:00.000-04:00

This is a new Monday feature that I will be putting up every Monday. It's brought to you by National Lampoon and it's a funny look at the world of sports. Let me know if you guys enjoy it.

Written by Steve Hofstetter, Adam Hofstetter, Cody Marley, Ryan Murphy, Rich Ragains, Elliot Steingart, and Chris Strait

Congratulations to Jeff Gordon and his wife on their new daughter Ella. Ella will be sponsored by Dupont.

The NBA's Paul Pierce and Austin Powers star Verne Troyer got into an argument after Pierce addressed Troyer as "Mini Me." Luckily it was just a small argument, and ended shortly.

LeBron James has been appointed commissioner of The Bubblicious Ultimate Bubble Blowing League. Because no one knows more about having a bubble burst than LeBron James.

The NHL is hoping that new league wide uniforms will help boost interest in the sport. All five people watching on Versus will really appreciate the effort.

Many baseball fans are still talking about Sammy Sosa hitting his 600th career homerun. Enough already – put a cork in it. Congratulations Sammy – to think how many empty wine bottles that must have taken.

Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks suspects that two-time AL MVP Juan Gonzalez may have used steroids. Hicks also suspects that the earth may indeed orbit around the sun.

A monkey will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before an upcoming game at Fenway Park. She'll be the hairiest creature to take the mound in Boston since David Wells.

And a woman spent one million dollars on a conman pretending to be Pedro Martinez. The man was proven to be a fraud when it was discovered he could pitch.

For more of the Sports Minute (Or So), visit minuteorso.com

National Lampoon Sports Minute (Or So)

2007-06-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

This is a new Monday feature that I will be putting up every Monday. It's brought to you by National Lampoon and it's a funny look at the world of sports. Let me know if you guys enjoy it.

Written by Steve Hofstetter, Adam Hofstetter, Cody Marley, Ryan Murphy, Rich Ragains, Elliot Steingart, and Chris Strait

Three-time boxing champion James Toney has tested positive for steroids. Officials became suspicious when his head couldn't fit through the ropes.

USA Today reported that 48% of Americans have played organized basketball, and the rest have played for the Knicks. The paper also reported that 1% of French athletes 11-years-old and under have already used performance enhancing drugs. The others just drink wine like they're supposed to.

Enrique Iglesias just released a new album entitled "Insomniac." If you shared a bed with Anna Kournikova, you wouldn't want to sleep much either.

Dikembe Mutombo, Edgar Martinez and Kyle Petty were inducted to Boise, Idaho's World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. Most overheard comment? "You've got a funny accent."

Speaking of humanitarians, Cavs forward Ira Newble recently met with 15 Darfur refugees living in Cleveland. That's the first time anyone has ever been excited to move to Cleveland.

Washington Redskins rookie LaRon Landry was unable to practice after being shot in the groin with a paintball. Too bad he didn't get shot in a less sensitive part of his body, like his head.

The Yankees made history by signing two 19-year-old players from China's baseball association. It was mainly historical because the Yankees signed pitchers that weren't close to retirement. The Yankees were hoping to get another 38-year-old, but two 19-year-olds will do.

And speaking of young, Tampa Bay outfielder Elijah Dukes is in trouble again, this time for impregnating the 17-year-old foster daughter of one of his relatives. Dukes swears she looked 18 – which would make her the 18-year-old foster daughter of one of his relatives. And that's TOTALLY okay.

For more of the Sports Minute (Or So), visit minuteorso.com

Blockbuster Move

2007-06-22T12:59:00.000-04:00

Well, looks like JFJ grew a pair sometime between his repeated affirmative statements about Andrew Raycroft and today as he made a big splash on Draft Day. The Leafs will trade their 2007 First and Second Round picks as well as a 2009 Fourth Round pick for goaltender Vesa Toskala and forward Mark Bell. Note: The first round pick is set for 2007, but if the player the Sharks want isn't available, San Jose has the option to move the pick to 2008 with a top 10 protection covering the Leafs. That means if Toronto's 2008 pick is a top 10 pick then it will slide to 2009.

In a repeat of last year's move JFJ picked up a potential # 1 goalie who he will probably sign to a new contract in the next couple of months. The saying 'fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...well you won't fool me again' (Thanks Dubya) comes to mind. If Toskala doesn't pan out then it HAS to be JFJ's last chance. Right?

Anyway, this draft has been labelled a weak draft by everyone involved in hockey. Giving up the picks could hurt the Leafs down the road but the odds are more likely that they won't. Scratch that, knowing the Leafs the 13th pick is going to be a Hall of Famer.

Here's a look at some work from Hockey Numbers looking at the save percentages of Toskala and Raycroft (left and right respectively) based on shot location:

That's easy, Toskala is better in 3 of 4 areas. That was shot location on the ice and now is shot location on the goalie:

Looks like we traded a goalie with a glovehand problem for one with a stick side weakness. Toskala is again the better overall goalie. There is no doubt that this is an improvement in net for the Leafs. The interesting thing will be to see how Raycroft reacts to the trade. He can either pout and leave (like in Boston) or he can man up and challenge Toskala (please).

Mark Bell will be a good addition to the Leafs' second or third line. He is in the second year of a 3 year $6.5M contract. He is coming off a weak year with San Jose but previously he had years of 45 and 48 points on terrible Blackhawk teams so hopefully all he needs is a change of scenery.

I'll put a post together on what I think that this means cap-wise over the weekend but the Leafs are a much improved team in the present. The long-term effects will probably be devastating if only because that's what it's like to be a Leafs fan but right now I am happy.

D-Day

2007-06-22T11:59:00.000-04:00

Now that the Leafs are part of the hockey news again I will end my hibernation since the end of the Leafs' season.

It's Draft Day in Columbus and the Leafs are getting some work done. They signed Carlo to a 3-year extension at $1.283 which is about $400K more than he had to receive in a qualifying offer as an RFA so Mats' unselfish contract has already paid off.

The most interesting part of the article came near the end though:

The Leafs now have eight defencemen under contract including Marlie Staffan Kronwall who's expected to crack the Leafs lineup.

That means that a spot has to open up in the top 6 of Kaberle-Kubina, McCabe-Carlo, White-Gill. In terms of who would make way for Kronwall I would have to say it would be either Kubina, McCabe or (please God) White.

The former pair would have to be moved via trade and the latter could just be sent to the Marlies to learn a backhand and that being hit won't actually kill you. Considering the following:

"We're looking to get better in goal. We'd like to have a tandem that can push each other and create a little more healthy internal competition and ultimately better results on the ice in goal,"

the rumours are rampant as to how Kubina or McCabe could fetch a goalie with the names of Manny Fernandez, Ilya Bryzgalov, and Vesa Toskala all being bandied about.

Add in the fact that the Leafs have a chance at a very good player at 13th and today could go a long way towards getting the team back as a fixture in the playoffs.

There is a rumour rampant that the Leafs are going to trade their 13th pick for Vesa Toskala conditional on them being able to sign him long-term. He will be entering the last year of a 2 year extension worth $2.75M per season. Please God. Let this happen.

Awesome

2007-06-14T14:58:00.000-04:00

Huge thanks to Mirtle for the heads up about the NHL Awards looking for seat fillers for the awards show on Thursday night. Yours truly will be in the crowd filling in whenever someone accepts an award, goes to the bathroom, or just doesn't show up. Hopefully I am sitting beside some UFAs so that I can spend the entire show convincing them to sign in Toronto. Failing that, I'd love to sit beside Lauren Pronger and get the real scoop.

Unfortunately, I can only take pictures before the show and without a flash so I am not sure if I'll be able to get anything but I'll try my best to catch some of the red carpet action. And by catch the action I mean look like I am someone important to try to trick some puck bunnies.

Oh, and Mats' deal is good for the price and the flexibility it gives the Leafs. Look for Iginla to be wearing blue and white next summer if Mats heads back to Sweden or if Iron Mike goes postal.

Politicians Hate Power and Scotiabank Hates Toronto

2007-05-30T14:56:00.001-04:00

Update: Join the Anti-Scotia Pledge Facebook group here.

I had to end my off-season hiatus to address this story. I will go back into hibernation afterwards but I hope that any residents of Toronto will consider this treachery at the polls in the next municipal election.

Glove tap to Mirtle for finding an article that solidifies my personal belief that becoming a politician involves some sort of process in which the brain is removed. Mayor David Miller, besieged on all sides by a greedy council, the risk of bankruptcy, and increasingly upset natives has decided to seal his political fate by being the first to sign a pledge to support the sens in order to bring the Cup back to Canada.

To spread the word to Torontonians, Scotiabank will be distributing 50,000 copies of the pledge on Thursday May 31st from 7 to 9:30 a.m. at Union Station and the intersection of Yonge and Bloor.

Here is the draft of the pledge:

The Scotia Pledge
I, __________ devoted fan of the ____________________________ solemly (sic, idiots!) swear to set aside team rivalries for the duration of the season and pledge my support to the remaining Canadian team. I hereby dedicate my hockey-loving soul to their quest to bring the glory home to the place where hockey was born, where the game was perfected, where its spirit runs deepest, and where the world's greatest trophy belongs.
To make the pledge, visit http://www.senspledge.com/ (Pledge goes live Thursday May 31st at 5 a.m.)

I encourage everyone that, like me, walks to Union Station to make their morning commute to heckle the idiots behind this jingoistic and shortsighted pledge. Failing the intestinal fortitude to yell at total strangers without having paid a ticket to do so I suggest accepting multiple copies o the pledge and either throwing them in the garbage.

Not to belabour a point but the Cup lives in Canada ALL-YEAR ROUND. Not just that, it's in freaking Toronto, ACROSS THE STREET FROM UNION STATION! Seriously, it's one team made up of mostly Canadians playing against another team of mostly Canadians. Unless it's a INTERNATIONAL tournamen sports are tribal. Stop trying to change that. I blame political correctness for this travesty of a pledge drive.

Quick Thought

2007-04-12T14:59:00.000-04:00

The next big dates for the Leafs are the opening of free agency on July 1st and the 2007 draft. In that vein, I saw this video on Deadspin and thought that this might provide some cheer during the playoffs (until Vancouver, Ottawa, and Calgary are eliminated). The Leafs have certainly improved their drafting in recent years but they still had some dogs but nothing like what NY Jets fans have suffered. I love the booing as soon as they hear the position of the player being drafted or that guy that says that maybe the Jets management knew something that no one else did that made bypassing DAN MARINO make sense or seeing them pick a tight end instead of Warren Sapp.

All For Naught

2007-04-09T16:11:00.000-04:00

Tough 24 hours Saturday/Sunday. Needless to say another year without playoffs will be tough to swallow. I'll post more on the game/season later.

Walk On With Hope In Your Heart

2007-04-06T12:40:00.000-04:00

Last night's game was enough to tremble the foundations of the most loyal Leaf fans. It certainly has not been the first and it will not be the last. That is the dichotomy of being a fan. There are no highs without the lows. Red Wing fans had to endure 42 years of mediocre, incompetent, and mentally weak teams before they were able to celebrate a Stanley Cup. The Rangers went 54 years of the same. Neither franchise ever really got close (lopsided Finals defeats aside) but the fans stuck with their team and in the end they were able to savour reaching the mountaintop.

aquietgirl's post serves as a reminder that as bad as things get there is always tomorrow. I have been a huge Liverpool fan and You'll Never Walk Alone, the team's anthem (no God Save the Queen in Liverpool) serves to remind the fans and players that they are inexorably bound.

When you walk through a storm
Keep your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.

I have had the privilege of travelling to Anfield to sing YNWA in the stands and I have heard it sung at various times. I have heard it before every game, seconds after a last minute goal has consigned Liverpool to a bitter defeat, and after important victories. At that point, the players and fans struggles are validated as they have seen the fruits of their labours. A perfect example is during the 2005 Champions League semi-final versus Chelsea. The Chelsea players were visibly shaken when they entered the pitch and were met by a wall of sound.

The most spectacular rendition came at half-time in Istanbul during the 2005 Champions League Final when Liverpool trailed 3-0 and seemed destined to lose in embarrassing fashion. The 60,000 strong contingent belted out one of the strongest renditions in the club's history. Down the tunnel a jubilant AC Milan could hear the thundering voices and feel the shaking stand while a seemingly beaten Liverpool was given new life. Their coach, Rafa Benitez, used the fan's commitment to inspire his players on to one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

"I said: ‘Don’t let your heads drop. We’re Liverpool. You’re playing for Liverpool. Don’t forget that. You have to hold your heads high for the supporters. You have to do it for them. ‘You can’t call yourselves Liverpool players if you have your heads down. If we create a few chances we have the possibility of getting back into this. Believe you can do it and you will. Give yourself the chance to be heroes’."

On Saturday night, Leaf fans will have to play the part of a 7th man for the team. Their commitment to the team and the team's response have been evident over the Leafs eight game winning streak at the ACC and game 82 will require more of the same. Too often over the course of a season the rink can be quiet but as the importance of the games has risen so has the level of vocal support from the fans. Both the fans and the team will have to be at their best in order to beat the old enemy, a team that the Leafs have not met in a meaningful game since 1979, a team that stands between them and the post-season. If the Leafs succeed in stretching their winning streak to nine games they will still need some help from the Flyers and Devils to ensure that the Islanders do not pass them but they will have taken the chance to be heroes.

At the end of the day, playoffs or no playoffs, the bond between supporters and players will remain as it always has, waiting on the end of the storm and that golden sky. Go Leafs Go!

The Leafs Hate Us

2007-04-05T21:54:00.000-04:00

So the Leafs scratch and claw to get this:

And then the Habs do them a favour by losing to the Rangers and the Leafs respond by...blowing the game in the third after they had tied it early. At the end of the year when people are asking why the Leafs are not in the playoffs the answer will not be found by laying the blame at the feet of Raycroft or any other individual but in the major defensive breakdowns (easily the cause of the majority of the goals against) that came at crippling times (the 3-2 goal tonight). Whether it was a lack of concetration, failing to clear the zone when within five feet of the blueline or RUNNING INTO EACH OTHER!!!! these braincamps have always been of the soul crippling variety.

Maybe the Leafs needed a dispiriting loss (Buffalo, NYR) so that they could be ready for Saturday night against the Habs. If they win then tonight can be forgotten but of course now the Leafs are dependent on the help of a Flyers team that is out of the playoffs and a Devils team that has already clinched the Atlantic Division. Suddenly this plan does not seem so great. At the end of the day all that the Leafs can do is win.

A Difficult State of Affairs

2007-04-05T08:36:00.000-04:00

All three teams chasing the eighth and final playoff spot will be playing in the state of New York. Two teams will be playing on Long Island as the Leafs (89 PTS 80GP) visit the Islanders (86 PTS 79GP). After keeping themselves in the playoff picture on the basis of their excellent road record the Leafs have slumped over the past month with a 1-5-2 on the road. The Islanders are 3-3-2 in their last 8 home games but I keep having nightmares about the first round matchup between the two teams when the Leafs struggled on Long Island.

The Leafs have a 1-0-2 record against the Islanders this year including two shootout losses in which DiPietro was the difference in the game. And if his absence gives Leafs Nation any sens of calm I would dispell it by pointing out that Wade Dubielewicz made 36 saves against the Rangers and the Leafs have made mediocre goalies look great at times this year. Mats Sundin is in the midst of a goal-scoring slump with only 1 goal in his last 18. While he has been racking up the assists (16 in those 18 games) and helping Poni and Antro score goals and he has been killing penalties (huge 5-on-3 kill Tuesday) now is the time for him to regain his scoring touch.

Meanwhile, the Habs travel to Manhattan to take on the Rangers. The Rangers have been great at home since the beginning of March as they have rolled to a 6-1-1 record while only allowing 11 goals in those 8 games. The Rangers are 2-1-0 against the Habs this year but have won the only game at Madison Square Garden. Luckily the Rangers did not clinch Tuesday night and in fact, with a pair of losses to end the season, they could still miss the playoffs. A win tonight would clinch a playoff spot and allow them a couple of extra days to rest any lingering injuries.

It's 8:30 and I already feel sick and cannot think of anything else. GO LEAFS GO!

Go Bruins, Rangers, Lightning!

2007-04-02T23:53:00.000-04:00

First things first, Sunday night must be forgotten. Toronto has shown an ability to put bad games behind them and when the puck drops all of their focus and energy has to be put into winning tonight's game. The Leafs need to build an early lead. Like the favourites in the NCAA tourney (Go Gators!) the Buds cannot afford to let the Flyers stick around. An underdog that is not put away early is a dangerous commodity. Putting them in a quick hole will hopefully make them quit since they realistically have nothing left to motivate them.

David Johnson has a rundown of some scenarios that will get each team into the playoffs. Needless to say, the permutations are mind-boggling. Check it out Leaf fans and let the anxiety attack sweep over your body.

Around The NHL

Here's a look at the other games that will affect the Eastern Conference playoff race:

Boston - Montreal: For the love of the Old Gardens, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and every Bruin that ever battled against Les Habitants please come out and play with some pride. You cannot win the Cup this year but wouldn't it make the off-season golf a little more enjoyable knowing that you kept the Habs and their fans out of the playoffs?

NY Rangers - NY Islanders: A Rangers win here combined with a Leafs win would essentially eliminate the Isles from post-season play. With DiPietro still out and the Rangers looking to clinch a playoff berth a favourable result looks to be in the cards. An Islanders loss might also soften them up for Thursday's visit to Nassau County Coliseum. Dammit! Don't look ahead!

Tampa Bay - Carolina: The Hurricanes pulled a hell of a comeback out of their collective rear ends. Apparently their goggles and swimcaps have magical powers. The Lightning beat the Hurricanes 5-2 Saturday on the road and will be looking to move one step closer to clinching a playoff spot. Repeat the feat and the Canes can pack up their bags.

The Final Week in the Playoff Race

2007-04-02T08:28:00.000-04:00

Six months of an often injury-plagued and gruelling regular season comes to a close this Sunday. By 10:30PM on Saturday (if not sooner) the Leafs will know if they will be gearing up for the second season or cleaning out their lockers after another failed playoff push. The loss last night would have definitely put the Leafs in an even better position but realistically they are still in control of their fate. They could hardly have asked for a better schedule. They play the last place Flyers, against whom they have a 3-0 record, the Islanders without DiPietro, who singlehandedly (well, with some help from Kerry Fraser) beat them twice, and the Canadiens who they have outplayed almost all season (damn shootouts). Two of the last three are at the ACC which the Leafs have recently turned into the fortress that it has been in the past. The Leafs are on a seven game win streak in front of their paying customers.

The rest of the contenders' schedule really plays out well for the Leafs as well. The Hurricanes travel to Tampa and play the Thrashers which are tough divisional rivals. The Canadiens travel to Boston to face the Bruins who could always decide to finally play the spoiler against their old rivals and the Rangers in New York where they have been almost untouchable in the last six games. If the Leafs knock off the Flyers and the Rangers do the Leafs a favour by beating the Islanders then they will basically be eliminated come Thursday night.

Overall the schedule favours the Leafs in terms of getting help of their rivals but ultimately, if they win their three games, those results are essentially extraneous to the team's ultimate success. The final push starts Tuesday at 7:30pm.

Maple Leafs - Tuesday Flyers, Thursday @ Islanders, Saturday Canadiens

Canadiens - Tuesday Bruins, Thursday @ Rangers, Saturday @ Canadiens

Tampa Bay - Tuesday Hurricanes, Friday Panthers, Saturday @ Thrashers

NY Rangers - Tuesday @ Islanders, Thursday Canadiens, Saturday @ Penguins

Hurricanes - Tuesday @ Lightning, Friday Thrashers, Saturday Panthers

NY Islanders - Tuesday Rangers, Thursday Maple Leafs, Saturday @ Flyers, Sunday @ Devils

An Open Letter to the Maple Leafs

2007-04-02T07:20:00.000-04:00

Hey Guys,

Tough game tonight eh? I know you guys don't like pressure and knowing that a win would have put you in a tie for 7th must have raised the blood pressure a bit. That must be why you guys made about a month's worth of mental errors in the game tonight. 7-2? You guys knew it was game 79 tonight right? I don't know if anyone told you but April Fools ends at noon and this game certainly wouldn't have found itself on any list of accepted pranks.

It sort of reminded me of the way that you guys came out and were destroyed in back-to-back games in Montreal last year. The team was really left for dead after that pair of stinkers but you guys reeled off a 9-1-2 finish to the season. It was not enough to make up the ground since you didn't play any teams that you were chasing. I guess playing with the lowered expectations of the fanbase and press felt liberating but it's not something I would encourage.

The reaction tomorrow in the press and among a lot of fans will be to quit on the team. Last Saturday morning, after your great third period against the Sabres, the papers were awash with articles about how the team didn't deserve to be in the playoffs and how the season was over. Then Sunday morning, after the 4-1 win, they ran the complete opposite stories. Seriously, it was like reading freaking Mad Libs that were filled in with an optimistic viewpoint instead of their usual pessimistic spin. You can expect to read a lot of the same tomorrow. If it helps you play the kind of hockey that saw you beat the Devils, Sabres, Hurricanes, and Penguins than you should accept the pessimism. Feel liberated from the crushing expectations of a fanbase that has not celebrated a Stanley Cup in 38 seasons.

If you can rebound from today's debacle like you did after blowing leads against the Sabres and Penguins then you'll be in good shape. Your destiny is still in your own hands but don't think that it means that you are expected to beat three teams that you have dominated this year (not entirely in results but on the balance of play). That might increase the pressure and we wouldn't want you guys squeezing your sticks or letting opposition forwards stand unmolested in front of the net. Not only do you guys face the worst team in the East (Philadelphia) at home and a DiPietro-less Islanders squad that could already be eliminated from the playoffs by game time but you get to face your oldest rival on home ice in a game that will most likely decide the 8th seed.

Those three games look pretty winnable but only if you play the kind of hard forechecking, opportunistic hockey that has kept you guys in the playoff race despite losing over 330 man games to injury. Three wins would see you guys qualify for the playoffs and since you'll be expected to get drilled in the first round you'd probably have a chance at springing a surprise since it would be totally unexpected. Let me tell you that a playoff spot in itself would be appreciated greatly. Things are hard enough as fans when your drought is heading towards 4 decades but when you miss the playoffs you really put us in a tough position. Fans of other teams start crawling out of the woodwork to take potshots not to mention having to deal with the bandwagoners. A playoff spot would be appreciate but no pressure. That's the last thing you guys need.

Last Week in the Playoffs (March 26 - April 1)

2007-04-01T23:17:00.000-04:00

Below are the standings with which we awoke last Monday. The Leafs started the week off in eleventh looking up at the Islanders, Hurricanes, and Canadiens in the race for eighth. With a combination of some good hockey and some help the Leafs find themselves still in control of their own destiny with three games left in the season. Here is a look at the results from the past week:

Maple Leafs - Hurricanes (6-1 W), Thrashers (3-2 OTL), Penguins (5-4 W), Rangers (7-2 L) = 5 PTS

Hurricanes - Maple Leafs (6-1 L), Flyers(5-1 L), Lightning (4-2 L), Panthers (4-3 W) = 2PTS

Lightning - Panthers (5-2 L), Hurricanes (5-2 W), Capitals (5-2 W) = 4 PTS

Canadiens - Rangers (6-4 W), senators (5-2 L), Sabres (4-3 W) = 4 PTS

NY Rangers - Canadiens (6-4 L), Flyers (6-4 W), Maple Leafs (7-2 L) = 2 PTS

NY Islanders - Devils (3-2 L), Sabres (6-4 L), senators (5-2 L) = 0 PTS

Leafs Charged with Attempted Murder, Escape with Win

2007-04-01T14:04:00.000-04:00

Luckily for the Leafs Julie Beattie, a nurse from McMaster University Hospital (I hear that she walks and talks a little faster than her Brock counterparts), was in the stands as her quick reaction and CPR training saved the life of a fan that had just seen his team cough up a 4-1 lead for the second time in the past fortnight when Ryan Whitney buried his shot with just over four seconds remaining in the third.

Like that Sabres game a scant eight days ago, there is a lot of good to take away from this game. Andrew Raycroft played a very good game. The three goals could hardly be laid at his feet (in order their would be Kubina, Poni, and Poni/McCabe's fault) and his play through the first 55 minutes was what must be replicated tonight against the Rangers in order to keep the Leafs in the playoff picture. For those first 55 minutes the Leafs held a team that they had struggled against under control and had built a strong lead. And the biggest plus was the Leafs' reaction to losing their lead late. Instead of folding up their tent they came out and completely dominated the overtime period before Tomas Kaberle scored his second of the game on a long shot from the point. The Leafs certainly picked the perfect game in which to break their goose egg against the Pens.

Tonight the Leafs play their game in hand on the Habs as they travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers. Last night the Leafs received no help as the Rangers, Lightning, and Habs all won their games (Stupid Buffalo!). The season series stands at 2-0-1 in the Leafs favour including a 5-4 loss in overtime that featured a barnstorming third period by the good guys, a 9-2 blowout which saw Wellwood and Ponikarovsky tally five points, and a 2-1 nailbiter in one of Raycroft's best performances as his 37 saves featured a few of the spectacular variety. The Leafs will be facing a white-hot Henrik Lundqvist and the usual suspects (Jagr, Straka, Nylander) who will need to be shut down to give the Leafs a chance to not only leapfrog the Habs but tie the Rangers for 7th in the conference.

Breaking News: "Must Win" Loses All Meaning

2007-03-31T16:57:00.000-04:00

Fresh off a night in which all three relevant games turned the Leafs way (mostly because it was impossible for Tampa and Carolina to get 0 points) the boys in blue are at home to take on the Penguins. An interesting note about the Leafs-Pens season series is that 14 of the 18 goals that the Pens have scored have come on the powerplay. The Leafs' discipline (and the refs attention to Sidney's aerial hijinks) will decide the game. If they stay out of the box and kill what penalties they do get then they should be fine. If the penalties mount then so will the score. Also, the Leafs will be reunited with Gary Roberts who once led them past the senators singlehandedly.

Here are the standings as of this morning to use as a guide tonight. A Leafs win and a Habs loss puts God's team into 8th place ahead of their matchup with the Rangers tomorrow. First things first, the Penguins.

Around the NHL

Atlanta beat Boston 3-2 so the Bruins are officially unable to catch the Leafs for whatever place they finish in. Sorry Sym. Tkachuk, Kovalchuk, and de Vries led the way (anyone else wish Hawerchuk was still in the league and on that line?) for the Thrashers who move closer to winning a great bet over at the Southeast Shootout.

Washington can make up for that 5-1 beating they laid on the Leafs by taking care of the Lightning. Sure it's on the road but it's still the Lightning and they have Ovechkin, Semin, and Kolzig. That's more than enough to win a game in that division. Wishful Prediction: 4-2 Capitals

Philadelphia has played the role of spoiler well this week with a 5-1 thrashing of the Hurricanes and another win over the Rangers would be much appreciated. Martin Biron has until the end of the season to instill hope in his new hometown fans and what better way than to beat the hated team from Gotham. Wishful Prediction: 3-1 Flyers.

After last night's performance in Ottawa (no evidence of it left at Habsblog damn commie censors) the Habs cannot be looking forward to playing an even better and more explosive team in Buffalo. I predict only bad things for the Habs as they either play Halak, whose confidence must be shaken, or Huet,who will just be returning from injury, or Aebischer, who is crap. Wishful Prediction: 7-1 Sabres.

As for those senators, they look to cement their hold on fourth and get their provincial rivals into the playoffs (a cup doesn't count without a series versus the Leafs!) by taking their seemingly unstoppable winning machine (6 regulation losses since Christmas? what was in their stockings?) to Long Island to heap some dirt on the Islanders' playoff hopes. No DiPietro and possibly no Smyth = no hope. 6-3 senators.

Friday Night in the Playoff Race

2007-03-30T10:01:00.001-04:00

I am a glass half full kind of guy so I will say that the single point last night will end up being the one that puts the Leafs into the playoffs. But to achieve that they will need some regulation help tonight. There are three huge games in the Eastern Conference and while two are easy picks the third is a bit more complicated.

Obviously, everyone one here will be sending positive vibes to the senators (except Muppet who will be sending extra negative vibes to the Habs) in the hopes that they will crush the overrated, needlessly arrogant Habs fans. Check into the Habsblog for what I can only assume will be a night of hilarity. As a tip, I have found that if they start blocking your name/e-mail address you can make up a new one/fake one to continue harrassing them.

In Buffalo, the slugs will be repaying the Leafs for their comeback a week ago by destroying the Dipietro-less Islanders.

The tough decision comes down to the Tampa-Carolina game. Both teams are struggling with spotty performances and nightmare inducing goaltending at the wrong time of the year. The Leafs don't have any games left against either team and at 7-1 it is a huge shame. So in the interest of keeping the teams behind the Leafs behind the Leafs and knowing that they play Montreal and the Rangers this weekend, Go Bolts!

Everybody Loves Toronto

2007-03-28T22:09:00.000-04:00

From the same guy that brought us the mockery of a survey that ESPN released Mirtle dug up a players survey from The Hockey News. Here are some highlights:

If you could play for any NHL team (other than your own), which would you choose?

Toronto Maple Leafs (34) 14.4%
New York Rangers (29) 12.3%
Detroit Red Wings (19) 8%
Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks (18) 7.6%
Dallas Stars (15) 6.3%
Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens (14) 5.9%
Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning (10) 4.2%
Phoenix Coyotes (9) 3.8%
Calgary Flames (8) 3.4%
Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers (5) 2.1%
Nashville Predators, Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins (4) 1.7%
Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks (3) 1.2%
Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres (2) 0.85%
Carolina Hurricane and Edmonton Oilers (1) 0.42%

That bodes well for free-agency this summer. How much will that piss off the anti-Leaf brigade?

What is an appropriate penalty for fighting?
1) 5 minutes (273) 97%

Would you rather see a fourth-line roster spot go to:
1) An enforcer (177) 66%

These guys must really like the enforcers on their team to close ranks and protect their jobs like this. Will this take the wind out of the fighting is useless brigade?

Would you consider a shorter regular season knowing it would mean 10 to 15 per cent less revenue from gate receipts?
1) No (175) 63%

Looks like players AND owners are just as greedy. A shortened season would be better for fans but who cares about them.

Who is the best player in the NHL this season?
10) Erik Cole, Pavel Datsyuk, Rory Fitzpatrick, Eric Goddard, Josh Green, Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano, Ryan Miller, Brian Rolston and Henrik Zetterberg (1) 0.38%

How did Rory Fitzpatrick's mom get a vote?

Who is the most respected player in the NHL?
7) Teemu Selanne and Mats Sundin (2) 0.76%

Guess who was not on that list? Your Swedish Captain but he shows up on a later list ;)

Who is the most overrated player in the NHL?
10) Darcy Tucker (2) 1%
11) Daniel Alfredsson (1) 0.5%

Sure, the Leafs have FOUR guys in the top 10 (McCabe, Kubina, Gill (?!), and Tucker) but it is worth it to see YSC's name in there.

What’s the best thing about your job?
9) Women (5) 2%
10) Naps (3) 1.2%

I agree, naps are awesome but so are women. If you figure that Pronger is one of those five votes, who had the rest? Despite Spezza's vote, giggling was not listed.

What’s the worst thing about your job?
12) Backchecking (2) 0.81%
14) Cam Janssen (1) 0.4%

These answers are the easiest to identify: Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, and Tomas Kaberle.

A Tale of Two Games

2007-03-28T13:21:00.000-04:00

Leafs 6 v. Hurricanes 1: Relentless

Secondary scoring carried the day in this game, as Ninja noted, because the top two lines played the Hurricanes big guns to a standstill. Carrying on from three great (mostly) games against the top two teams in the east the Leafs established their forecheck early and used it to cause numerous turnovers. Again, most teams in the conference do not have the size to deal with the top line or the skill to make breakout passes under pressure, at least not throughout their defence corps. When the buds can get this part of their game going the opposition, especially teams that rely on speed and quick puck movement, struggle to create the chances off the rush that fuel their offence. This game gave the Leafs the season series with a 3-1 mark.

Leafs 2 v. Thrashers 3 (OT): Crap

Boyd Devereaux clearly did something wrong to someone on the Thrashers in some past lifetime because he was getting run all over the ice. Unfortunately, it was the pattern of the game. No one from the Leafs outside of the usual suspects (Carlo and Kilger) replied in kind. The Leafs certainly created enough chances to win but as in so many losses the finish was not present. In the end, they let themselves get beat on a terrible penalty call after the defence had lost track of Kovalchuk! The worst part were the two blown calls on Pohl (before) and Sundin (after) that the referees apparently missed.

I have noticed that the referees have been missing more calls, letting more go, and calling more useless penalties (player reaches out stick, taps puck carrier, gets called for hooking). I imagine that it will only get worse in the playoffs. The loss (and thank God for that point) gave the season series 3-1 to the Thrashers a year after the Leafs swept them. This sets up the Leafs for a huge (and rare) Saturday/Sunday back-to-back with the Penguins and Rangers. Head over to the BoO for in-game comments.

A Week in the Life of the Leafs (March 19-26)

2007-03-27T19:09:00.000-04:00

This week had the potential to be more about the death of the Leafs playoff hopes than offering any sort of hope but it ended up providing the latter (with an early dose of the former). Three games against the top two teams in the East were skillfully handled (for about 171:15) and personally it gave me the belief that the Leafs are rounding into form just in time. They control their fate as their schedule gives them games against each of their rivals (except Tampa, dammit). Here's a quick look back at the games.

Leafs 2 v. Devils 1: Sweet Revenge

Wade Belak got the sideshow out of the way early with a looong fight in which he took the decision with some good early shots but kudos to the scrub for playing his role. He could have spent his three minutes on the ice hiding but he didn't. In the game, the Leafs picked up goals from Kyle Wellwood (who says his return wasn't like a deadline pick-up now?) and the suddenly scorching hot Nik Antropov. Both were set up by the captain on rushes in which he hit the zone with a full head of steam. Raycroft got some help from the posts as he outdueled Martin Brodeur.

Leafs 4 v. Sabres 5: Heartbreak

Well this was a gut-punch game if I have ever seen one. At 4-1 I was soaring. Devereaux-Steen-Stajan was the best line on the ice and Raycroft had barely been tested. Then a funny thing happened as the Leafs got greedy. Not content with taking the gift from the hockey gods (the fourth goal) and going home to attempt to complete the sweep over the Eastern Conference's best team the Leafs tried to run up the score. It quickly fell apart as a couple of bad line changes, a terrible tripping call on Kubina, a soft play by Carlo, and a missed timeout (Maurice knew that the next whistle after the 4th goal was a tv timeout but his team couldn't last until the next whistle) cost the Leafs their hard-earned points.

Leafs 4 v. Sabres 1: Resilience

I won't lie. After the previous night's events I was expecting the Leafs to get buried. But the coaching staff dedicated themselves to showing the team how they had dominated the Sabres for most of the previous evening and wouldn't you know it, they repeated it at home for their 5th straight home win. Again, the Steen-Stajan-Devereaux line was golden as both kids were playing with an incredible amount of confidence and skill. They are both becoming very difficult to handle in the offensive zone while maintaining their defensive responsibility. Darcy Tucker potted a couple of goals including a Leafs powerplay special in celebration of the reunion of PP # 1.

These three games, minus the meltdown, have to have instilled a huge amount of confidence in the entire team. If they can keep it going against the Hurricanes then they will start to build the kind of momentum that saw them finish last year on an 11-1-2 streak and with the team gelling after a season of injuries they look like a team that could make some noise in the playoffs. But first things first, time to beat the storm.

This Week in the Playoff Race

2007-03-26T06:38:00.000-04:00

The Leafs start off the week in 11th place and with 3 (and possibly 4) games against rivals for the 6th-8th playoff seeds. Toronto is still in control of their destiny but they would certainly like to see fewer three point games among their rivals. They could also use some help from the other teams on the outside looking in as the Panthers, Flyers, and Capitals can all help the Leafs. Sickeningly, so can the senators. So for this week Leafs Nation will be keeping a hopeful eye on Ottawa's game and rooting on Heatley's pursuit of 50 goals.

Maple Leafs - Tuesday Hurricanes, Thursday @ Thrashers, Saturday Penguins, Sunday @ Rangers

Hurricanes - Tuesday @ Maple Leafs, Wednesday @ Flyers, Friday Lightning, Sunday @ Panthers

Lightning - Tuesday Panthers, Friday @ Hurricanes, Saturday Capitals

Canadiens - Tuesday Rangers, Friday @ senators, Saturday Sabres

NY Rangers - Tuesday @ Canadiens, Friday @ Flyers, Sunday Maple Leafs

NY Islanders - Tuesday Devils, Friday @ Sabres, Saturday senators

Last Week in the Playoff Race

2007-03-25T18:27:00.000-04:00

Here is a look back at the week that was in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The standings below are the ones to which we awoke on Monday morning. Tomorrow, I'll have a look at the week ahead.

With the Leafs' running mates winning at will only picking up 4 of 6 points from the top two teams in the East cost them a spot in the standings. The Leafs' destiny is still very much in their own hands as they have games left against all of the teams in the battle except for Tampa Bay and with a season sweep under their belt the Leafs certainly wish they had them on the schedule.

Toronto - Devils (2-1 W), @ Buffaslugs (4-5 L), Buffaslugs (4-1 W) = 4 PTS

Tampa Bay - Islanders (3-4 OT), Devils (3-1 W), senators (2-7 L) = 4 PTS

Carolina - Capitals (4-3 W), Sharks (6-4 W) = 4 PTS

Montreal - Bruins (1-0 W), @ Bruins (6-3 W), Saturday Capitals (4-1 W) = 6 PTS

NY Rangers - Penguins (2-1 W), Flyers (5-0 W), @ Bruins (2-1 SO), @ Islanders (2-1 OT) = 8 PTS

NY Islanders - @ Lightning (3-4 OT), Penguins (3-1 W), @ Flyers (4-3 W), Rangers (1-2 OT) = 6 PTS

Squash the Buffaslugs!

2007-03-23T10:07:00.000-04:00

I hate the Buffaslugs. I think most hockey fans feel the same way. From their bandwagon nature (funny how tough tickets are to get now that the team is an elite team) that bankrupted the team to their constant whining about injuries during last year's playoff run to the mindblowing arrogance of their fans this year and their no-class players last year. Travelling fans can tell you all about the welcoming atmosphere at the Alphabet Arena. And God help you if you have to listen to the games with Rick Jeannerette. You would think that the Flying Buffaslugs had never taken a dive in their lives. Oh, and don't forget that their coach is a dick and apparently a pussy at the same time.

On the Leafs' side, Tomas Kaberle will make his return to the lineup tonight and it could not come at a better time. The Leafs will have the top powerplay unit of Wellwood, Tucker, Sundin, Kaberle, and McCabe together for the first time since December 16th. At that point the PP was clicking at a rate of 24%. Not bad. Since then it's puttered at around 14% and even worse since Kaberle went down at the beginning of the month.

With everyone winning last night the Leafs need these games. The bare minimum is two points and four would be unbelievable (most likely literally). The Leafs are 2-4 against the Sabres this year with three great performances against the slugs in their own building. The Sabres are in a similar position to the senators in last year's finale in that they are comfortably perched at the top of the Eastern Conference. The Leafs need to play with that same kind of desperation. Let's squash the slugs. Go Leafs Go!

Conspiracy Theory

2007-03-22T22:45:00.000-04:00

I watched that movie this past Sunday (so it was broken up by mini-naps) and clearly we have a case of life imitating art tonight as every team competing with the Leafs won. Here is some proof of the shenanigans going on in what can only be an attempt by the NHL to keep as many Canadian teams out of the playoffs. Something is definitely rotten in the NHL.

Washington 3 - Carolina 4: Washington scored those three goals on 10 freaking shots. Did Hanlon issue a no-shooting decree? This is a team that features Alexander Ovechkin and Alex Semin. Those two combine for 10 shots on a freaking shift. They have 593 shots between them this year. That means that they average 8 shots a game by themselves.

New Jersey 1 - Tampa Bay 3: Brodeur allowed 2 goals on 7 shots in the third period. Are we supposed to believe that a player that is well on his way to becoming THE greatest goalie in NHL history could not shut down the Lightning? Add in that the Devils are in danger of losing the division to the Penguins and something stinks.

Pittsburgh 1 - NY Islanders 3: The Penguins are within spitting distance of a division title and yet their vaunted powerplay goes 0-6 against the 19th ranked penalty kill? Not only did Crosby get shut out but Malkin missed a penalty shot! Pittsburgh won 75% of the neutral zone faceoffs but only 37% in the offensive zone. Pretty clear that they were trying not to score tonight. The league is really stretching reality with this one.

Montreal 6 - Boston 3: Maybe Gary Bettman was not clear in his memo that the losses have to at least look believable to a casual observer because the sad-sack Bruins clearly missed that part. After two strong periods gave them a 3-2 lead heading into the third the Bruins realized that they had to lose. They showed their intelligence by picking the most understated way possible to cough up the game: FOUR GOALS ON THE ONLY FOUR SHOTS OF THE PERIOD! Tim Thomas' bank account probably shows a hefty deposit, oh, sometime around 9:20pm.

Sure, that last one has a Canadian team winning which might seem like a hole in my theory (note, how Calgary is also on the verge of an epic collapse while teams are suddenly losing to the Avalanche like they are actually a good team) but the truth is that the Habs are a terrible team and will choke their playoff spot away anyway. Their wins serve to unsettle the Leafs since they know that they cannot miss the playoffs again while les habitants qualify.

And what of Vancouver and Ottawa? Well they have the biggest bandwagon fans. They'll be done with the playoffs once their teams are eliminated in the first round. Sorry Vancouver, no shootouts in the second season. My bad Ottawa, Gary Roberts will be around to haunt you.

And that brings me to the ultimate goal of this Bettman-led conspiracy: To kill Canada's pastime. Sure, his previous moves have been far from subtle - overexpansion, two lockouts, a TV contract with Versus - but he is clearly onto the understated part of his Machiavellian scheme. By ensuring that the playoffs lack a Canadian element beyond the first round he is making sure that the second season will continue to get laughable ratings. One more element in his grand plan to help out his first love, the NBA, but tonight I am blowing the lid off of his scheme.

V is for Vengeance

2007-03-20T17:10:00.000-04:00

Tonight the Leafs face the hero of the New Jersey inbreds in their first meeting since the scrub tried to injure rosy-cheeked Tomas Kaberle. Kaberle will await the doctor's word on whether he will play tonight and the sentiment is that the Leafs would prefer him taking until the weekend to return. The rest of the Leafs meanwhile seem to have their heads on straight and appear set to learn their history lessons:

"I don't think the boys will be looking for him," said Kaberle. "They'll be playing their own game. We just have to get the two points."

That sentiment has been echoed by the team and most fans in a Sun poll want nothing more than the critical two points. As McCabe has pointed out revenge is a dish best served cold and the scrub could conceivably be around next season as well.

Belak might drop the mitts early but the window is only about 1-2 minutes, the amount of time the scrub might spend on the ice and not picking splinters out of his rear, so it will probably amount to nothing. The scrub's obliviousness knows no bounds,

"I'm not looking to go head hunting or anything like that. I'm just want to go out there and play my game. I'm sure if I'm skating down the wing with the puck, he's going to come hit me too. That's obvious."

What was obvious was that the league does not need to employ players that take up minutes that a beer leaguer could fill just as well without the accompanying embarrassing incidents. What was obvious was that, as Kaberle put it, the scrub has no respect for his fellow NHLers. Attitudes like that generally end up coming back to bite the player in the rear whether it's a high-profile teammate that gets him shipped out of town or, in the case of the scrub, whether it's a little more personal attention in future matchups.

Would any Leaf fan be upset at a clean hit injuring the scrub? Nary a tear would be shed and it would be the biggest irony if it was on a play when a Leaf 'was just finishing his check.' But the biggest vengeance would be a win and that is where the focus must lie.

A Week in the Life of the Maple Leafs

2007-03-20T08:17:00.001-04:00

Tuesday March 13, 2007 - Leafs 3 v. Lightning 2: Season Sweep

This game was closer than it had to be as the Leafs' shooters again made a subpar goalie look like a world beater. The game was one-way traffic for the first 50 minutes as the Leafs completely dominated the play save for Ian White's lovely deflection into his own net and Dan Boyle potting a shorty 20 seconds after clipping Mats in the face. Great call.

Thankfully, the Leafs were able to eventually take the lead courtesy of a personal favourite, Nik Antropov, who showed some good anticipation and hands in creating some space for himself down low before tucking a shot in at the far post.

Friday March 16, 2007 - Leafs 1 v. Capitals 5: I Want A Refund

Stupidly, I thought that a well-rested Leafs team might be able to handle a Hershey Bears team that had lost to the Bruins the previous night and in fact was on a 9 game win streak. Unfortunately, Olaf Kolzig was back in net and with the Leafs in the mood to make Johnson look great they were not going to get any favours playing against an actual world class goalie.

I compounded my error by purchasing the LeafsTV interactive feed for my computer. In a pinch it is actually worth it but that money would have bought me more happiness if they had been used for anything else. The worst part was that my buddy and I were conversing over MSN about how McCabe seems to have picked up his defensive play over the past few games and had dedicated himself to a simpler game. Literally 20 seconds later he tried to freaking pokecheck Alex Semin in front of the net. HIT HIM!

Saturday March 17, 2007 - Leafs 2 v. Canadiens 3 (SO): St. Patrick Returns

Maybe the Leafs' long-term plan is to screw the Habs over by making them think that Jaroslav Halak is a good goalie rather than a goalie that is benefitting from a Leafs team that has gone into another offensive funk. The Spirit of St. Patrick (no, Roy is not dead) was certainly in a giving mood for the Habs. I missed the Tucker-Bouillon fight but I heard it was a much fairer tilt than last time what with the Hab waiting for Tucker to join the fight before punching him in the face.

The Leafs' again dominated the Habs (that's 6 times out of 7 for those keeping count) and again lost in a shootout. Mats went to his patented move, top shelf, but Wellwood lost the handle on his deke, Perreault ran out of room, and Tucker took a bad shot. Unused after their previous success were O'Neill and Steen. Raycroft was looking good until Koivu scored with the Habs' third shot and Andrei Kostitsyn potted the winner.

The upcoming week sees the Leafs host the Devils and Sabres to bookend a trip to Buffalo. The Leafs will probably have to pick up three points at a minimum which means that the forwards cannot be happy chucking 30 shots at the net. They have to tap their inner-snipers and find a way to shot somewhere other than at the goalie's crest. Anywhere else. Ask McCabe how he misses the net entirely and adjust a bit.

This Week In The Playoff Race

2007-03-19T18:49:00.000-04:00

These are the standings as of this morning in the race that no one wants to win. Call me crazy but a first round matchup with Buffalo, while daunting, is certainly no reason for all the teams from Tampa Bay to Montreal to try to tank games in order to avoid opening the playoffs in lovely upstate New York. Clearly there must be a lot of collective fear because all of those teams are doing their damndest to end up in 9th. From Toronto and Tampa getting waxed by Washingston to the Islanders giving up 8 goals to Florida the teams on the bubble have shown no desire to grab this playoff race by the horns. The Thrashers did, from a then precarious position, and now they are seemingly safely ensconsed at the top of the Southeast division.

The Leafs face the top two teams in the East three times this week so conventional wisdom holds that they will be looking at three losses. However, as I told DC when he asked me to find 11 wins for the Leafs a couple of weeks ago, the Leafs tend to wins game that they shouldn't (New Jersey and Ottawa) and lose ones that they shouldn't (Montreal and Washington). That is why I simultaneously love and loathe the Maple Leafs. So I would expect another 3 points out of the week and pray that the Leafs' running mates continue to stumble towards the finish line. Of course, conventional wisdom is called that because it generally turns out to be correct. It's a nice reminder that last year the Oilers won the race that no one wanted to win in the west and came within 60 minutes of the Stanley Cup. Once again, the weekly lineup follows:

Toronto - Tuesday Devils, Friday @ Buffaslugs, Saturday Buffaslugs

Tampa Bay - Tuesday Islanders, Thursday Devils, Saturday senators

Carolina - Thursday Capitals, Saturday Sharks

Montreal - Tuesday Bruins, Thursday @ Bruins, Saturday Capitals

NY Rangers - Monday Penguins, Wednesday Flyers, Saturday @ Bruins

NY Islanders - Tuesday @ Lightning, Thursday Penguins, Saturday @ Flyers

What If?

2007-03-13T18:44:00.000-04:00

I rarely read The Sun (Liverpool fan and all) but I managed to catch this story which made me simultaneously cry, laugh in pain, spit my milk at the screen, and slam my head against my desk. Of course, who knows how the trade would have worked out in the long-run. Well, it definitely would have been the best thing that Jonas Hoglund ever did for the Leafs. Player development is a game of maybes and could bes or Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda so maybe this trade would have been remembered as the time that the Leafs traded away three future superstars while gambling on the NHL's Michael Jordan. But as it stands, Vinny would look good in blue and white but I am happy with Kaberle and Antropov who combined cost less and put more points on the board.

Anyway, back to this reality, where the Leafs host the aforementioned Mr. Lecavalier and his friends. This season the Leafs have shown some ability to control the Three Amigos (or at least limit their damage) and hold a 3-0-0 record in the season series against the Bolts. They picked up a pair of 4-2 wins in the Sunshine State bookending a 5-4 victory at the ACC. Tonight they will be looking to complete the season sweep but will have to once again look out for Richards, St. Louis, and the almost-Leaf Lecavalier the latter two which are among the top three in scoring while Vinny leads the race for the Richard Trophy. The Leafs need this win (and all three games this week) as they face a killer 7 days starting Sunday with a game against the Devils and a home-and-home with the Sabres.

A Look At The Playoff Race

2007-03-12T18:42:00.000-04:00

Those are the standings as of this morning. Teams are headed towards the 70 game mark and the regular season is into its last four weeks. Here's how each team affecting the Leafs and sens hopes (playoff spot/home ice advantage):

Ottawa: Tues @ Rangers, Thurs Islanders, Sat Flyers, Sun @ Penguins

Toronto: Tues Lightning, Fri @ Capitals, Sat @ Canadiens

Atlanta: Mon Capitals, Thurs @ Flyers, Fri Rangers, Sun Sabres

Carolina: Tues Panthers, Thurs Devils, Sat @ Devils

Tampa Bay: Tues @ Maple Leafs, Fri Sabres, Sun @ Capitals

NY Rangers: Tues senators, Fri @ Thrashers, Sat Bruins

NY Islanders: Tues @ Canadiens, Thurs @ senators, Sat @ Panthers

Montreal: Tues Islanders, Fri @ Penguins, Sat Maple Leafs

Boston: Thurs Capitals, Sat @ Rangers

Florida: Tues @ Hurricanes, Thurs Sabres, Sat Islanders

A busy week indeed. There are a tonne of head-to-head matchups between teams jockeying for playoff position and those vying for a last spot in the post-season so there is the potential for a bit more clarity. However, it is likely that the playoff picture will be just as murky next Monday morning. Check out DJ's updated Predicted Standings.

A Week In The Life...

2007-03-11T18:18:00.000-04:00

The past week for the Leafs has seen Wellwood and Tucker make their returns to the lineup, Kaberle continue his recuperation from the scrub's hit, a couple of tough losses, a stultifying win, and a momentum shifting comeback.

Saturday March 3, 2007 - Leafs 1 v. Sabres 3: Will No One Finish?

The Leafs hosted a Sabres team that was ripe for the picking as they were (and continue to be) in their first real injury crisis since last year's playoffs. I guess the Leafs understood how they felt and wanted to do their part to help the Sabres through their troubled time. It was a magnanimous gesture on the part of the Leafs but one that they could hardly afford. Despite keeping a lid on the Slugs the buds coughed up enough mental errors and missed chances to allow the team from across the Peace Bridge to steal a 3-1 decision.

If you assume that the Leafs will face the Sabres in the first round if they qualify then it could hvae been a strategic move to play the inept possum. However, considering the Leafs have two games left against these same Sabres then you would not be wrong in thinking that the Leafs lacked a certain finishing edge to their chances. Something that a player like Tucker or Wellwood could provide when healthy.

Tuesday March 6, 2007 - Leafs 3 v. Capitals 0: Shoot Me

This was a terrible game that lacked flow, passion, and excitement but the Leafs won so I cannot be too upset despite having to pay MLSE's ridiculous prices. We kept joking that we did not realize that Ovechkin and Semin were healthy scratches as they were completely invisible. Raycroft had a good solid game as he turned away 24 shots for his second shutout of the season and Tucker picked up the GWG. Yanic Perreault scored his first goal in his third run with the team on a nice burst of speed down the boards before slotting the puck behind the Hershey Bears' starting goaltender. Nik Antropov and Alex Ponikarovsky combined to ice the game on a nice bit of interplay. Poni dropped the puck at the blueline and drove to the net where he deflected Antro's low, hard shot into the net.

Thursday March 8, 2007 - Leafs 1 v. senators 5: No Goals Please, We're Grinders

This was a game of missed opportunities as Travis Green, Matt Stajan, Bates Battaglia (TWICE!), and John Pohl all missed wide open nets. Each (save for Green's) came at crucial junctions that could have changed the momentum of a game that saw the senators score on their first two powerplays and one of Toronto's. Not the start that the Leafs wanted to this home-and-home series with their nemesis.

Saturday March 10, 2007 - Leafs 4 v. senators 3 (OT): Domination Rewarded

I stretched my personal win streak to three games with this one although the result was in doubt for most of the game. It was an odd one that, despite numerous scoring chances for the Leafs, had a bit of a dull feeling to it until the last 10 minutes of the third. The senators looked poised to steal a win on the back of some opportunism and excellent goaltending by Ray Emery despite being heavily outplayed by the good guys.

First, Boyd Devereaux scored on the only mistake in an otherwise stunning display of goaltending when he sneaked a shot over the shoulder of Ray Emery who had gone down too early. Then, Mats outskated Wade Redden and slipped a pass to the much maligned Nik Antropov who used his 8 foot reach to whack home his own rebound. That set the stage for the Leaf fans' sweetheart, Darcy Tucker, to finish the game off on a nice one-two with Pavel Kubina to notch his second goal of the game. The ACC erupted as the Leafs' faithful celebrated a deserved victory and smug sens' fans sat shocked wondering how another lead slipped away in the third.

Wellwood made a welcome return to the Leafs lineup and his skill showed as he set up a number of chances. Last night was the first time since December 19th that he and Tucker were both in the lineup. No surprise that one of them was the difference in the game as both picked up stars. They provided the skill and finishing that was lacking on Thursday night and that has cost the Leafs so many points in 2007. The race for eighth is down to the final 13 games and the cavalry looks to have made its appearance just in time.

Will No One Rid Me Of This Meddlesome Priest?

2007-03-07T12:34:00.000-05:00

With those famous words King Henry II signed Thomas Becket's, the Archbishop of Canterbury, death warrant. Four loyal knights sailed to England from France and slew the Archbishop on the altar of Canterbury. The fallout of the action was widespread and longlasting:

The death of Becket unnerved the king. The knights who did the deed to curry the king's favor, fell into disgrace. Several miracles were said to occur at the tomb of the martyr and he was soon canonized. Hordes of pilgrims transformed Canterbury Cathedral into a shrine. Four years later, in an act of penance, the king donned a sack-cloth walking barefoot through the streets of Canterbury while eighty monks flogged him with branches. Henry capped his atonement by spending the night in the martyr's crypt. St. Thomas continued as a popular cultist figure for the remainder of the Middle Ages.

Move along almost 1000 years and another Thomas/Tomas has become the centre of a pursuit for vengeance. I was not alone in my bloodlust in the immediate aftermath of the scrub's attempt to injure Kaberle. Being the enlightened person that I am I saw that such calls for revenge comprised the buildup to Bertuzzi's mugging and assault of Steve Moore. With news that Kaberle for the rest of the season (he doesn't think so) the outcry for some sort of retribution on March 20th will only increase, unimaginably so if the Leafs proceed to miss the playoffs because of the absence of their best defender and powerplay catalyst. Especially in light of recent criticisms of the Leafs being soft. Et tu Don?

However, the Leafs need to maintain their focus as the playoff drive winds down to its glorious/painful conclusion. If they allow their emotions to get the better of them then they will waste the game on the 20th trying to avenge their fallen teammate. What would it benefit the team to lose the game and possibly a player in an attempt to knock out one of the Albany River Rats? The best vengeance would be to come out pumped in that game and lay clean, devastating hit after clean, devastating hit on every Devil player that touches the puck to ensure that the next time one of their scrubs thinks about laying a late and dirty hit on a Leaf that he will be reminded of the physical punishment that was doled out to the entire team.

Belak will probably fight the scrub (if either is even dressed) but the kind of out of control scene that we saw in that ill-fated Canucks-Avalanche rematch should have no place in the ACC that night. Clean, devastating hits all night long should be on the menu for the Devils. That combined with a win will be the best way to avenge Tomas.

Leafs 4 v. Devils 3 (SO): A Call to Arms (Elbows)

2007-03-03T10:04:00.000-05:00

Scoresheet
Statistics

This part is just to blow off some steam. I don't actually want to see anything other than clean hits on Janssen. Lots and lots of clean hits. And a fight with Belak.

Let's get the hit out of the way first. You can see the video on YouTube but I cannot link to it because I can feel my blood pressure rising with each viewing. It was a disgusting hit from an absolute scrub. A hit by such a gutless puke that he did not touch the ice for the rest of the game despite Belak not being in the lineup. Of course the referee, Kelly Sutherland (that's a girl's name) missed the hit. He was probably stoned.

The hit was late (later than the Neil hit on Drury) and from the blindside. But that's not what gets the hackles up since, in my opinion based on the replays, Neil's hit was not an attempt at a headshot. This hit was different as you can see Janssen make a clear move to not only hit Kaberle's but to drive through his head. As a proxy, look at the Letowski hit on Armstrong earlier in the season. The frustration is only amplified by the realization that Colin Campbell's Wheel of Justice will most likely fall on a 0 game suspension. With that disgusting thought in mind, Al Capone sums up the message that should be sent to Belak and Tucker and whoever else is in position to get Janssen:

I want you to get this f-ck where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Cam Janssen, I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!

The Leafs did nothing at the moment of the hit and I will atribute that to the fact that the play was going up ice and that Ms. Janssen did not see the ice again. However, on March 20th I want to see vengeance. Whether it's Belak fighting him three times or the Leafs repeatedly running Elias, Gionta, Parise, or any other skill player on the Devils I want some price to be paid. If the league won't handle things then they will see some vigilante justice which I am sure will make Campbell happy. That must be why his suspensions are so haphazard and ineptly handed out. He wants to see it happen. I hope the Leafs give him his money's worth.

As for the game, the Leafs looked completely out of it as they played their way to a 2-0 deficit but something funny happened in the third period. The Leafs' defenders took up the charge for their fallen compatriot. First Carlo burst through the Devils' defence and pick up a nice Steen pass before deking Brodeur. Then White took a good point shot on the powerplay that was tipped in by Antro before Hal Gill scored on a shot that deflected off of Paul Martin's stick.

The Leafs looked poised to cap the comeback before Bryan McCabe and a bad bounce conspired to send the game to overtime. Nothing was settled in the extra period so the Leafs tooke their 3-6 record into the shootout. Stajan (despite deking Brodeur out of his jockstrap) and Sundin both missed their opportunities before "Don't Panic It's" Yanic Perreault, Alex Steen, and Jeff O'Neill all tallied to give God's team an improbable victory. The boys can't dwell on the win for too long as they travel home to face the Sabres who are 8-1-1 in their last 10 and just waxed the Leafs 6-1 on Tuesday. Kaberle will be out of the lineup so the team will have to show the same jam as their did in the third period last night or that effort will have been wasted.

Leafs 4 v. Devils 3 (SO): Early Thoughts

2007-03-02T22:44:00.000-05:00

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

Death to Janssen, Death to Lou, and Death to the Devils!!

More tomorrow. What a game.

Uh Oh

2007-03-02T20:24:00.000-05:00

Originally posted at The Battle of Ontario

Mirtle's Playoff Push has been updated with the Eastern Conference's threshold down at 93 points. This means that the Leafs have to go 12-6 (wait until they go 16-0-2!) to hit the magic number. I decided to figure out the points per game were projecting and it's not pretty for the Leafs.

According to my NASA-level mathematical formula, the Leafs and Hurricanes will eventually fail by the painfully slim margin of ONE F$&%*#$ POINT. If it comes down to the excruciatingly small margin, found here, then one Kerry Fraser will have to have his head on a swivel the next time he takes charge of a game at the ACC. Of course, the Leafs are making the playoffs because they play the Habs, at home, in the last game of the year. Wow. Qualifying while simultaneously eliminating the Habs would make up for all the pain I have suffered through this season.

So it's more a matter of which team that should have made it will not. My pick is the Thrashers which could be crippling for a franchise that seemed set to make it's bow on the big stage. At one point they even looked poised to capture the division crown but that was before the Lightning's Three Amigos decided to play like it was 2004. Florida would be a much bigger factor in the playoff race if they had not lost 13! games in OT/SO. As it stands they, along with Washington, Philly, and maybe Boston, have a great chance to join Buffalo, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey in playing the spoiler. But not against the Leafs. Please.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2007-03-01T18:27:00.000-05:00

Leafs 5 v. Flyers 2 - Saturday February 24th
Scoresheet
Statistics

Too often the Leafs find a way to lose games against teams like this year's Flyers. After trading away Forsberg this was a team playing the schedule out with an eye towards next season. However, on Saturday night the good guys were able to overcome any complacency (of course the next two games were a different story) to quite handily put the league's cellar dwellars to the sword. The line of Steen-O'Neill-Stajan were at their best cycling the puck well and creating numerous scoring chances. Steen and O'Neill led the way with a goal and an assist in a game in which the result was never in doubt. The win leaves the Leafs with a 3-0 lead in the season series.

Leafs 4 v. Canadiens 5 - Monday February 26th
Scoresheet
Statistics

I defy any Leaf fans to tell me that the first two periods of this game did not give them post-traumatic stress flashbacks of the two games in March of last year which effectively killed the Leafs' playoff hopes. Against a team that borders on incompetent 5-on-5 a key to the game is to stay out of the box. When the powerplay is their one weapon and your penalty killing is 26th in the NHL it behooves a team to play disciplined.

Instead, as Raking Leafs notes, the Leafs played the part of the Montreal Canadiens in getting dominated physically while Les Habitants showed that they still possessed a bit of mettle. The third period saw Maurice juggle the lines in an attempt to revive the Leafs' flagging hopes. It worked.

The game returned to the form of the five previous games between the two storied franchises as Toronto asserted their size advantage and dictated the pace of the game. Lo and behold, the Leafs were rewarded as first Jeremy Williams and then Alex Steen tallied to bring the score to 5-4. Unfortunately, the rally ended there as Aebischer shook off the Swiss Goalie Disease to shut the door and a late, blatant high-stick on Mats was missed by all four officials.

Leafs 1 v. Sabres 6 - Tuesday February 27th
Scoresheet
Statistics

The Leafs are running out of gas. The great stretch to start off the year has petered out into some terrible mix of MASH and Slap Shot.

This game came right out of the Bruin's book 'How to Make Leaf Fans Kick Kittens'. The Leafs came out with jump and drew three penalties in the first period and scored on none of them (Where are thou Tucker?). The Sabres promptly went down the ice and score on a rebound as the normally reliable Devereaux lost his man on the backcheck. Two bad bounces later the Leafs are down 3-0.

Finally, Ponikarovsky scores a goal and the Leafs are coming on! Unfortunately, their hands are still...somewhere in Montreal...so the chances go wanting. Then a boneheaded move by Ponikarovsky (hey, weren't you just the hero?) led to a scrambled play, another crappy bounce, and a 4-1 lead for the Sabres. 4 goals on 11 shots only tells half the story. The Leafs' shitty defensive play tells the other half. McCabe got the Alfie treatment from the home crowd which was a long time coming.

Maurice is hamstrung by the injuries to Wellwood, Tucker, and Peca. It wasn't a problem when the team was giving their all every night but that counted on contributions from guys that have never been counted upon to produce night in and night out. They were bound to hit a wall and they have done that. Unfortunately, Maurice can't institute a similar policy to that long-ago replacement coach. He cannot punish poor performance with a spot in the press box because who will he call upon?

Yanic Perreault our (Leafs) nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.

JFJ Inks Tucker to Good Deal

2007-02-26T08:34:00.000-05:00

Don't worry people. That is not the first sign of the apocalypse. JFJ and Darcy Tucker are reportedly putting the finishing touches on a new deal for the feisty winger. This was a divisive topic within Leafs Nation as some wanted to see Tucker traded to cash in an asset at its peak (I was moving towards this view more and more) while others saw Tucker as the sort of jack-of-all-trades that the Leafs needed.

My own trepidation was based on early reports that had the negotiations centred around a 5-year deal worth between $4 and $5M per season. Tucker's injury made him almost impossible to trade for fair value and it apparently helped to depress his demands. The report states that the contract is for 3 (maybe 4 years) at an average of $3M and the no-movement clause that JFJ loves to throw around like tissues at a sens playoff party is non-existent. In its place there will likely be a no-trade clause that applies only in the last year of the contract.

All in all it's a pretty good deal in terms of length and money. Tucker had 19 goals in 39 games before getting injured and was a vital piece of the powerplay. He hits, fights, antagonizes, and fires up the team and the crowd. If he can maintain his style of play and the goal-scoring pace he has set in the last couple of years then this can be looked upon as a third great contract by JFJ (Raycroft and Kaberle being the others).

Here's a nice compilation from the guys at www.baystreetbullies.com that shows what $3M per season gets you:

Leafs 2 v. Islanders 3 (SO): Who's a D-bag?

2007-02-23T11:20:00.000-05:00

This guy is a douchebag. Can a Catholic put a fatwah on someone's head? Who will rid me of this meddlesome referee. While not on the level of Gretzky-gate it was nonetheless another atrocious call by the head douchebag himself. If I was a Leaf and he was reffing another game this year I'd take those stripes are targets. Another lost point against an Islanders game that the Leafs for the most part dominated. Bitter Leaf Fan takes a much more reasoned approach.

I was at my sister's play, Nunsense, (HILARIOUS) so I missed the game but read The Star and you'll see that my pet peeve of player's grabbing their opponent's stick and the referees assuming that it's a hook has finally bitten the Leafs in the butt. DiPietro is a cheater and Fraser is corrupt and now the Leafs are in 10th. Flyers are up next and the Leafs need to come ready to play.

Leafs 0 v. Bruins 3: Bogey Team

2007-02-21T07:45:00.000-05:00

The Leafs biggest weakness this season and cause of a lot of lost points has been their inability or unwillingness to jump on opponents when given the opportunity. Third period leads were lost when the Leafs did not get the next goal and teams that should have been handled have instead done the handling. Kevin McGran notes that it's a killer instinct that seems, at times, to be missing from the Leafs.

Last night was the Leafs fifth loss to the Bruins. Their games have inspired two of my more despondent posts and it usually boils down to the same problem: The Leafs do not have the high-end creative talent to break down a team that sits back and defends with five men. So much of the Leafs' offence is predicated on a successful forecheck and crashing the net. However, in the games in which the Bruins have clogged up the slot and sat back all game the Leafs have been unable to work to their strengths. How they are the only team to realize this is a mystery but thank God because if every team played the Leafs like that they would have a lot fewer points.

Luckily, the Leafs head back on the road where they apparently morph into one of the top teams in the league (4th best road record). They better find their shooting hands because Thomas is no DiPietro. Thursday night will require a much better effort. On the bright side, that game probably helped JFJ realize that trading for the future is what needs to be done at the deadline.

The Final Word

"It seems like when you're playing well, you're working hard and you do get the breaks, too," said Sundin. "Hockey is one of those sports where you do have to earn your breaks a little bit. Tonight, we didn't."

The Captain sums up the keys to the game.

A Tale of Two Razors

2007-02-20T17:10:00.000-05:00

The struggles of one Andrew 'Razor' Raycroft this season have been well documented. A promising early stretch that included a great post-game interview after his 8th victory was derailed by a groin injury in November and the ambiguity of his position. However, in 2007 his performance has been on the upswing. Paul Maurice's confidence in the goaltender, he vowed to start him until the playoffs, seems to have given him the self-belief that too often seemed to be lacking at times during the dark days of November and December. At lunch yesterday, a friend was joking that he had really stepped up his game since the brow beating we gave Razor after the Canucks debacle (which cost us a pretty penny to go see as well as a night of trashtalk from the solitary Canucks fan that accompanied the three of us) and we should get some sort of reward for spurring Raycroft to greater heights.

Personally, I think that the change came when Maurice made it clear that he was going to be the starter the rest of the way. Starting with the December 30th game against the senators he has started every game for the Leafs. So I used December 29th to divide the season so far and compared the stats among goalies and compared their standing amongst their peers to their standing for the year-to-date. It's pretty basic but by looking at the tables you can see a few interesting tidbits. Note: Any goalies that are missing have either not played more than 5 games since December 29th or have not played enough games all year to be able to make a comparison.

Raycroft's GAA certainly looks much better in terms of ranking. The middle is populated with the more consistent goalies, both good (Mason, Brodeur, Emery) and bad (Theodore, Thomas, Budaj), and the bottom shows which goalies have really fallen off the path. With a move from 9th to 28th by Huet it's no wonder the Habs have struggled so mightily. When you are amongst the NHL in shots allowed you cannot afford to hvae a goalie with a sub-.900 save percentage. Also, both of the Sharks' goalies and the Stars' Turco are amongst the big fallers but their respective teams scontinue to push for top honours in the West.

As with the save percentages, the surprises are found at either spectrum. Huet again suffers the greatest drop much to my delight. Raycroft once again improves on his standing post-December 29th. One of the things that leaps off of the screen is that Hasek is at the bottom of both tables and still has a 12-3-0 record. His GAA combined with his save percentage belie the fact that the Red Wings are among the stingiest in shots allowed which plays a part in their continued success despite Hasek not being in his best form. The biggest combined mover is Curtis Joseph with a 33 spot improvement over the two categories. Any team looking to add a veteran backup for their playoff run would do well to take a look at Joseph. Those are just some of the ones that popped out right away but feel free to add your conclusions in the comments. It certainly looks like Razor has started to play the kind of hockey that JFJ and the Leafs' scouts expected from him when they trade Rask to Boston.

Leafs 4 v. Oilers 3: Symmetry

2007-02-18T14:04:00.000-05:00

The pre-game ceremony was a tasteful affair that allowed each player to receive the crowd's affections. The loudest cheers were reserved for Johnny Bower, who is a regular at the games, and prodigal son Dave Keon. There was a nice bit of symmetry in the Leafs' win Saturday night. On the night that fans were able to cheer a player that had been in a self-imposed exile a Maple Leaf that has only recently begun to receive similar adulation from the Leafs' fan base showed once again that he is a unique talent.

While John Pohl impressed with his first multi-goal game it was Mats Sundin that sealed the victory with an incredible individual effort. I don't know the origin of the saying 'he beat him like a rented mule' but what Sundin did to Staios could have inspired it. In the end the Leafs needed a great save from Andrew Raycroft, who is on quite the streak, to seal the win after Ryan Smyth had deflected a wayward shot with a minute left in the game.

Watching the Oilers' defence struggle to put an outlet pass on the tape of an Oilers' forward (I counted 3 passes in the first period that went for icing) I wondered if some of the fans (read: Sean McCormick) regretted denigrating the Pronger for Kaberle and Steen trade. The season-long lament has been that the Oilers lack a PP quarterback and a puck-moving defenceman and we all know that Kaberle has evolved into one of the best in the league in both categories. Smid is young and still developing but the Oilers could have had Kaberle's prime years at a bargain price. As for Lupul and Steen, the offensive upside might be higher for Lupul but Steen is the much more complete player right now and has matched his counterparts offensive numbers this year.

The Leafs have a big week coming up a home date on Tuesday against the Bruins before hitting the road for dates at Nassau Coliseum and the Wachovia Center on Thursday and Saturday. In order to solidify their hold on 8th place the Leafs need to at least win two and one of them has to be the Islanders game. However, with the standings being as tight as they are the Leafs need to win all three in order to keep their chances at a better playoff spot alive.

A helmet tap to the group at Southeast Shootout for pointing the way to ESPN's Elias Bureau feature. Here is one that features the Leafs' captain:

Mats Sundin scored two goals and won 18 of 26 faceoffs in the Maple Leafs' 4-3 win over the Oilers. This was the third time over the past two seasons that Sundin has scored more than one goal and been "plus-10" or better on faceoffs. No other NHL player has had more than one such game over that span.

1967

2007-02-17T16:06:00.000-05:00

Those four little numbers have become an anchor around the neck of all who wear the blue and white and fervently follow the club. An unlikely cup victory in that year should have been the springboard for further success in the expansion era. A team that had struggled mightily to make the playoffs and were expected to be buried, first by the powerful Blackhawks and then by the two-time defending champions Montreal, triumphed against the odds and brought the franchise's 13th championship to the city.

Dave Perkins of the Toronto Star notes that celebrations were muted because success had become expected (of course he gets the obligatory dig at fans in inserted). The team seemed poised to build on a season that had seen a number of young players emerge as valuable contributors. Having just read '67 (a book I recommend to any fan of the Leafs although it will leave you depressed) I can tell you that behind the scenes Harold Ballard and Stafford Smythe had already begun the process of dismantling the infrastructure that had built the Leafs' dynasty. Coupled with Punch Imlach's deranged hatred of the union and his horrific personnel decisions and the writing was on the wall for a once proud franchise.

Tonight MLSE will honour that 1967 Stanley Cup Championship team before the Leafs take on the Edmonton Oilers. Joe Pelletier at Legends of Hockey has a profile for each player on that team which is worth a read and Reality Check at Eyes on the Prize has a two part look back at the squad (Part I and II).

The biggest news is that Dave Keon will be in attendance at an official Leafs' function for the first time since he left the Leafs after being treated shabbily by Harold Ballard. He is a player that stands out in any conversation with fans that saw him play. His anti-Leaf stance was understandable when it was personal between him and Ballard as no one would blame him for not wanting to help the man who had run him out of Toronto and the NHL after he had done so much to help. However, when his issue moved from his treatment (the current ownership has tried repeatedly to mend this rift) to the fact that his jersey was not retired it became a little self-serving. Whatever JFJ said to get Keon to participate in tonight's festivities (scheduled for 13 minutes it's a good thing that Dryden wasn't part of that team!) it was well worth it.

There have been calls for Stajan to switch numbers and for the Leafs to retire 14. The current policty of honouring numbers is one with which I agree and Stajan, who wears 14 to honour an uncle who passed away from cancer at the age of 22, should not have to deal with the media trying to advance a players' personal battle. Hopefully, tonight the focus will lie on honouring a team that was so quickly forgotten by the Leafs ownership of the period and that the ceremony will inspire the current crop of Maple Leafs to greater heights. Maybe then we can get a similar scene to the one below in colour.

Leafs 4 v. Flyers 2: Fortuitous Scratch

2007-02-16T14:45:00.000-05:00

Game Recap
Scoresheet
Statistics

I missed this game but it sure sounded like a doozy on the radio. Between the warm-up and the opening face-off Peter Forsberg got trade to the Nashville Predators. Mirtle has a pretty good take on the trade. Not that it affects the Leafs unless they play the Predators in the final. Boy, would I be upset if that happened now.

Anyway, onto the game itself. The Leafs chased Michael Leighton with 3 first period goals off of the sticks of Carlo Colaiacovo, Jeff O'Neill, and Nik 'everybody hates' Antropov. The Leafs got into some penalty trouble and almost managed to let Philly all the way back but a fourth from Mats was enough to deliver the win and move the Leafs into the 8th and final playoff spot.

Considering the Leafs' dads were in attendance as part of a take your dad to work program I would assume that the flight back to Toronto had a lot of 'DAD! did you see when I hit the Flyer?" "DAD! did you see when I made that pass and it was almost a goal?". Maybe their presence inspired them. Well that or a desire to not get a timeout in front of the other kids.

After a long hiatus...

The Final Word

Andrew Raycroft started his 19th straight game, running his record in that span to 11-5-3. He was at his best in the third, when the Flyers outshot Toronto 16-3.

Razor keeps improving as the Leafs move up the table. Is there a way to play the remaining schedule on the road?

Tight Like A Tiger

2007-02-15T13:58:00.000-05:00

This post is cross-posted from The Battle of Ontario.

David Johnson at Hockey Analysis has updated his predicted standings. His first installment had the Leafs missing the playoffs by a point and they are still in the same position! The predicted standings have managed to get even tighter.

SS = Strength of ScheduleFSS = Future Strength of SchedulePP = Predicted Points

Three points separate 5th from 11th with the Leafs projected to miss the playoffs by half the margin of last year. If this plays out I might jump off the Bloor Viaduct (just joking! suicide is not the solution to any of life's problems except being a sens fan).

What will make or break the chasing pack will be their performance within. Last year the Leafs suffered because they were not taking points from the teams directly ahead of them. Their recent five game streak was another good example of running in the wheel and getting nowhere. Jeff J at Sisu Hockey [a Habs fan but strangely not psychotic. I guess it's beacuse he doesn't actually live in Montreal] came up with this great table (reproduced and updated below) that captures the dynamic present in the grouping fighting for those last precious playoff spots.

PPG = Points per GameH = Home games remainingA = Away games remainingP = Games against teams currently in playoff positionsNP = Games against teams currently not in playoff positionsBB = Back-to-back games leftDC = Games remaining versus direct competition

Tampa has the easiest schedule remaining but they also have the fewest games remaining against the rest of the group which could leave them in the Leafs' position from last season. The Leafs have the most games against currently playoff-bound teams which is actually a good thing since they tend to play to the level of the competition. Montreal has the most road games left and the most left against non-playoff-bound hockey teams so I guess those cancel each other out. Either way, the Habs will be on the outside looking in.

What might be the wildcard in the push for the playoffs? The ottawa senators. The sens aren't in the table because those jerks will make the playoffs regardless of who they play over the last few games. However, they have 14 games against the above group including two against God's Team so they will have a lot to say about who will emerge from one of the tighest races since...last year with a playoff spot.

Leafs 2 v. Islanders 3 (SO): Pissed Away

2007-02-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

Last season the Leafs had a 3-7 OT/SO record and they missed the playoffs by two points. This year the Leafs have 8 OT/SO losses. If the Leafs miss the playoffs then their goaltender's inability to stop penalty shots (12 saves on 20 shots) or the team's inability to score them will once again be the difference between a playoff run or running from the scorn of their fans. Antro and Poni are pet projects of mine but those were two terrible penalty shots. Why not use Kaberle more often after his sick deke against Aebischer? Or use Ian White? Just switch it up for the love of God.

Leafs are in 10th on goal differential but the Habs lost thanks to Eddie Belfour's shutout. Thanks Eddie! Could have used a couple more of those last year. But thanks anyway Eddie, give yourself a billion dollars.

I think habsgood of my new favourite site summed up the two games best:

What a beautiful loose. they go to special training to loose like this.

A special loose indeed.

Happy Birthday Mats!

2007-02-13T09:33:00.000-05:00

36 years ago today, in Bromma, Sweden, the 18th captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs was born. While it took some time for the Leafs' faithful to warm up to him he is now viewed with the same affection as previous captains. After picking up his 700th assist on Saturday he continues his assault on the Leafs' record books tonight against the Islanders.

I could go on and on about Mats' place in hockey (HHOF) and in the annals of Leafs' history but here is a list of his achievements as well as a couple of commercials and highlights from a pair of recent tour de force performances.

Awards & achievements

Swedish Champion in 1990.
First European born player to be drafted first overall in the NHL entry draft.
Named to the Elitserien World All-Star Team in 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1998.
Named to the World Championships All-Star Team in 1992 and 2003.
World Championships' Best Forward in 1992.
Named to the Canada Cup All-Star Team in 1991.
Named to the World Cup of Hockey All-Star Team in 1996.
Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 (injured) and 2004.
Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 2002 and 2004.
Named to the Olympic Tournament All-Star Team in 2002.
Gold medal at the Olympic Tournament in 2006.
Achieved 500 goal plateau on October 14th, 2006.
Achieved 1,200 points on December 26th, 2006.

Records

Currently holds the NHL record for most overtime goals with 15
Longest serving European captain of an NHL franchise in league history
First Swedish player to reach the 500 goal milestone
Most career assists by a Swedish hockey player
Most career goals by a Swedish hockey player
Most career points by a Swedish hockey player
Most consecutive 70-or-more point seasons (13) (excluding the shortened 1994-95 NHL season) (shared with Wayne Gretzky)
Most assists in a period by a Toronto Maple Leaf (3) (tied with Darcy Tucker)
Fastest overtime goal- 6 seconds (tied with Alexander Ovechkin and David Legwand)
38th highest career points
31st highest career goals
2nd all-time in goals scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs

Leafs 5 v. Penguins 6 (OT): Grit and Determination

2007-02-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

Game Recap
Scoresheet
Statistics

Due to some problems that Hockey-Recap has run into the format for the game recaps will revert to it's original form. Thankfully, Hockey-Recap will return for next season because his stats page was one of the better creations on the net.

Anyone that missed this game missed one of the more exciting games of the season as well as a national coming out party for one of the game's great young talents. Jordan Staal scored a hat-trick, including the OT winner, and showed that the Calder race is probably being run between Penguin teammates.

The bright side of the game was that the Leafs managed to get a point from a game in which they were trailing 3-0 at the halfway mark. I am sure some of the fairer-weather fans had packed it in at that point but the Leafs stuck to their game plan of dumping it in and using their size to get their cycle going. The Soviet Bloc got the comeback rolling as Antropov scored the opener on a nice feed from Ponikarovsky from the side of the net. Mats knocked in a loose puck after some good forechecking resulted in a good scoring chance for Antro. Fleury made the initial save but it trickled behind him and was slipped in by Sundin.

The newly formed Redemption Line of Devereaux-Kilger-Battaglia chipped in with two goals as they constantly harried and hassled the Penguins defence into a number of turnovers and used their size and strength to match the top line's ability to control the puck in the offensive zone.

At the end of the day, the Leafs picked up a valuable point, regulation losses should be viewed as anathema, from a game in which it would have been easy for them to pack it in. It could have been two points if Bryan McCabe didn't break rule # 1 of defence - don't flop on your stomach within 6 feet of the net - but you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

A Wild And Crazy Ride

2007-02-10T13:50:00.000-05:00

When I last posted the Leafs had just won their first game in a run of five straight road games with a solid performance against the Carolina Hurricanes. Since then the Leafs have returned home the proud owners of a 4-1 record on their travels. The key to their success was the continued great goaltending of Andrew Raycroft (he won the Battle of Ontario 'Name' Game) and a new dedication to discipline. It is no surprise that in their four wins the Leafs gave up four, two, three, and three powerplays while giving up eleven powerplays in their only loss.

While getting ready for tonight's rematch with the rampant Penguins let's take a stroll down memory lane and check out just how the Leafs vaulted themselves back into playoff contention.

Leafs 2 v. Rangers 1: Razor Sharp

Razor put together a 37 save performance to keep the Rangers off the board. Aaron Ward laid a dirty, late headshot on Alexei Ponikarovsky but he replied by opening the scoring for the Leafs. Mats Sundin scored the winner on a brilliant Ian White long pass.

Leafs 3 v. sens 2 (SO): 'Name' Game

This game pitted Razor against his jumped-up opposition Ray Emery for the right to the sharp nickname. Both goalies had outstanding games but in the end the Leafs' tender emerged victorious thanks to his brilliant performance in the shootout. Leafs Nation invaded the Bank (including yours truly) and proceeded to outcheer and outjeer the hometown's fans as they shrank back in the face of our deafening roar. O'Neill and Sundin gave the Leafs a 2-0 lead heading into the third but the Leafs wanted to provide some drama. They allowed the sens to send the game to a shootout befor John Pohl beat the goalie formerly known as Razor with a nice backhand.

Leafs 2 v. Blues 1: Defence First

By all accounts the Leafs won this game with solid defence, clutch goaltending, and just enough offence. This gave the Leafs a chance to clinch their first 5-0 road trip in franchise history. It was not to be but this 4th straight road win and 5th straight overall put the Leafs not only within two points of 8th place but within striking distance of 4th in the Eastern Conference.

Leafs 2 v. Predators 4: Missed Opportunity

The Leafs missed a great chance to topple one of the West's top teams as a lack of discipline and shoddy refereeing torpedoed their chances at victory. The Predators are faster than greased lightning but the Leafs were generally able to hold their own. The line of The Soviet Bloc and the Captain were dominant. They held onto the puck at will and only some timely pokechecks, saves, and blocked shots kept them from putting up more than one goal.

If Life Were Like That...

2007-02-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't be writing a blog and I wouldn't need a VISA because I would just pay for everything with cash. In the grand tradition of internet tagging fun I am responding to Sherry's invitation to the BoO to partake in a little bit of make-believe (which pretty much sums up a Leaf fan's existence) and imagine myself as an NHL player. E at A Theory of Ice has a roundup of some of the answers so far in what has become an interesting insight on the personalities behind the blogs. Since I am looking at a deluge of snow outside my window now is the time to daydream:

Team: God's Team. The Toronto Maple Leafs for the uninitiated.

Uniform Number: 22

Position: Right wing on the top line - might as well dream big.

Nickname: Most inappropriate for printing but probably Hector.

Dream Linemates: Dougie at centre and Wendel on the wing.

Rounding out the PP: Kaberle and Mats

Job: Finishing Dougie's passes and riding shotgun to Wendel.

Signature Move: Cutting in off the wing and ripping a wrist shot high on the glove side. It might miss, it might get caught, but when it goes in, oh boy!

Strengths: Size, speed (In this alternate universe I still have the speed from my youth), and silky smooth hands.

Weaknesses: The Flamingo, Cherry would hate it but I would make up for it by teaming up with Wendel for the most fighting majors by linemates in NHL history.

Injury Problems: I'm fine, stop asking me. I wouldn't tell you anyway!

Equipment: Same as now but I would make Bauer bring back the Supreme 3030 Stiff Flex. Sticks need to be heavy!

Nemesis: I would be Old School. Anyone without a Maple Leaf on their chest would be my enemy.

Scandal Involvement: 'Sean, I have no idea how Elisha ended up in my hotel room but she is most definitely not the Girl Next Door.'

Who I’d face in the Stanley Cup Finals: Since I would only be able to break the sens and Habs hearts in the first three rounds I would have to settle for one of the teams from Western Canada. I'll go with Edmonton.

What I’d do with the Stanley Cup after our victory: A month-long 5-city tour of the other Canadian NHL cities to share the moment with the Leafs legions of fans. Features of the trip would be Queen's We Are The Champions being in heavy rotation, large billboards of the Cup presentation being put up in highly visible areas, and an (Insert Canadian team) futility counter in front of each of the five arenas. Yes, if the Leafs win the cup I will be releasing a lifetime's worth of pent up rage.

Would the media love me or hate me?: They would love my grit, heart, Old School approach to hating everyone not on my team including any former teammates that would dare to leave, and my frequent dalliances with Hollywood's leading ladies (McAdams, Johansson, and Snow, Oh My!). Plus I would be a quote machine.

This should be a fun exercise for the boys during the break before the Name Game. I will tag Ninja, Bitter Leaf Fan, Wardo, J. Bluebud, and Andy and Matt in the hopes that they'll keep the game alive.

All Razor All The Time

2007-01-31T17:37:00.000-05:00

As much as the NHL has changed one thing has remained constant: a team is only as good as its goalie. For the Leafs to have any chance at the last playoff spot Andrew Raycroft has to find consistency. Between a hot start and a strong 2007 Razor was maddening. He was inconsistency personified and the injury plagued Leafs were not able to bail him out. What set him on the path towards being the leading cause of death among fans of the blue and white? A groin injury against the Bruins in a game which had, up to that point, served as a statement from Razor that he was back. Thankfully, the lingering effects seem to have cleared up:

My body feels as good has it has since September," says Raycroft. "There's nothing nagging, no groin, none of that stuff is lingering any more.

Considering that Maurice is going to start him the rest of the way that is a comforting statement.

What is less comforting and more amusing is this that I read on ESPN.com:

This is an average team beset by injuries and plagued by inconsistent goaltending. Is Andrew Raycroft going to morph into Dwayne Roloson? Or Ryan Miller? Or Cam Ward? No.

I do not usually frequent the World Wide Leader because their hockey writers include Damien Cox. However, I ocassionally stumble across something by Scott Burnside or Terry Frei or John Buccigross. For an organization that completely ignores hockey those three can put together a decent article once in a while. That quotation came from an article by Burnside on whether to trade Mats in which he comes to a similar conclusion as myself: JFJ is in a tough position at the trade deadline and he will have to reconcile what's best for the organization with what will help him keep his job.

The implication with regards to Raycroft is that he is not able to be a top-level goalie. He purposely compares them to last year's finalists and one of the vanquished semi-finalists in order to make his point. Now I could argue that Roloson is running out of gas and even he will not morph into last year's playoff version or that playing behind two top teams in the East might help Miller and Ward put up numbers (at least when their teams are playing well, when they are not those two are much closer to the average). The truth is that this season Raycroft has not matched those three. However, if you look a little closer you can see the morphing taking place. Below is a table of each goalies performance since the New Year:

Those numbers would be more flattering to the Leafs if you took out the 6-1 and 8-2 losses to the Canucks and Penguins where the Leafs forgot how to play hockey. If Raycroft is over his niggling injuries and he can continue his 2007 form then the Leafs might have solved their goaltending problems. And maybe Buffalo, Carolina, and Edmonton should start worrying about their goaltending. Tonight, Razor can lead the Leafs into a tie for a playoff spot with a win at MSG. As it stands, it will be a tall order for the Rangers to best the Leafs number one.

Leafs 4 v. Hurricanes 1: Great Success!

2007-01-30T23:10:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

Coach Paul 'Space Cowboy' Maurice could not have asked for a better birthday present as he celebrated his 40th in the rink where he had his greatest success. Andrew Raycroft stopped 28 of 29 shots including a first period penalty show and Nik Antropov used his quick hands and long reach to pot two goals in the third to break a 1-1 deadlock.

Bates Battaglia opened the scoring with his eighth of the year as he corralled a loose puck at the side of the net and slid it into a yawning cage. Ray Whitney tied the game on a breakaway that trickled in off both of Razor's pads. That would be the only time he was beat as he turned away everything that the Hurricanes could throw at him including a 17 save second period.

The Leafs successfully repeated the habits that helped them handle the Canadiens on Saturday night. The Hurricanes have a lot more skill and size than the Habs but the Leafs and especially their defence were able to handle the likes of Staal and Justin Williams, Cobourg's greatest export since Steve Smith (yes, that one). The forwards were at their forechecking and cycling best as the were able to neutralize the opposing D's ability to make a good first pass. The third goal by Antro actually came as a result of three consecutive shifts that hemmed the Canes in their own zone. The other half of The Soviet Bloc did not want to be left out of the limelight so Ponikarovsky dropped the mitts with David Tanabe in a pretty even matchup after the Leaf had a knee-on-knee collision with Brind'Amour. I did not get a good look at the hit but it looked like Rod was trying to get off the trolley tracks and did not quite make it.

Tomorrow night the Leafs travel to the Big Apple to take on the New York Rangers. They are currently tied on points with the Rangers having played one fewer game and possessing one more win [the first tie-breaker]. The last time these two teams met was the infamous 9-2 shellacking in TO that the boys in blue meted out to their guests. The Leafs have had trouble in NYC over the past few seasons so they will have to bring the same effort that has led to back-to-back 4-1 wins.

Monday Morning Odds and Ends

2007-01-29T08:56:00.000-05:00

Mark Zwolinski adds to the pressure on JFJ to make some tough decisions. Darcy Tucker is attracting a lot of interest from his home province and the Western Conference. The talk from his agent had been that he was going to be looking for something in the $4M-$5M range when contract negotiations started but the starting point has been pegged at a 5 year deal for $17.5M or $3.5M/year. The deal is a little long considering Tucker's style of play and that he will be 36 at the end of the contract but the price is a little more reasonable.

Mats Sundin has also attracted interest from the Anaheim Ducks. The article notes that the Leafs will have to take the $6.3M cap hit because they will have to pick up the option to keep the Captain. He has a no trade clause but I can imagine him being tempted into a run for a Cup that he deserves. His addition to Anaheim would definitely make them a strong favourite to win the Cup and they have a lot of young players that could make an immediate impact for the Leafs in Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf among others.

Ken Dryden opines on his jersey retirement on the day that his number 29 will be honoured by the Montreal Canadiens. There were a few good pieces written about the subject that were split on whether to honour or retire. Good arguments were made for both sides with Bitter Leaf providing some good criteria to consider when retiring a jersey, Wardo at Leaf Club pointing out how players enjoy the history of their jerseys, and Reality Check at Eyes on the Prize focused on the joy that having their jersey retired would bring to a player. Well Dryden sees both sides of the argument and points out that he enjoyed seeing young players wearing his number:

It used to be ... that when a special rookie arrived in a team's training camp, that player would be given No. 9 or 7 or 2, whatever the number that was special to that team. One of the great and surprising thrills for me was seeing goalies wearing No. 29 after me. For a few, it may have been because I wore that number, but over time it became a goalie number.

Ever the politician.

Leafs 4 v. Habs 1: Eight Is Enough

2007-01-28T14:29:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

The Leafs kicked off their post-All Star schedule with an almost perfectly played game. Pavel Kubina had a hell of a game with two goals and an assist and the Leafs' special teams outdueled the Canadiens top ranked PP and PK. The Habs have gone 6-10 in their last 16 and have slowly been returning to the pack where they belong. Their heady position was built on excellent special teams and any Leaf fan can relate to how shaky that sort of foundation can be. The Habs are a deely flawed team that has been dominated in all five games by the Leafs and have picked up two wins on the basis of incredible goaltending and their special teams. This is the second game in Toronto between the two in which neither showed up and they were easily handled by a team that Sheldon Souray labelled as 'not as good as us' in post-game comments.

Easy Sheldon, I think you might be letting your place as Montreal's Bryan McCabe go to your head. I have a newsflash for you: Your team is not as good as the Leafs and the final standings will reflect that fact. I am sure that the Habs are glad that they will only have to face the Leafs three more times during the run-in to the playoffs. Not even with the Leafs laundry list of injuries could the Habs compete with the boys in blue. It was nice to see Souray, who will no doubt wrangle a ridiculous contract on the back of his wicked slap shot despite his complete inability to play defence (see last year's top 10 goals for 3 appearances by Monsieur 44 and he was not scoring them).

Andrew Raycroft had another game in which he made the big saves when needed (that's 3 of 4 since the Canucks debacle) and the team played the simple game. They rarely got caught turning the puck over in their own end, they chipped it out, and they dumped it in and worked to their strength. They dominated the Habs defence down low and caused numerous turnovers. On the powerplay, the second unit of Stajan, O'Neill, Steen, Kubina, and Carlo showed that they could be a viable threat with two goals and excellent puck movement.

The 4-1 defeat of the Canadiens was a great send-off before embarking on a five game road trip. There are 13 games left before the February 27th trade deadline. They include only four home games which in itself may be a blessing. The Leafs sport a 12-9-3 record away from the ACC and Andrew Raycroft is clearly more comfortable away from the boo-birds as his 11-5-1 attests.

Those 13 games include eight games against teams that are either in the playoffs but within striking distance or in the chasing pack on the ouside looking in. The first five will give JFJ a good indication of what sorts of deals he will be able to make. Bitter Leaf makes a good case for not giving up on the season while still making trades that will benefit the future of the team. Dave Shoalts outlines how Richard Peddie, Larry Tanenbaum and the rest of the MLSE board have put JFJ in a ridiculous position. He can either look out for his own best interests, in this case make short-term trades in order to make the playoffs and retain his job, or do the right thing for the club, cash in assets and build for the future, and risk being fired if the Leafs miss the playoffs.

JFJ has already walked down the path of self-preservation during the off-season and it left the Leafs with a Bryan McCabe contract that gives the team an anchor around its neck more than an anchor on defence and a Pavel Kubina contract that until recently was looking every bit as bad. My belief is that when JFJ examined the team last year he saw a team that missed the playoffs because of injuries to the forwards and shaky goaltending. He addressed the goaltending issue well (whether he made the right decision is up in the air considering most fans would have lived with an Aubin-Telly platoon and that Manny Legace was available cheaply since teams were inexplicably uninterested in him) but he made a calculated gamble based on the advice of the Leafs scouts and their depth at the goaltending position.

He addressed the forward issue by letting Allison and Lindros walk and allowing the younger forwards to take on a bigger role for the club. Despite the doomsday predictions about the lack of scoring the Leafs sit in the top quarter of the league in goals for. The problem lies in JFJ's decisions about the back-end. Kaberle's deal was a steal and he should receive credit. However, in examining the team's chances of success I think that JFJ looked at the powerplay and saw that he had to maintain it in order to have the best chance to save his job. That reasoning is how Bryan McCabe and Pavel Kubina ended up getting such large contracts. Yes, both would have probably received more on the open market (Kubina was offered more for longer by the Blues but chose Toronto) but keep in mind that Zdeno Chara, the kind of defenceman that chews up minutes and can shut down the opposition's top line, was available. Him and Jay McKee could have been available for the same money but JFJ must have felt that keeping the McCabe and Kaberle partnership was necessary for the powerplay to keep humming along which in turn gave the team, and by extension himself, the best chance to succeed. He didn't want to risk having the powerplay fall off because the team could not adapt to a different strategy on the powerplay.

So once again the Leafs and their fans enter a decisive period with a GM that has his own interests ahead of the team's long-term succes. He not only has to decide if Mats and Darcy remain Leafs but at what price. Will any of the Cup contenders make offers worthy of those two? When will he start/finish negotiations with the pair? If the Leafs are not able to decline Mats' option and negotiate a better deal (thereby reducing the $6.3M cap hit for next season) then will JFJ move him to a team like Anaheim and thereby free up a large chunk of cap space for the next Leafs star? If Darcy insists on more money or a longer term than the Leafs are willing to spend will he move him before he can leave for nothing? or will he cave and sign him to a McCabe-like deal? I love both players and they would be nigh on irreplaceable but if they were not then these would be easy questions to answer. As it stands, they run through my mind every day.

My own view is that if JFJ takes the easy route and tries to save his job again and succeeds (gets a playoff spot) it will most likely be a Pyrrhic victory because he will probably have traded some portion of the Leafs future to ensure short-tem gains. Leaf fans already frequently tear their clothes, refuse to cut their hair, and moan 'Pat Quinn/JFJ, give me back our future!' without tossing some more picks/prospects/youngsters to the mix. JFJ's next month needs to be focused on ascertaining if Mats and Darcy can be brought back at a good price or, failing that, what the best mix of players/prospects/and picks is that he can get for them. A couple of bad contracts or losing Darcy for nothing would be disastrous for the Leafs.

However, there is nothing that I can do but hope that the Leafs, injuries and all, have learned to succeed over the first 50 games and can use those lessons to reach the playoffs. Before the season I believed that they would make it and the signs have been distinctly positive of late. As for the rest, all I can do is hope for divine inspiration to strike JFJ.

Ups and Downs

2007-01-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

Game Recap - Tuesday January 16, 2007 - Leafs v. Lightning

Game Recap - Thursday January 18, 2007 - Leafs v. Panthers

Game Recap - Saturday January 20, 2007 - Leafs v. Penguins

The good news is that while the Leafs were recovering from their fun in the Florida sun Andrew Raycroft was stealing them a couple of wins. The Soviet Bloc returned and powered the offence in the Tampa game with a goal and an assist each. The Florida game showcased JFJ's talent for spotting unappreciated players that could help the Leafs as Battaglia, Kilger, and Devereaux scored the goals. This probably the biggest mystery surrounding the Leafs' GM. He has shown a great skill for the little deal but not much for the blockbuster and that is worrisome as the Leafs head towards a deadline day in which they have several assets that could be moved to either build for the future (I hope) or make a last desperate push for the playoffs (a pyrrhic victory is successful) or he could sit on his hands again (the most likely scenario).

Unfortunately, Raycroft's great play apparently made the rest of the team think that they could be completely absent and they were buried in Pittsburgh. In a game that featured undisciplined play and some atrocious refereeing the Leafs were done in by their useless powerplay and their shockingly inept penalty kill. It is incredible just how much the Leafs PK misses Peca. The team suffered as they repeatedly lost defensive zone faceoffs and ran around like chickens with their head cut off. Travis Green has helped take some pressure off of Mats' shoulders on faceoffs but they both were outclassed by Crosby.

The good thing is that the Leafs have focused much more on the confidence that they derived from the two games in God's Waiting Room than the mess in Pittsburgh. The Leafs take on the Habs tonight, a team that they have dominated this season and save for some incredible goaltending would be 4-0 against, in Toronto. It will come down to the goalies which was a much scarier prospect two weeks ago.

Leafs 1 v. Canucks 6: Good Time Gang Gets Routed

2007-01-17T21:22:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

On Saturday night, the Leafs played host to the Canucks. ACC patrons were treated to a ceremony celebrating the Canadian Armed Forces (a Hockey Day in Canada theme) and the stench of incense from the blue and green clad pot-smoking hippies. Some negotiating wizardry landed myself and three friends in the lower bowl where we were joined by a big chuck of the patchouli set. The atmostphere in the rink was great during the game and my one Canucks friend took all of the ribbing during the warm-up, the pre-game ceremonies, the first period, and the second period very well. Being the nice Toronto fans that the three of us are we decided to go easy on him during the third period. The Leafs decided to play the compliant host and followed suite.

The score notwithstanding, this was one of the most enjoyable nights out at a hockey game since Game 1 of the 2000 series against the sens. After the game about 300 fans surrounded the LeafsTV set to serenade Jody Vance, get pictures with the lovely host, and trade good-natured chants. It was probably confusing to the Canucks to see so many Leaf fans joining in the Raycroft chants but their drug-addled minds probably concocted some sort of explanation. The friendly atmosphere was a testament to the welcoming Leafs crowd and the Canucks fans that realized that despite large numbers they would probably have been routed in a fight (plus the pot makes them too apathetic to get worked up into a frenzy). sens and habs fans do not get the red carpet rolled out for them and I would guess that things are different for Canucks fans in Stabmonton but it was good to see two large groups of fans get along and it made for some good natured banter.

The big lesson that I learned from this game was: do not trash talk early. Earlier in the season I mocked Tim Thomas and the Bruins' defence only to see them shut down the Leafs in four straight game so I guess I should be grateful that the Leafs do not play the Canucks again until sometime in the 2044-45 season. Well, that's actually the second biggest lesson that I learned during the game. The most important revelation concerned Andrew Raycrfot the Leafs # 1 goaltender. Most people are probably expecting an expletive-laced, unhinged rant about the six goals and by most people I mean the Canadian government. But you will not find that here. I waited to write this because I am sure that if I had been able to type something up post-game it would have resembled the worst of internet message board fodder. Instead, I think I have solved the enigma that is the Andrew Raycroft situation.

The biggest issue is the recent history of the goaltending position for the Leafs. Raycroft does not have the luxury that Felix Potvin had of taking over the number one spot after Allen Bester, Peter Ing, Mark LaForrest, and a washed up Grant Fuhr had tended the net at the Carlton Cash Box. Raycroft has had to wrest the mantle of # 1 from the memories of Curtis Joseph and Eddie Belfour, two goalies who (last year notwithstanding) regularly stole games for the Leafs that they had no business winning and allowed the team to play a post-lockout run and gun game when most of the league was playing some version of the trap.

What is sometimes lost in all the hemming and hawing about Raycroft is that both of the aforementioned goalies came to Toronto as established stars. They had gone through the learning curve, they had honed their skills almost to perfection, and they had earned their fearsome nicknames through their success in the battle that is the playoffs. Raycroft has his own nickname, Razor, but he has not earned it in the same fashion as the other two. His potential (2003-2004 Calder Trophy Winner) has kept many in his corner, including myself, while his struggles in Finland during the lockout and last year have given many pause to question the trading of Tuuka Rask for a seemingly washed up goalie. The truth is that there is a long line of goalies that were voted the best at the WJHC and never made it and this year's performance by Rask was definitely underwhelming. Any suggestion that the deal has been a bust is premature to say the least.

The Leafs have a young team that will only get younger after this year. Raycroft is still working on perfecting his game. He already has 20 wins at the break. He could hit 30 easily. That is a very good figure for a goalie that only won 8 games in the last season before the lockout. He has a manageable three year contract at $2M/year after which the Leafs will be able to re-sign him if his development continues or well placed to chase a free agent goalie to give Justin Pogge (then 23) a little more time to develop if he is not already set to take over the reins. Raycroft has the game to be an elite goalie in the NHL and his Calder Trophy is proof of that ability. He is coming off two disastrous years but has shown in many games the level to which he can aspire. The difficult thing for Leaf fans and the team's management will be whether they are patient enough to see if he can find the consistency that the Leafs need and he needs to properly lay claim to his nickname.

Memories

2007-01-13T09:50:00.000-05:00

This post was cross-posted at the BoO.
Tonight the Leafs host the Vancouver Canucks in their only matchup of the season. Unfortunately for the Leafs points total, the guaranteed points trips of yesteryear have been waylaid by the new schedule. The Canucks have surprised everyone by icing a competitive team and they currently sit seventh in the Western Conference which has been good enough to keep their bandwagon fans buying tickets (see Mark Messier Years' attendance).

This is a different Canucks team from previous incarnations. Instead of relying on lots of offence, puck moving defence, and shoddy goaltending the Canucks have been getting by on shoddy offence, strong defence, and amazing goaltending. After years of Brian Burke trying to convert backups into starting goalies Dave Nonis pulled the trigger on what will probably become the most important trade in franchise history by ridding himself of Vancouver's favourites Neanderthal attempted murderer Todd Bertuzzi (seriously, Canucks fans defended this guy...weird) and some spare parts for this year's Western Conference starting goalie Roberto Luongo and spare parts. Unfortunately, this move came about four years too late:

Good thing for Canuck fans that Cloutier will not be around to face the league's fifth highest scoring offence.

Thanks to Jay for the trip down memory lane. I had almost forgotten how that 1994 season ended:

Of course, the Canucks could not be expected to defeat one of the greatest leaders in NHL history.

I will be in attendance at the game from about six rows behind Luongo so I will be well placed to see how he deals with the Leafs explosive offence. I will hopefully be able to get some great pics of the Leafs celebrating goals. GO LEAFS!

For the other side of the match-up check out:

Canucks Hockey Blog

Waiting for Stanley (A Sport Bigamist!)

Canucks and Beyond (Alanah will be live-blogging which is always interesting)

Canucks Fangirl

Results Comparison IV: Mediocrity Personified

2007-01-13T00:26:00.000-05:00

Previous Entries
Results Comparison: The Explanation
Results Comparison I: After 10 Games
Results Comparison II: State of Leafs Nation
Results Comparison III: Surprise!

As I get better at manipulating Blogger and my information I'll try to make these comparisons more reader friendly [regardless of how insane I might go trying]. I added a look at the last ten games, in this case # 31-40, from both comparisons and this year. As well, I have a look at how the Leafs fared in games # 41-50 last year and their schedule for the corresponding fixtures this year.

Game Number Comparison

It is almost eerie how close all of the stats are to last year's numbers. Powerplay goals for and against are slightly lower than last year but not significantly so. The stat that stands out the most at this point is the increase in even strength goals against. The Leafs are allowing almost .5 ESGA per game over last year and that accounts for more than the 18 goal swing in goal differential. In terms of the points that the Leafs have this year compared to last the Leafs have continued to fall off their pace from last year which, in itself, was a pace that led to Toronto missing the playoffs.

Equivalent Fixtures Comparison

This comparison also shows that the Leafs have improved their offence at even-strength but have not, through 40 games, been any tougher to play against 5-on-5. Both comparisons show that the Leafs have improved their discipline but have also been given about one powerplay less per game. The Leafs have the fifth ranked powerplay which means that the decrease in man advantages has cost the Leafs about eight goals.

Games 31-40 Comparison

I would imagine that looking at this comparison might upset Paul Maurice. The Leafs have extremely similar numbers to games 31-40 from last year but picked up seven fewer points. This table shows how tight the difference between success and mediocrity is in the NHL post-lockout. A swing in goal differential of 8 goals in 10 games resulted in a swing of seven points over the previous season.

Next 10 Games

The Leafs have begun to play the games that correspond to the beginning of the horrific streak from January and February that cost the Leafs a shot at the playoffs. This freefall corresponded with a number of injuries including losing Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker for most of these games. This year the Leafs have even wider spread injury problems but they are 3-2 so far in this 10 game segment of the season which is already an improvement of three points with five games left to catch up to at LEAST last year's pace.

While this post is a bit of a downer there are a number of reasons for optimism. The first is that, in addition to how poorly the Leafs played during games 41-50 last year, during games 51-60 the Leafs went 3-6-1. That means that over the part of the schedule that corresponds to the next 20 games the Leafs went 4-14-2. Already the Leafs have gone 3-2. Perhaps most encouraging, even moreso than Steen and O'Neill's resurgence, has been Raycroft's play in the new calendar year.

Since the ball dropped in Times Square he has a .914Sv% and 2.40GAA. More importantly, he has been making big saves when the Leafs have needed them. The team has not always been able to capitalize on the chances that he has provided them but he is providing them in the way that he did before he hurt his groin in November and that bodes well for the Leafs.

Officially Endorsed by Stephen Harper

2007-01-12T15:50:00.000-05:00

A big thank you to Mirtle for pointing out that the Canadian government's Culture.ca site has taken a look at hockey blogs to try to explain 'Canadian Culture'. Yours truly made the list of Leaf sites but I had to laugh at the disclaimer:

Seeing that emotions can sometimes run high, some sites may contain provocative and inappropriate language for children, so parents and sensitive fans should be warned, particularly when accessing fan sites.

Considering that I follow the Leafs it is a testament to my self-restraint that this site does not contain anything remotely inappropriate. At all.

In other news, thanks to Zanstorm for giving Leaf fans everywhere another reason to love Rachel McAdams; she's a Leaf fan. I bet she was saying that O'Neill and Steen should be on Mats' wings. Talk about a complete package.

Here is the co-star of Wayne's World, Tia Carrere, in a Leafs jersey. And don't forget her co-star Mike Myers. The Leafs are like the Lakers of the NHL.

Leafs 4 v. Sabres 2: Graveyard No More

2007-01-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

Trips to Buffalo have historically been trouble for the Leafs. There is no need to re-hash the team's sad record in the Aud and later Alphabet Arena (5-16-3 since it opened if you were curious) but needless to say it was not a destination of choice for the Leafs although it can be debated if Buffalo is a destination of choice for anyone at all. Even when the Leafs have had the superior team they have been hard-pressed to emerge victorious despite the large amounts of loyal bud fans that make the trip.

This year seemed like it would be a more dispiriting version of the past especially considering both team's respective places in the standings. This year, in two previous trips, the Leafs have gone 1-1 in two hard-fought games. Considering the injuries to the Leafs the string of good performances across the Peace Bridge seemed destined to end at two. However, the Leafs have a history of playing their best hockey when hobbled and with their backs against the wall and this game was no different.

The game was won on the backs of the indomitable Mats Sundin and his two resurgent wingers Alex Steen and Jeff O'Neill. The young Swedish protege struggled offensively this season while skating mostly with Michael Peca and Chad Kilger. He contributed a sterner defensive effort but after a summer in which JFJ refused to part with the sophomore in an attempt to attract Edmonton malcontent Chris Pronger fans expected numbers closer to the 18-27-45 that he put up in his rookie campaign. I was never a fan of the propoesd move and was glad to see JFJ sit on his hands on that one. I believed that Steen needed to play with more creative offensive players to allow his skill to emerge once again and, lo and behold, his numbers since joining the top line have supported that belief. He scored the winner last night to bring his stats to 7-4-11 and +3 in 8 games since being reunited with the captain.

His partner in renewal and on the wing, Jeff O'Neill, has also benefited from the increased ice-time that comes with riding shotgun for Mats. Last night's two goal effort marked the 13th game in the last 16 in which O'Neill had registered a point and brought his season totals to 15-18-33 and +5 in 45 GP after last season's 19-19-38 and -19 in 74 GP. The biggest changes is that he is second on the team in even strength goals after posting most of his points from the powerplay last year. He has the extra jump in his skating that was expected and has returned to playing the physical brand of hockey that brought him success in Carolina.

It's impossible to laud the sidekicks without mentioning the Captain. Mats Sundin is the straw that stirs the drink (to borrow a phrase) offensively for the Leafs. As much as Leaf-haters like to poke Leaf fans about Mats' place in history it is pretty clear that he is one of the rare players that makes his teammates much better. One need only look to Jonus Hoglund scoring 29 goals. He has put up 4-5-9 and a +2 since getting his new running mates while playing over 21 minutes per game including significant PK and PP time.

And I cannot forget Wade Belak. Encino Man took on Buffalo tough guy Andrew Peters after the Leafs scored the fourth goal and promptly beat him before ending the fight with a recreation of the Ragdoll Incident for good measure. The guys on AM640 pointed out the class with which Belak went about doing his job. Rather than taking the obvious opportunity to rub the victory in the face of a classless player he simply skated to the box, content that he had contributed to the Leafs victory. A short note on the debut of Travis Green, he was exactly what the Leafs expected. He killed penalties for 2:31, won 8 of 12 face-offs, and increased the Leafs 'grit'.

So the Leafs get a big win to start off their run of 9 games on the road out of the next 11. I will be at the game on Saturday against the Canucks so they better bring the same effort.

Welcome Home Travis!

2007-01-11T17:21:00.000-05:00

This is old news that somehow was at the top of the BoO site before TSN even had it on the front page. How are people supposed to complain about the Toronto Sports Network if they are slacking in giving any scrap of Leafs content top billing.

Travis Green, formerly of the Western Conference Anaheim Ducks, is a known quantity in LeafLand as this will be his second tour of duty with the buds. Previously, he was one of the three musketeers, Corson and Tucker were the others, that played a big part in making the Leafs difficult to play against. He consistently brought a bit of sandpaper to the lineup, killed penalties, was a strong in the face-off circle, and added some timely scoring. According to Bill Watters on Sportsnet, he was a good influence in the dressing room and he should be able to impart some wisdom to the young and inexperienced forward corps.

Considering how tight the Leafs are against the cap, or at least how tight they would be if everyone was healthy, this is a good move by JFJ. Green is a known quantity and is an NHL veteran. Right away the Leafs will be better having him in the lineup instead of another AHLer. His grittiness helps to decrease the sandpaper deficit that Toronto was suffering. It's ironic that when I was watching the December 30th Ottawa game Green's name came up as a player that in the past would not have allowed the sens' shenanigans to go unchecked. He will also help fill Peca's shoes in the face off department and in killing penalties.

There is no doubt that this is a short-term solution but as far as that goes it is a strong move by JFJ. The next question will be how he will deal with Sundin and Tucker.

Leafs 1 v. Hurricanes 4: Too Many Marlies Not Enough Grit

2007-01-10T18:37:00.001-05:00

Game Recap

This game featured some new reasons to feel a deep sense of despair along with some tried and true reasons.

New

Faceoffs - The Leafs cannot win them. Matt Stajan played 20 minutes and won four of fifteen to follow up on a three of sixteen effort against the Sabres. I guess that is an improvement but faceoffs are crucial on the powerplay, where Matty is playing on the second unit, and to generate offence.
Stone Hands - The AHL call-ups are doing a great job of playing hard and with energy, for the most part. However, their big failing has been an inability to finish their chances [aside from the Bruins beatdowns]. That is probably a big reason why those guys are in the AHL but watching so many gilt-edged chances go begging in the first period was clearly deflationary.

Old

Partial Efforts - A big strike against the Leafs has been that in too many games they have only played part of the game. Last night was no different. The Leafs were all over the Hurricanes in the first period and looked good value for their 1-0 lead courtesy of a Bryan McCabe goal on a setup by Alex Steen (who knew he had offensive skills? I did.). However, the second and most of the third period were a mishmash of lazy plays and poor forecheck. This terrible combo was exacerbated by some atrocious refereeing which left the Leafs shorthanded early and often in the second period.
No Resolve - It has started to become apparent that these Leafs are not the Leafs of old. It was apparent against Ottawa and Wardo pinpointed the exact moment when the Leafs' aura of grit was shattered. They do not have the same sandpaper throughout their lineup as they used to possess. The Leafs used to roll four lines and three pairs of defenceman that lived Conn Smythe's famous axiom: If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you can't beat 'em on the ice. That aspect of the Leafs has diminished. As with this year's December 30th matchup, last year I found myself and others mentioning that the Leafs under Quinn and before the lockout would never have allowed teams to beat them as they have in some games without having to earn it. This move towards the pack in terms of grit has been a factor in the Leafs' poor performance in many games over the past two season.

The loss drops the Leafs out of the 8th playoff spot and puts an extra measure of pressure on the team as they embark on nine games on the road out of their next twelve. This is gut check time for the Leafs as a poor record over these games will (barring the continued mediocrity of the contenders for 8th) drop them into a gap to large from which to escape. The upside of that is that JFJ will have to make some difficult decisions instead of just standing pat and hoping that things will work themselves out.

Leafs 3 v. Sabres 4: Opportunities Lost

2007-01-10T18:18:00.001-05:00

Game Recap

I was lucky enough to get a pair of tickets to see this game but unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I couldn't get any pictures. The short version is that the Leafs should have won this game and wasted a chance to take two points from a strong team that played very poorly.

The Sabres entered the game having lost their last two games to the sens and Pens and were ripe for the picking. Throughout the game the Leafs' forechecking pressure led to a number of turnovers, odd-man rushes, and penalties. Unfortunately, a mixture of solid goaltending by Martin Biron and AHL-level finishing left the good guys on the short end of the end result. The Leafs were able to convert on two powerplay opportunities but failed to tally on a 5-on-3 early in the third period which came back to haunt them when John Pohl missed a yawning cage in the last 30 seconds.

As should the Leafs, I came away from the game disillusioned that they had lost two points. The first two goals were products of terrible giveaways which resulted in the Leafs being pinned in their zone and a pair of long, screened shots. The other two goals were momentum killers. Carlo scored on a long shot before the end of the first period on a flutterball from the point as the Leafs began to really pile on the pressure. Then some terrible defending on the rush allowed Danielle Briere to finish a tic-tac-toe passing play by rounding Raycroft. Alex Steen tallied on a 5-on-3 to bring the Leafs back to within one but a soft goal took the wind out of the Leafs' sails. Ales Kotalik was allowed to stop and fire off a good wrist shot by Tomas Kaberle and Andrew Raycroft went down early which allowed the shot to make it over his shoulder and under the bar. Of course, that one questionable goal ruined what was otherwise a strong effort by the Leafs' # 1.

The biggest thing that I noticed was that the Leafs were absolutely killed in the faceoff circle. Matt Stajan won only 3 of 16 faceoffs and it seemed to me that the Leafs lost almost every offensive zone faceoff including three in the last two minutes of the game. This deficiency played a huge part in the loss since the Leafs were constantly losing territorial advantages on the powerplay and at crucial times [I'd have looked like a genius if I had posted this on time considering today's pickup].

A bright spot in the game was that the Sabres held their diving in check for the most part except for one incident involving Maxine Afinogenov and Bryan McCabe. McCabe gave him a little tap in front of the net and Max went flying in the air before he stood up and proceeded to try to deliver a cross-check to the Leafs' face. I am not sure but that looked like intent to injure. Of course this is how Tom L at SabreRattling:

Max with the huge cross-check in retaliation for McCabe’s stupidity. Smart play by Max. We’re better 4 on 4 then on the PP.

So the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The irony is that the Leafs next game is against the Hurricanes who Sabres fans universally pan as the worst divers in the league. Glass houses and all that.

As has been the case in so many lossed the Leafs failed to capitalize on their chances and the little things killed them. A stronger presence in the faceoff circle would have helped the Leafs maintain the Sabres zone and a bit more composure from the backend could have saved the Leafs a couple of goals. I wish I could say it got better against the 'Canes...

Leafs 10 v. Bruins 2: Not An Error

2007-01-08T17:34:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

When the United States beat England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil 1-0 British papers assumed that the score that they received was a typo and they published the final score as 10-1 for the limeys. After this game Bruins fans would have killed to have an arrogant editor 'correct' the typo in the score. Unfortunately, that score is not a misprint. The Leafs, of whom there is never any shortage of "Where will the goals come from?" stories, scored TEN goals with Darcy Tucker, Kyle Wellwood, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Nik Antropov [a combined 100+ points] out of the lineup. From where indeed.

Since this was another LeafsTV blackout (2-0 so far in games that I cannot see) I only got to watch the highlights on YouTube. Apparently, the game was tight and the Bruins were the better team during the first period but Andrew 'All of TO hates me' Raycroft kept the score at 2-1 until the buds could explode for five goals in the second period including three in 42 seconds which is not even fast enough to be a club record. The Leafs sealed the game with four more in the third. I'd love to write more but a Bruins' fan wrote the best summary of the game.

The big story of the game was Alexander Steen who potted his first career hat-trick and added two assists to increase his points total by 50% in one game. Of course, I knew that his increased time with Sundin would help him to exploit his offensive skills:

As for Steen, he put up 18-27-45 last year and would be much closer to those numbers this year if he had played with Mats again instead of having to play defensively with Peca and Kilger for so long. Since he has returned to Mats' wing he has begun to show the offensive potential that made keeping him a good move.

That outburst gave him 5-2-7 in the five games since he was promoted to Sundin's wing along with Jeff O'Neill. That is the level of play that he will have to display until the cavalry can arrive. Next up is a live account of the Sabres game on Saturday from the Best Seats in The House (or right next to them).

Leafs 5 v. Bruins 1: The Power of Bounces

2007-01-06T00:26:00.001-05:00

Game Recap

During the Leafs descent the most discouraging aspect of most games was that the Leafs were not losing because of terrible efforts. There were games in which they were done from the opening face-off but there were enough games that saw the majority of the game played well only to see the team undone by a bad bounce, bad goal, bad call, or a missed opportunity. Frustration mounted as strong efforts were de-railed by the whims of fate. It was enough to make you want to swear off third periods.

If there was any team that the Leafs could use some bounces to beat it was the Bruins. Tim Thomas' insane goaltending and Boston's ability to find a way to beat the buds (four freaking times in a MONTH!) contributed to some, I guess despondent would be the word, posts. In the blue boys' opener of 2007 their hard work was rewarded by two goals that turned a game that was hanging in the balance into a comfortable win.

The game opened with both team's captains notching powerplay goals. Our old friend Chara knocked in a rebound as he assumed a familiar role in front of the Leafs' net. Mats replied by re-directing a great pass by Bryan McCabe past Thomas. Then came the bounces. First, some good forechecking resulted in a loose puck coming out to the point where Hal Gill's fluttering shot got past a perfect Chad Kilger screen to give the Leafs the lead. The third goal showed the value of a determined and hungry fourth line. Newbury, Ondrus, and Belak pinned the Bruins in their zone with a ferocious and unrelenting forecheck. Right before the goal Belak, sans helmet, took on and held off Chara before Newbury picked up the loose puck and fired it towards the goal. Luck intervened as Tim Thomas' attempt to redirect the puck away from danger ended up deflecting the puck into his own net.

Two good bounces as a result of some hard work and a 1-1 game becomes a 3-1 lead going into the third period where Mats Sundin proceded took over the game to ice the Leafs first victory in the new year. First, he took a Jeff O'Neill pass, went on a solo rush past a couple of Bruins, and rifled a shot past Thomas. Then on a powerplay he returned the favour by making a nice cross-crease pass on his backhand to set up a tap-in by O'Neill. With so many forwards out of the lineup the call-ups and Steen and O'Neill have to keep up this effort to help Mats Sundin ensure that the Leafs can remain in the playoff hunt.

Still Breathing

2007-01-05T09:21:00.000-05:00

The holidays are obviously a ridiculous busy period for anyone and getting back to writing after an extended layoff turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. However, I have game recaps up for the Wild, Pens, and sens games and will have the Bruins games up (10-2? wow.) today.

For those that have been waiting for more content thanks for sticking around. I'll also have a fourth installment of the Results Comparison up (big surprise, the Leafs are behind), a simple look at the points needed to reach the playoffs, and a look at attendance and how the Leafs are a boon.

Welcome back!

Leafs 2 v. senators 3: Rage Blackout

2007-01-04T22:45:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

As I watched this game with a large group of friends the story of this game shifted frequently. After a first period that saw the Leafs absolute dominate the senators the frustratingly great play of Ray Emery was in the spotlight. As the game progressed, the dual brain cramps of Mssrs. Kaberle and McCabe came to the fore. The shorthanded goal that Ottawa scored was galling enough because it came while the Leafs had a chance to build on their slim lead. Toss in the fact that Kaberle gave up on the chase and ignored the goal scorer McAmmond and that McCabe not only did not take a man but was curling into the corner when the senators strike and any observers of our little gathering would have heard a stream of colourful expletives filling the room. Luckily only one young lady fell victim and she seemed to enjoy her exposure to the fanatical side of sports.

The game morphed into a tightly contested battle in which Raycroft matched Emery save for save as the game seemingly moved towards overtime. The story quickly became how Raycroft had, with a stunning glove save on Dany Heatley which was turned into a Boyd Devereaux goal by Bates Battaglia, stolen the game from the senators. After waiting so long since the third period of the 4-1 win over Buffalo earlier in the season Razor had finally stepped up with the sort of performance that would go a long way towards rebuilding the confidence that he showed prior to hurting his groin in November. Alas, a defensive play with two minutes remaining that can only be described by a word that starts with 'cluster' took the game to overtime. Of course, Chris Phillips, who I have spent so much time mocking over at BoO, fanned on a shot and wrong-footed Raycroft for the winning goal. It has since been labelled a 'soft' goal by the anti-Raycroft media. I guess he will learn not to snub reporters that ask stupid questions ever again.

Sadly, the senators win another regular season matchup (how's that playoff record?) and, in a rare state of affairs, they did not deserve to win. Ray Emery and mental errors stole the game from the Leafs but at least they picked up a point. Next up, the Bruins in Toronto in a pair of games that did not turn out as I had expected.

Update: In my haste to post this recap and get back on top of the games I forgot what caused the biggest buzz amongst the viewers at my buddy's apartment: a lack of Leafs retribution. Time and time again the senators crashed the net and barrelled into Raycroft without any sort of response from the boys in blue. To top it off Chris Neil was doing his typical post-whistle routine of slashing, pushing, and chirping while being 'held back' (read: protected) by the linesman. I appreciate the fact that the Leafs were in a tight game and some sort of retribution could have cost the team the game. However, I still would have liked to see Belak fly into Emery once to let the sens know that the Leafs were not going to accept the sens shenanigans.

Leafs 1 v. Penguins 4: New 'Standard' of Refereeing Piles On

2007-01-04T22:27:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

A lot has been written about the new standard of refereeing and it has covered the spectrum from Brendan Shahanan suggesting that it will take years to improve it to Stephen Walkom, Colin Campbell, and Gary Bettman lying through their teeth about how great it is to me saying that it can be ticky-tacky at best, though necessary, to atrocious at worst. Guess which one it was during this game?

As always, bad calls seem to deflate the Leafs rather than steeling it to the task at hand. Case in point: After McCabe took a stupid penalty (no, not a autotext insertion) at the end of the second, Mike Hasenfrantz or Dave Jackson gave Mats Sundin a penalty for hooking 16 seconds into the third period to hand the Penguins a two-man advantage. Nevermind the fact that the replays CLEARLY showed that Mats had put his shoulder in front of the Penguins player to get position in their race for the puck. It kind of looked from some angle (I mean it had to LOOK like a penalty from SOME angle for the ref to give the penalty right? no? didn't think so) that a stick was in the vicinity (read:the same zone as the other player) of the Pens player so the ref called it. Of course the Pens scored to break the tie.

Later, they managed to give Pavel Kubina a penalty for throwing the stick at the Penguins puck carrier. Nevermind that throwing a stick in the attacking zone is supposed to be a penalty shot but the replay again CLEARLY showed that there was no such foul. Kubina lost his stick making one of his diving pokechecks when his stick was kicked out of his hands by the Penguins player! Of course, a goal followed suit and any hopes of a comeback were gone as the fight slipped right out of the Leafs.

This game was just another demonstration of why it is so difficult to cheer for the Leafs. They were facing a team on a five game losing streak, had the game tied, and then they capitulated after they had an apparent go-ahead goal by Aleksander Suglobov disallowed because Marc-Andre Fleury knocked the net off its moorings. This was a perfect game to help the Leafs build some momentum into their game with Ottawa. Instead, they play a poor game before traveling to face their regular season nemesis (how about that playoff record?) at home. But it sure was nice of the Leafs to act as slumpbusters (no, not THOSE slumpbusters) for the Penguins in their last year in Pittsburgh.

Leafs 4 v. Wild 3: LeafsTV Blackout

2007-01-03T18:43:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

Unfortunately, I do not have LeafsTV anymore and going to the Cineplex to watch it was not an option either so it was a night of refreshing the NHL.com page for updates. The Leafs, for once, took advantage of their opponent's weakness, in this case a horrific road record, to escape with a win.

As has been the case, and will be in the future, getting the bounces and a tighter defensive effort were the keys to victory. The Leafs held the Wild to 21 shots and got lucky goals from Mats Sundin, who banked a cross-ice pass in off Manny Fernandez, and Alex Steen who banged home a puck that rebounded off the boards. The Swedes were reunited in this game and saw 14 minutes of ice-time including the PP and PK. [Note: This would have looked even more prescient if I had posted it at the time of the game but my unwavering belief in Steen was rewarded against Boston (in the future! from when I started writing this.) tonight, January 4th.]

With Ponikarovsky, Antropov, Wellwood, Peca, and Tucker, who blocked a shot and suffered some swelling/bruising that will cost him games, out the fourth liners and Steen, Stajan, Kilger, and O'Neill have to step up in the same way that they did in this game for the Leafs to remain in the playoff hunt.

Leafs 2 v. Capitals 2: Mighty Mats Almost Makes It

2006-12-23T21:44:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

Another game, another loss. The Leafs made this game much harder on themselves by once again being unable to capitalize on their powerplay chances while the Capitals scored 3 with the man advantage. The worst part about this game was that they had the game in control. The Leafs were playing a solid defensive game and were creating chances. If they had been able to kill penalties (paging Mr. Peca) then they would have been in much better shape. Of course, his 'icing' skills, as Harry Neale would put it, would have prevented a couple of goals since the first two came on plays where the Leafs were unable to clear the zone.

On the bright side of the ledger, Aleksander Suglobov played a wonderful game. For the first time he received over 11 minutes of ice and he made it count. He showed a willingness to backcheck (that was the mark against him earlier in the season) as well as the kind of offensive creativity that the Leafs have been lacking. On one great play he burst into the zone, deked one defender, drew the other to him, and slid a perfect pass to Stone Hands Kilger. The Peca injury could be the opening for Sugar to get into the lineup on a consistent basis.

Jeff O'Neill also had a barnburner on a line with Bates and Mats. All three were buzzing, hitting, and were the most consistently dangerous line for the Leafs. Carlo and Kubina largely had a good game together and Kaberle was his usual steady self. McCabe had a decent game, at one point he just missed putting Ovechkin through the boards with a hip check, but he blew the end of the game by letting a pass get past him and out of the zone.

In the end, the Leafs were undone by the individual skill of Ovechkin, Semin, and Zubrus. The bright side was the evidence that the Leafs might have another player with the skill to turn a game.

Having said that, Merry Christmas, Happy HanukKah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Ramadan (I know it's past but I never wished it), and Happy whatever you celebrate. All the best in the New Year. I'll be around over the holiday posting so if you are looking for something to do while lounging around the house with your recently received presents then stop by.

Leafs 1 v. Blackhawks 3: Disaster

2006-12-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

This game started out as a classic Norris Division clash. It was an up-tempo, hard-hitting game that drew the largest crowd of the year in Chicago, 17,950. So much for those that think the Leafs are not a big draw. I'll cover this in more depth later but to think otherwise just shows that you are one of the anti-Leaf Lemmings. Unfortunately, the Leafs could not build on their early lead as they again failed to capitalize Chicago's cheating tendencies. They allowed Chicago in the game with a shorthanded goal before coughing up two bad goals on giveaways in the third period.

However, the game is secondary to this bit of catastrophic news:

Mike Peca, the team's best penalty killer and its defensive soul, left the game in the first period with a potential season-ending injury to his right knee. Initial word was that the 32-year-old suffered a torn medial collateral ligament and fractures to his tibia. He wore an air cast on the flight home and will be further evaluated this morning.

The play came late in the first period when Jim Vandermeer delivered a vicious knee-on-knee hit on Peca. As if to give me the sense that I was insane David 'I am 10 years past my best' Hodge, Bob 'I ate the last Insider to get this job' Mackenzie, and Darren 'I do not give opinions' Dreger spent the entire intermission watching Vandermeer turn his body and deliver a brutal knee-on-knee hit while saying that it was clearly an accident. They showed the clip at least five times and each time you could see that he drove his knee through Peca's but since he didn't stick his knee out in the Ulf Samuelsson fashion it was a clean hit. Bullshit. Once he saw Peca trying to avoid his initial hit he could have avoided any contact but he adjusts his body to drive right through Peca's knee.

The thing that really drove me nuts was that they watched the video showing the dirtiness of the hit and then turned to a cued up tape of Tucker's hit on Peca in which you can see Darcy's hip hit Peca in the thigh (WHERE HIP CHECKS STRIKE PEOPLE) and had the audacity to compare the hits! Al Capone summed up my sentiments best:

I want you to get this fuck where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Eliot Ness (Jim Vandermeer), I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!

Of course, the refs kicked Vandermeer out of the game so he didn't have to face up to his actions and thanks to this crappy schedule the Leafs do not play the Blackhawks until next year. How much do you want to bet that that game gets circled on the calendar really quickly.

Now, one of the Leafs best players this year is most likely out for the season because some no-mark goon decided he needed to make a name for himself, or as Maurice put it:

It was a knee-on-knee hit and our guy's going to be out for a long time. Their guy is probably going to be in the minors by the time he comes back.

Of course, read that article and you would think that poor little Jimmy Vandermeer was skating around the ice with his head in the sky when the evil Michael Peca tried to end his career with a dirty hit.

For once, I would love to see the damned Toronto Media get behind the team and call for a suspension for an opponent. It's hilarious that some people think that because the NHL has offices in Toronto that they get some sort of preferential treatment. After complaining, they got their bloodprice but how much do you want to bet that Vandermeer gets nothing. Big surprise. Where's Bertuzzi when you need him? (Note: before any assumes anything, I hate Bertuzzi, think he is scum, and was being facetious.)

Leafs 3 v. Panthers 7: Typical

2006-12-20T21:01:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

Oh brother. This was a typical Leafs effort for a couple of reasons. The most obvious is their penchant for following up a tremendous effort with an absolute stinker. The more painful reason is that, as I have bemoaned, former Maple Leafs led the way in killing the Leafs. Gary Roberts potted two goals including the fourth less than 30 seconds into the second period which effectively sealed the win. Eddie Belfour stopped 33 of 36 shots including a handful of 'sure' goals. The Florida Panthers have some sort of voodoo over the Leafs and it has led to four lost points that will hurt come April.

I went out for dinner so I only caught snippets of the game when I was rude enough to glance up at the television but I was able to discern that the Leafs played terribly. The leader of it all was Hal Gill who had the type of game that Bruins' fans had warned us about when he signed. He has been solid this year by keeping things simple but both goals came on turnovers when he was trying to be cute with the puck. I joke that Gill just passes the puck to White or rifles it up the boards but it has worked this year. Unfortunately, the first goal came when Gill lost the puck while stickhandling and the second came when he tried to make an audacious cross-ice pass.

Raycroft got the hook and his stats suffered but this was a game that was lost by the play in front of him. The real turning point came in the first. Jeff O'Neill gave the Leafs a lead with a nice goal on a jam play from behind the goal-line and the Leafs were subsequently given two more powerplays. Goals on either of these would have gone a long way to breaking the Panthers' spirit but they ended up coming close to disastrous as the Panthers got the best chance.

In the end, Maurice summed it up well by saying that they were too soft and too slow. The Leafs will rue these lost points in April but hopefully only because it costs them a higher seed and not playoff participation. The Leafs look to get back on track this weekend but it will not be easy. They travel to Chicago to take on Leaf-killer Denis Savard and his resurgent Blackhawks. They have returned to their early form with the return of Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin's recent strong goaltending. On Saturday night, the Leafs host Alexanders Semin and Ovechkin which is no small task.

Prior to the Canadiens game I thought that a 3-7 record over the next 10 games was the worst case scenario for the Leafs. Right now they stand at 3-4-1 with three tough challenges ahead. They will have to put this game behind them and get back to what has made them successful this season: hard work and lots of puck pressure.

Leafs 9 v. Rangers 2: One of Those Nights

2006-12-18T18:02:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

This was a fun game. Any time you can see your team leave a first period up 5-1 you will have a big smile on your face. The Leafs' saviour (3-0 since his return) Carlo Colaiacovo got the Leafs rolling when a deflected Jeff O'Neill pass found him in front of the net. He chipped it past Lundqvist, who was taught a lesson about self-relief by Tom Renney as he was left in for 8 of the 9 goals, and less than a minute later Alexei Ponikarovsky banked on in of a skate. That was all she wrote as the Leafs took that momentum and used it to batter the hapless Rangers. The only blips were the two goals against that came as a result of Ian White bumping Andrew Raycroft off balance and Kyle Wellwood falling asleep in our own slot and leaving his man unmarked.

To get an idea of how bad this game was for Rangers fans check out HockeyBird. I would have posted that phone number during the Leafs losing streak but I am sure that if any group of fans have been talked off ledges often enough to have it memorized it is Leafs Nation.

This game was also an illustration of how the Leafs must play in order to succeed. Oh, and they need the bounces that were suspiciously lacking during those 7 games between streaks of awesomeness. The coincidence, at least I am sure it must be, is that during these three games the bounces have come at the same time as the Leafs' hard work. I am no hockey guru but there is no way that those two are related right? Nonetheless, the two intersected on Saturday night and it led to a blowout. I suggest that the players look into this phenomenon and try to figure out how often these two will align.

Of note, The Sandpaper Line was largely held off the scoresheet but put together a solid game. There was a scare when one of its members, Tucker, took a Shanahan shot off his left hand. Thankfully (although not from a contract point of view), the x-rays were negative. This game also saw the continued strong play of Carlo and Pavel and their emergence as a strong second pairing. Paul Maurice has been waiting 30 games for this and it allows him to play Hal Gill more on the powerplay and keep his ice-time to the 12-16 minutes/game range instead of the 20+ range he was in before Colaiacovo's return. As well, as a friend of mine noted, John Pohl has really taken his game up a notch since he started getting more ice-time. He added a nice goal on a terrible Poni dump-in where he raced in and latched onto a bouncing puck before firing it under Lundqvist's blocker arm. The added ice-time has helped him find his offensive stride and he is resembling the player that put up 36-39-75 last year with the Marlies a bit more with each game.

Of course, what wrap-up could ignore the career-high in points that both Kyle Wellwood (3-2-5) and Alexei Ponikarovsky (2-3-5) put up. Before the season began these were two guys that were going to be looked to for solid improvements on last year's standards in order to defray the loss of the points that were lost with the exit of Jason Allison and Eric Lindros. They are the secondary scoring that is necessary for the Leafs to make the playoffs and it should come as no surprise that during the Leafs 7 game losing streak the two combined for 1-2-3 and it was all from Wellwood. Meanwhile, the captain added only 2-1-3 during the slide. In the three games since the trio have combined for 8-12-20.

The top line will have to keep this level up for the Leafs to continue winning as some of the other younger players have struggled. Matt Stajan has cooled off with 0-0-0 in the last 10 games and Alex Steen has only tallied two goals this year. The Sandpaper Line for all of their grit and effort will provide only modest contributions offensively. However, the Leafs are back in the top 5 on the powerplay so that will also provide support.

The Leafs look to stretch their winning streak to four games against their ex-mate Eddie Belfour, the billion dollar goalie, and the Florida Panthers in Toronto. They have given the Leafs fits this year so look for another close game. Of course the Leafs could chase their former tender and bury the Panthers but this is the type of game that Leaf fans have grown accustomed to seeing their team struggle to win.

Leafs 4 v. Hurricanes 3: Another Successful Heimlich

2006-12-16T16:07:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

This recap will be a bit shorter than normal because I was at the Raptors game last night (CARTER SUCKS!) and was only able to catch the last 14 minutes of the game. The venom in the air every time The Incredible Sulk touched the ball was palpable and the ACC was the loudest I have ever heard it for a regular season game. Some highlights included VC going 1-9 in the first half, leaving the game in the second with a contact lens problem (I pray he heard me asking him if it was a season-ending injury), and missing about 6 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the loss. I wish VC only the worst the rest of the year and throughout his career and thank him for making last night such a fun night out.

As for the Leafs, they did their best to recapture the magic of the latter part of their losing streak right down to coughing up a two goal lead. Thankfully, Alex Steen played like a man bent on winning the game and scored a nice winner which just goes to show that if you pick a player to score the winner every game for a month that you will eventually be right. I would like to say that this goal could be a jumping off point for his season but there have been too many decent to good games on which he has failed to build momentum. Mats Sundin had a big night as he passed Jean Beliveau on the all-time scoring list and Dave Keon on the Leafs points list. He is now 33rd and 2nd respectively and in some pretty elite company.

Aside from that bit of niceness, I was a little worried with the Leafs. McCabe keeps trying to clear the puck by ringing it around the boards from one corner to the far side of the blueline with no regard to the fact that that play has not worked in about 90 years of NHL hockey. Somehow Ian White found himself on the ice in the last minute of the game against Erik Cole and Eric Staal, two guys much too big for him to handle. I have to think it was a coaching mistake not to have one of the top four out against those two big bodies but I am guessing it will be chalked up to providing White with some experience.

Looking at the scoresheet, Maurice seems to be getting closer to spreading the ice-time for his defencemen to the level that he wants. McCabe and Kaberle got around 27 minutes with Kubina coming in at 22 minutes. Gill and White came in around 16 minutes with Colaiacovo at 11 minutes. Maurice will probably try to shave a minute or two from the top pair to give it to Carlo but other than that the Leafs defence can finally start to try to achieve 'hard to play against' status as they are united for the first time this season. Of course, Andy Wozniewski will be back soon to throw a wrench in the team's plans.

Tonight the resurgent Leafs face the streaking New York Rangers and Blueshirt Bulletin notes that the last time these two teams met it sparked a couple of good winning streaks:

The last time the Rangers visitied Toronto early in the season, both teams were struggling to find themselves, the Rangers going 5-6-0 in their first eleven while the Leafs started out 4-4-3. But both teams got in gear starting with their twelfth game -- the Rangers reeled off a 4-0-1 run to jump start an 8-3-3 month of November while Toronto won their next three as part of a 7-1-0 run.

Here's hoping we see another great performance from Sundin and a goal or two from Steen to cement his confidence.

Results Comparison III: Surprise!

2006-12-14T19:49:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the third installment of my eight part series comparing this season's results to last year's. In the first two parts we saw that in the game number comparison this year's squad bears a startling resemblance to the 2005-06 buds squad. It was only in the equivalent fixtures comparison (my favourite) that we saw tangible evidence of the improvement that all Leaf fans could see with our eyes.

Then the Leafs took their Christmas vacation about a month early and proceeded to lose seven games in a row. I had assumed that this slide would manifest itself in a rather poor comparison at the 30 game mark. Most of the gains in the Equivalent Fixtures comparison have been rolled back. The big surprise (not really since I gave it away in the post title) comes within the Game Number comparison where the Leafs have played themselves into almost the exact same position as last year after 30 games. This surprised me quite a bit because my memory was that last year they had been in pretty good shape after 30 games whereas this year there has been much gnashing of the teeth.

Without further ado, here are the past segments in the series and the comparison's at the 30 game mark.

Results Comparison: The Explanation
Results Comparison I: After 10 Games
Results Comparison II: State of Leafs Nation

Game Number Comparison

After 30 Games Last Season

Record: 15-12-3
Points: 33
Total Goals For (TGF): 99
Total Goals Against (TGA): 95
Goal Differential (GD): +4
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 60
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 54
Power Play Goals (PPG): 42
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 193
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 21.76%
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 153
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 186
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 82.26%
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 6
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 5

After 30 Games This Season

Record: 13-12-5 (-2, +/-0, +2)
Points: 31 (-2)
Total Goals For (TGF): 94 (-5)
Total Goals Against (TGA): 100 (+5)
Goal Differential (GD): -6 (-10)
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 61 (+1)
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 67 (+13)
Power Play Goals (PPG): 29 (-13)
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 156 (-9)
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 18.59% (-3.17%)
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 129 (-24)
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 154 (-32)
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 83.77% (+1.51%)
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 2 (-4)
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 4 (-1)

Equivalent Fixtures Comparison

After 30 Games Last Season

Record: 15-13-2
Points: 32
Total Goals For (TGF): 97
Total Goals Against (TGA): 102
Goal Differential (GD): -5
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 51
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 58
Power Play Goals (PPG): 39
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 183
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 21.31%
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 157
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 196
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 80.10%
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 5
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 3

After 30 Games This Season

Record: 13-12-5 (-2, -1, +3)
Points: 31 (-1)
Total Goals For (TGF): 94 (-3)
Total Goals Against (TGA): 100 (-2)
Goal Differential (GD): -7 (-2)
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 61 (+10)
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 67 (+9)
Power Play Goals (PPG): 29 (-10)
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 156 (-27)
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 18.59% (-2.72%)
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 129 (-28)
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 154 (-42)
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 83.77% (+3.67%)
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 2 (-3)
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 4 (+1)

Leafs 5 v. Lightning 4: Hallelujah!

2006-12-13T18:35:00.000-05:00

Game Recap
(Note: The majority of this article comes from my BoO post. Of course, there is some PPP exclusive material here for my loyal readers/lost internet wanderers.)

Thank God for small miracles. The Leafs earned their first win when trailing after one period of play (1-13-0) and snapped a seven-game streak that was prompting all sorts of crazy talk in the media and more than a little consternation amongst the fans. The game itself was a bit of a rollercoaster ride as the Leafs took an early lead on the back of some strong play and a nice powerplay marker by Alexei Ponikarovsky. That was his first goal in 9 games. However, the game quickly took a turn for the worse.

J-S Aubin got the start and only lasted until the first minute of the second period. He was the victim of a Mats Sundin deflection and a Bryan McCabe braincramp. Paul Maurice gave him the hook and turned the ACC air blue with a timeout tirade that despite being inaudible on TV was nonetheless terrifying. Apparently it worked on the Leafs. Andrew Raycroft kept the Lightning off the board with a couple of big saves before Chad Kilger scored a brace to tie the game heading into the third. Darcy Tucker deflected a Sundin shot to give the Leafs the lead before Jeff O'Neill jumped on a juicy rebound to hammer home a 5th. Tampa added a fourth on a powerplay but the Leafs defended well in the third period and came away with the win.

Other notables were Pavel Kubina, who played great against his old mates, Carlo, who did not look out of place after an almost year long layoff, and Michael Peca, who continued his excellent play of late with assists on the second and third goals. The Sandpaper Line (Kilger, Peca, Tucker) was reunited and caused the Lightning no small amount of trouble. I could say that this was easily one of Tucker's best games of the year as he tracked back to defend well, hit well, and kept his shenanigans to a minimum.

So the weight is lifted off the Leafs. They played better all-around but there is still a long way for them to go before they reach the pre-losing streak levels let alone where the team should be. Next up is a Friday-Saturday double bill that starts in Carolina.

Leafs 1 v. Red Wings 5: Not So Special Teams

2006-12-13T18:29:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

The less said about this game the better. To sum up the game, this was the biggest disappointment of the season. I am not a big fan of the new schedule and hate to see it killing a wonderful original six rivalry. The Leafs will host the Red Wings next year and if the schedule is not changed they will not see each other for another two years.

The Leafs were undisciplined but the referees also contributed to their woes with some atrocious calls. At the end of the day, the Leafs penalty killing, once a strength, was again a weakness and it made a difference. The Leafs also got 9 powerplays, many of the dubious variety, and could not capitalize on more than one chance and in the end the special team battle decided the game. At even strength I thought that the Leafs competed well and had more of the game been played 5-on-5 would have stood a better chance of winning. However, as has been symptomatic in this losing streak, the Red Wings capitalized on their mistakes and the Leafs offence was not able to create chances.

These games used to be some of the best of the season as the form book could be thrown out because no matter where the teams stood in the standings they would both play up to the occassion. This game was about the furthest from that as possible. The Joe Louis Arena was so quiet that I could hear Maurice and Babcock yelling, there were tons of empty seats in the same areas as at the ACC (clue to the anti-Leafs: it's the rich people at all games and sports not only at Leafs games), and the brutal refereeing robbed the game of any semblance of flow. On the basis of this schedule I agree with Cherry that I would prefer that they do not play each other for another 10 years but the best solution would be a better schedule that would allow these two old rivals to face each other more than once a year.

Looking Forward

2006-12-12T17:53:00.000-05:00

I am almost done my third installment in the Results Comparison series. After this lamentable run of ineptness the Leafs are in much worse shape than they were at the same point last year. Of course, this is because last year's swoon came in January and February when there was less time to make up the gap. This season still has 51 games and 102 points available to the boys in blue and white with which to make up their single digit deficit. Of course, each game that this streak lasts is one less left in which to get themselves going.

Naturally, War has written a ton of stuff nailing the Leafs and Don Cherry (think Ms. Cox is upset about getting embarrassed on Coach's Corner earlier in the year?) and Famine plagiarized two of Bitter Leaf's posts. Good work you clowns.

Anyway, the Leafs face the Lightning tonight and Carlo will be in the lineup. That means that Encino Man will not be playing defence. Thank God. Feel free to post in-game thoughts in the comments. Hopefully, they will be along the lines of 'wow, good to see the Leafs playing hockey again' and not 'KILL THE LEAFS!'.

Leafs 1 v. Bruins 3: Baking With The Maple Leafs

2006-12-08T07:46:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

Note: The majority of this post can be found at The Battle of Ontario.

Apparently, the Hockey Gods decided that my penance was not enough for them to deliver a Leafs victory. Oh they teased me with a lucky goal by Jeff O'Neill. That had me thinking that maybe all the Leafs needed was a lucky bounce to get back on track. The Bruins were not capitalizing on the Leafs mental errors and I thought that with a continued decent effort in the third the Leafs could end this playoff-hopes killing streak. Then came the third period and the opponent's rope-a-dope plan went into full effect. The Bruins picked up their game and the Leaf were too shocked to match it. Thankfully, after 5 games in 29 days the Leafs have a New Year's Day and January 4th matchup against Boston to almost exhaust their compliment of Beantown Beatdowns. How does the league not see the problem with the schedule?

In all honesty, last night reminded me of watching a cooking show. The first 2/3 is great because you are learning how to make something that looks so good but the last 1/3 sucks when you realize that you are not getting any. So in that spirit, here is the recipe for (lack of) success that the Leafs have been following:

Ingredients:
22 blue and white clad hockey players
40 minutes of hockey
20 minutes of mental errors
1 obliging opponent
1 sheet of ice
2 brutal referees
thousands of devoted fans
1 handful of mediots

Instructions:

Take your 22 blue and white clad hockey players and 2 brutal referees and toss them onto your sheet of ice. Have the players play a distinctly uncreative and workmanlike 40 minutes while the referees make horrendous calls on both sides. Ensure that the blue guys do not capitalize on any gift powerplays. This will usually result in a closely contested game and possibly a lead heading into the final 20 minutes. Right now our meal probably looks very tasty. This won't last.

These final 20 minutes will feature more bad calls by the referees and numerous mental errors. Now add your obliging opponent who will have spent the first 40 minutes frustrated and possibly trailing. Have them capitalize on the mental errors or gift powerplays until they are in the lead. Make sure that this happens so fast that it makes your head spin. Toss in thousands of irate devoted fans and a handful of mediots before serving the dish. If it taste bitter and eats away at your sould you made it just right. Serves at least six and hopefully no more.

Last nights goats:

Alexei Ponikarovsky - fell asleep at the blueline and let Brad Stuart waltz past him to score the equalizer.
J-S Aubin - Gave out a massive rebound right to Wayne Primeau who promptly buried it into the yawning cage. An exact replica of Patricia Bergeron's OT winner a few games ago.
Darcy Tucker - Instead of staying by the point and covering his man he followed the puck down to the slot and left Patricia all alone. Bergeron rifled a shot past Aubin's glove to seal the win.

Hal Gill opens the floor to inventing a new word:

Frustration is a good word. What's more than frustrating?

It should also describe this visual representation of Leafs' fans this morning.

In other news that will do nothing to cheer up Leafs fans, Bitter Leaf looks at Raycroft's save percentage vis-a-vis the Leafs record (long story short: over .900 great, under .900 bad). He is also running a poll to name the NHL's answer to the Mendoza Line. My vote goes to either Glen Healy or Greg Millen. Go vote and be a part of providing hockey fans with another way to mock goaltenders.

Results Comparison II: State of Leafs Nation

2006-12-06T06:58:00.000-05:00

Personally, I hate the Red Sox for perpetrating 'Red Sox Nation' on the world and spawning the (team) Nation phenomenon. However, it works with the post title. Frankly, if they had used Leafs Union it would work even better but beggars can't be choosers.

Previous Entries (all free)
Results Comparison: The Explanation
Results Comparison I: After 10 Games

I expanded the EF comparison so that it covers the same aspects as the GN comparison.

Game Number Comparison

After 20 Games Last Season
Record: 11-7-2
Points: 24
Total Goals For (TGF): 73
Total Goals Against (TGA): 70
Goal Differential (GD): +3
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 45
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 43
Power Play Goals (PPG): 33
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 128
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 25.78%
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 105
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 127
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 82.68%
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 4
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 3

After 20 Games This Season
Record: 11-5-4 (0, -2, +2)
Points: 26 (+2)
Total Goals For (TGF): 70 (-3)
Total Goals Against (TGA): 64 (-6)
Goal Differential (GD): +6 (+3)
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 47 (+2)
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 45 (+2)
Power Play Goals (PPG): 19 (-14)
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 107 (-8)
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 17.76% (-8.02%)
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 87 (-18)
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 101 (-26)
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 86.14% (+3.46%)
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 2 (-2)
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 2 (-1)

Equivalent Fixtures Comparison

After 20 Games Last Season
Record: 9-9-2
Points: 20
Total Goals For (TGF): 55
Total Goals Against (TGA): 65
Goal Differential (GD): -10
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 29
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 35
Power Play Goals (PPG): 24
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 114
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 21.05%
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 93
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 117
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 79.49%
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 1
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 1

After 20 Games This Season
Record: 11-5-4 (+2, -4, +2)
Points: 26 (+6)
Total Goals For (TGF): 70 (+15)
Total Goals Against (TGA): 64 (-1)
Goal Differential (GD): +6 (+16)
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 47 (+18)
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 45 (+10)
Power Play Goals (PPG): 19 (-5)
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 107 (-7)
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 17.76% (-4.29%)
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 87 (-6)
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 101 (-16)
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 86.14% (+6.65%)
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 2 (+/-0)
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 2 (+1)

I don't have time to post extensive thoughts on what these numbers mean. What is pretty clear is that the Equivalent Fixtures comparison looks mighty good but that will change after a horrid streak in games 21-30 by the Leafs. The game number comparison probably will not look as bad as the Leafs' latest streak would lead one to believe mostly because last year they went 4-5-1 in those games and 6-4-0 in the equivalent fixtures from last year. Feel free to post your thoughts on these numbers in the comments.

The 5 Stages of Receiving Catastrophic News

2006-12-06T06:56:00.000-05:00

This post is long and covers all five games of the current Leafs slide which, coincidentally, also covers my delinquent posting period. By making this long post I hope to appease the hockey blogging gods and deliver the Leafs a win because fans influence the team! These games and my rollercoaster of emotions nicely fit into the 5 Stages of Depression which are really the 5 Stages of Receiving Catastrophic News. While that article says that you cannot work through it in 5 stages 5 games fit into 5 stages too easily for me to quibble. The catastrophic news in this case is that the Leafs are flawed. To the snickerers from the invincible sens or 2007 Stanley Cup Champs Sabres or the CHeaters (this will be explained later) I knew that they were flawed before the season started so are your teams. I just realized the extent to which they need help over the last fortnight.

Denial - Game Recap Saturday November 25, 2006: Leafs 1 v. Bruins 3
Anger - Game Recap Tuesday November 28, 2006: Leafs 1 v. Bruins 4

Note: I wrote most of this section last Wednesday. You will notice that it flows quickly from Denial to Anger.

I thought that the previous Bruins-Leafs game was brutal but these two made me want to throw in the towel. It was not that the Leafs played badly because for the most part they carried the play, especially in the second game where they made it their mission to hit anything clad in yellow and gold. Rather, it was the Bruins mind-numbing tactics that were supposed to go the way of the dinosaur post-lockout that left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Bruins showed that New Jersey does not hold a monopoly on stultifying hockey. Since the Bruins slow start was attributed to trying to play hockey Boston's coach Dave Lewis decided to adopt the tactics of the team's that ousted his talented Red Wings from the playoffs and cost him his cushier job.

Winners of 7 of their last 9 and one of the few teams to shut down the Leafs' high powered offence, the Bruins have shown that they are adept at the tactic of the perenially underskilled: preventing hockey from breaking out. Like the relegation fighters in soccer that park 11 men behind the ball the Bruins strive to eliminate all but the tightest passing and shooting lanes. Sadly, the Leafs do not have enough top-end skill players to be able to exploit their minute angles.

As if to enrage me as much as possible, the Leafs were in control of the second game until Hal Gill decided that playing a two-on-two didn't make sense unless he was flying over to the puck carrier thereby leaving Glen Murray wide open to blast a slapshot over Raycroft's glove. To the idiots (Marc Savard) that advocate going high as the solution to beating Raycroft: He is a butterfly goalie. That is the solution to beating all of them. Needless to say, I moved quickly to Bargaining.

Bargaining - Game Recap Thursday November 30, 2006: Leafs 0 v. Thrashers 5

At this stage I was bargaining with the Hockey Gods for a single freaking goal. The game was there for the taking for the first two periods. This was a team that the Leafs had beaten in 8 straight games over three years. This was a team that features one of the highest scoring offences in the NHL and yet was held to 2 goals or fewer in each of those games. Surely if the Hockey Gods could give them one goal the boys in blue could do the rest?

Bargain denied. Instead, the Leafs were given more mental errors that led to more opposition goals. As soon as Hossa scored early in the third I knew that the game was done. The Leafs offence again showed no signs of life and was never really threatening aside from two gilt-edged chances by Jeff O'Neill. As soon as he missed both I knew that my entreaties would be tossed aside.

Depression - Game Recap Saturday December 2, 2006: Leafs 3 v. CHeaters 4 (SO)
The link for the game is currently unavailable.

This game could have gone so differently. The Leafs have had the CHeaters number this year in terms of performance and on the balance of play this game was no different. The Leafs dominated most of the game and were once again stymied by a hot goalie. Mats Sundin seemed to put the Leafs in the driver's seat with a Henri Richard-like goal (CHeaters fans know the goal, 1971 finals against the Hawks). Unfortunately, the Leafs habit of not stepping on the opposition's throat reared it's ugly head once more.

While I was in the car I learned that Ian White's panicky throw the puck away when pressured move had morphed into throw the puck over the boards and get a penalty. I have always liked this rule, mostly because it got Sabres fans all riled up after the Canes eliminated them. The fact that it led to my team's downfall led to more depression. Of course, once it went to a shootout I knew that the Habs would win even if they scraped the ice properly (which they didn't during the October 28 shootout) which they didn't again. Hence, the CH on the front of the shirt apparently now stands for CHeaters.

While the first incident was mentioned by the Leafs it didn't really get picked up by the media. This one did. Can you guess why? Because the Leafs lost so papers could run with their "Leafs are whiners" story angles when a quick glance at the highlights from that October game would have shown the detour that the Montreal Zamboni driver took when he got to the slot in from of the Habs net.

Also, Bouillon's punch to Darcy Tucker's face was dirty. CHeaters' fans can spin it any way they want but it was dirty. Tucker's hit was borderline because Bouillon was off-balance but it was not from behind as some have alleged (including the man himself). Sure, Tucker should have dropped the gloves and fought Bouillon instead of shoving him but Tucker didn't punch him in the face (the video shows this, why do people lie about what they saw?) and Bouillon gave him a punch much dirtier than the soft cross-check that got Kubina suspended for the first game of the year but apparently the league doesn't hand out suspensions anymore.

This is PPP's feeling of depression.

Acceptance - Game Recap Tuesday December 5, 2006: Leafs 2 v. Thrashers 5

At no point past the first period did I believe that the Leafs would win. When Tucker potted his league leading 12th powerplay goal (not as easy as some fans think) I cheered. When Peca slotted a sick wrist shot past Hedberg I felt my depression ease. Turns out that I was headed to the acceptance phase.

As the Thrashers were gifted powerplay after powerplay I knew it was just a matter of time before they got a goal and I knew it would be the end for the Leafs. Obviously, you will have to take my word for it but I have no reason to lie. Much like the sens game last night against the Caps there were three straight Revlon calls against the Leafs. I'll write more about how stupid some of the penalties are but needless to say I was trying not to swear out loud.

Once that first goal was scored on the Leafs you could see that they had accepted their fate as well. It was just a matter of time before the mental errors that had been avoided arose once again. Ian White picked up two DoG penalties on his throw the puck over the boards play. After the third one I thought he might cry. Man up buddy and take an extra stride to control the puck and TAKE THE DAMN HIT! Alex Steen wasted what looked to be one of his best overall games (defensively he has been great this year, offensively he has been offensive) by shying away from a hit in what turned out to be the first act in a Keystone Kops routine that led to the winning goal. Ian White then tried to pick the puck out of his skates to try to start a rush the other way instead of barging in and gaining possession. This let Metropolit (T.O. native killing the Leafs. Sound familiar?) gain the puck and get it out front to a lonely Kozlov who was alone because Hal Gill inexplicably found himself behind the net. White finished the play off with a diving deflection that turned an imminent Raycroft save into a goal. Oh, and Hossa somehow got a breakaway while the Leafs took a nap. Dammit.

Well, I hope this little journey serves as a suitable penance for the Hockey Gods. My boy Antro is out for 3-4 weeks, Carlo is on the way back, and Aubin is in net. Tonight is as good a night as any to get going. Go Leafs!

Update: I forgot to add that the catastrophic news that I received during this journey is that the Leafs are a fatally flawed team that needs to play both hard and mistake-free hockey. They have shown that they CAN do this but I've learned that they only do it when it pleases them.

Leafs 7 v. Capitals 1: Quick-Strike Rout

2006-11-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

Last night I had the pleasure of watching my sister in the role of Jacqueline "Jack" Ross in her high school's performance of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men. Aside from the obvious star quality of my sister, the actors portraying Lt.-Col. Nathan Jessop and Daniel Caffee were not only very good but they sounded the part as well. All in all it was a good night. Maybe not as good as the Leafs night as they skated into Washington and drilled the Caps 7-1.

The Leafs spread out the scoring and benefited from big nights from Jeff O'Neill (1-2-3), Hal Gill (1-1-2), and Darcy Tucker who added his 16th of the season and ffith at even strength. Andrew Raycroft got the sort of restful night that will have him ready for tonight's game against the Bruins. He only had to deal with 11 shots over the last two periods as the Capitals sank beneath two scoring outburst that saw the buds score two goals in the first three minutes of the game and three in one minute in the second.

I'll be in attendance at tonight's game and hopefully I'll be able to get some video and pictures up on Sunday.

The Final Word

Defensive breakdowns. Soft goals. Inexcusable penalties. You name it, and the Washington Capitals committed it -- and probably more than once -- last night at Verizon Center, where Darcy Tucker, Jeff O'Neill and the Toronto Maple Leafs humbled the home team, 7-1.
Tarik El-Bashir, Washington Post, makes me angry that I missed a wonderful Leafs performance.

The Leafs survived Sundin's seven-game absence with four victories and gained an additional point in an overtime loss to the Bruins 10 days ago.
Tim Wharnsby, Globe and Mail, forgets to mention that the Leafs averaged 4 goals per game in compiling a 4-2-1 record.

Leafs 4 v. Sabres 7: Aerial Hijinks

2006-11-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

The Leafs travelled down the QEW to take on the Flying Sabres, the floppingest floppers that have ever flopped. (Note: In hockey. This post does not wish to detract from the well-honed theatrical skills of the Portuguese or Italian National Soccer teams or Chelsea FC) The Leafs were looking to reprise their complete performance that led to the Sabres first regulation loss.

Before any Sabres fans spit out their dip in anger I would like to point out that I missed most of the first period and from what I have heard the refereeing was brutal then too. I guess for a team to get two 5-on-3s it would have to be bad. Overall in the game it was brutal for both teams. Briere's hooking penalty on Battaglia's shorthanded breakaway was one of the worst call I have seen all year.

However, that does not excuse the Chris Drury and Brian Campbell for their dives. On Drury's you could see ice kick up from his jump when he felt McCabe's stick on him early in the second. McCabe frequently looks shocked when he gets called for a penalty but this time he was legitimately surprised that lifting Drury's stick could actually lift his entire body. Brian Campbell has had an all-star season thus far but for the second game in a row he took his cue from his more accomplished (in diving) teammate Derek Roy. Campbell, probably looking to replace the injured Roy's impact, morphed into the Flying Tomato Soupcan when he felt Kubina's stick on his skates in the third. Picture a perfect impersonation of Bobby Orr's famous goal minus the trip. The Sabres are putting together a very special season and they are a fun team to watch when they are playing at their best but they need to cut out the theatrics. This is two for two in games against the Leafs where the Sabres have lived up to their reputation.

That is not to say that bad refereeing was the reason that the Leafs lost. They have won games before in which they have had to kill off more than a handful of shorthanded situations and Wednesday night their hard work gave them a chance to win the game. This game was lost because of mental errors.

The Sabres' third goal came when Gill left his back uncovered in order to look after the left side of the box. Kilger made a half-hearted attempted to cycle down and the combination left Daniel Briere open to slot home a nice backhand pass. The Sabres' fourth goal came from the aforementioned Flying Tomato Soupcan but it would not have been possible without Jeff O'Neill's chicken scratching and Matt Stajan's lazy, stretched attempt at lifting his stick let Campbell fight through to poke the puck through Andrew Raycroft's legs.

Immediately afterwards Maurice called a timeout and you could see him gesturing and yelling at the players that they needed to take the extra stride to take the body and physically separate their opponent from the puck. The chat seemed to help as the Leafs carried the balance of play for the rest of the way. Unfortunately, another mental error undid the Leafs hard work as a lack of communication between Kaberle and Raycroft resulted in a hasty attempt at ringing the puck around the boards by the goaltender. Darcy Tucker allowed Hecht to slide past him along the boards and the resulting turnover led to Briere's second goal which eventually turned out the be the winner.

The bright side of this game was that the Leafs again showed that they could play with the Sabres. If not for a shaky opening five minutes in the second period the Leafs could have rung up their second straight win at the Alphabet Arena. The effort that the blue and white put forward went a long way to dispelling my earlier malaise. Update: I was remiss in not mentioning the great third period that Suglobov had Wednesday night. He finished his checks with gusto and was flying around the ice. Unfortunately, he barely got any ice time and will probably be sacrificed for Mats on Sunday. He is in a tough position but hopefully his future cameo appearances feature the same kind of commitment.

Following the general theme of the post here is...

The Final Word

The Leafs and Sabres set some kind of record for puzzled looks and waving arms in disgust at the referees.
Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun, carefully avoids mentioning what was being said about the refereeing during the game.

The tone of tonight’s game was set very early in the first period by the officials. This game was one of the most over-officiated games that fans have witnessed in a while.
Mark, BfloBlog.com, sums up the refereeing perfectly.

Leafs 4 v. Islanders 2: Premature Exultation

2006-11-23T17:44:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

The Leafs teased their fans with an excellent first period that was followed by 40 minutes of listless hockey. I could not really put my finger on my mood over these past few games but it finally hit me during the third period: anxiety.

I have constantly felt that the games have been on the verge of getting away from the Leafs. This has not necessarily been because the other team has been dominating because for most of the past 180 minutes the Leafs have been carrying the play. Rather, it was because I felt that if the opposition were to get their noses in front (or level in this game's case) that the Leafs did not possess the driving force necessary to assert themselve on the game. In short, I miss Mats Sundin.

His presence would likely have been the difference in the two previous games when so many chances went wanting and in this game he probably would not have allowed the Leafs to enter the lull that opened the door for the Islanders. Thankfully, Paul Maurice is cut from the same competitive cloth and video of him berating the team on the bench reinforced my belief that he will not allow this team to enter any extended down spells.

As for this game, the first period was everything the Leafs' coach expects from his team. Actually, there is no way he expected to see Wade Belak, who took the place of Brendan Bell, help open the scoring by delivering a pin-point pass to John Pohl after jumping in the rush. Wellwood added a goal after Nik Antropov calmly slid him a pass at the side of the net after intercepting a loose puck. Frodo faked a shot, I would have killed him if he passed, before slotting the puck in the yawning cage. Darcy Tucker added to the scoring, and his future paycheck, with a powerplay goal. The only downside to the period was Ian White's terrible giveaway for the first goal. Since I questioned his defensive ability White has really stepped up his game in the Leafs' end. He still has the habit of occasionally throwing the puck up the boards in panic before checking to see if anyone is there to receive it. On this occasion, the Islanders quickly created a one-timer for Chris Simon who made no mistake blowing it past Raycroft's glove hand.

The Leafs were rolling and it seemed like this game would at least mirror the 9-6 shootout for the home team. However, a strange thing happened to the boys in blue and white. They stopped doing the little things that had resulted in their 3-1 lead. Despite seemingly being in control of the penalty kill the Islanders added a second when the box was slow to react to Yashin's move to its centre and he one-timed a pass to Jason Blake who slapped it past Raycroft's outstretched left leg.

Eventually the Leafs iced the game with a Ponikarovsky powerplay goal that resulted from some good work by fellow former Soviet Bloc member Nik Antropov and the delightfully small Kyle Wellwood. The mood post-game was startingly desultory considering the victory and that is refreshing. Too often it has been good enough for the Leafs to just win. While there is nothing wrong with grinding out results a Leafs team that depends on contributions from the younger/unproven set needs them to learn to win as a result of good habits not because of the poor display of their opposition.

Because I like it so much, here is...

The Final Word

The reason was coach Paul Maurice, who was in no mood for in-house glee even though his club snapped a two-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders.
Mark Zwolinski, Toronto Star, highlights Paul Maurice's clear displeasure with the Leafs' effort after the first period.

No Islanders viewpoint because no one cares enough to write about

Leafs 1 v. Devils 2: Swedish Surprise

2006-11-19T15:41:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

The Leafs gave a better account of themselves last night but in the end it was the same story as Thursday night. The Devils were intent on stifling the Leafs and with Brodeur in net it was always going to be a difficult proposition to score. Mikael Tellqvist got the surprise start as J-S Aubin was felled by a stomach bug (don't the team doctors give flu shots?) and he was solid when called upon.

Jamie Langenbrunner opened the scoring in the second period after a Leafs turnover left him alone at the top of the circle. He blasted a shot that beat Telly (he would probably want it back) on the blocker side. In the third period, Patrick Elias scored his first even strength goal of the year on what will turn out to be the oddest goal of the season. His shot ricocheted off Kubina and Bell redirected it into the net when he tried to swat it out of the air. Unfortunately, on a night when the top line of the Soviet Bloc and Frodo managed 10 shots but no goals, it was one goal too many. I think I might stop writing Game Day Thoughts since the opposition seems to fulfill my worse-case scenario even though a player like Elias hadn't scored an EV goal all year. I feel like John Candy in Delirious.

Darcy Tucker pulled on back on a slap shot from the blueline that Brodeur absolutely wiffed on but it was all the struggling Leafs offence could muster. The last four minutes saw a flurry of action but it was all for naught as the Devils crammed every available player into the slot which made getting a shot through next to impossible.

This game also featured two instances of what I think is the dumbest penalty: slashing the stick. Jeff O'Neill and Hal Gill both got called for this infraction as they each slapped the stick out of a Devils' players hands. When I was in minor hockey this was something that made you laugh at the player that dropped the stick in the NHL apparently it's a heinous crime. What is most frustrating is that the refs are so maddeningly inconsistent. Throughout the game Devils players were slashing Leafs' forwards sticks in front of the net without a call. Also, sometimes the refs only call it if the stick breaks but not if it's knocked out of a player's hands. Basically, it is a stupid rule. A slash is to the body otherwise it's tying up the players stick and if he drops it then that should teach him to get a better grip on it. Rant over.

Monday night the Leafs face the resurgent Islanders as Raycroft returns to the net and Suglobov takes Belak's place in the lineup to try to jumpstart

The Final Word

The Devils needed him last night, playing most of the first two periods in their own end.
Rich Chere, The Star-Ledger, pinpoints the difference between the teams.

Entering the season, one of the major concerns about Toronto was its ability to find goal production from players other than Sundin. The Leafs found scoring depth for a while, with Tucker and Alexei Ponikarovsky, in particular, asserting themselves. Now, it's almost as if, with Sundin sidelined because of a torn ligament in his right elbow, those pre-season prophecies of gloom are starting to be fulfilled.
Paul Hunter, Toronto Star, showing that if you hammer a story long enough it will eventually come true, kind of.

Pictures!

2006-11-18T15:54:00.000-05:00

Here are pictures from my trip to the ACC last Saturday for the Hall of Fame Game. The first one is blurry because we were literally as far away from the ice as possible. There were just numbers on the wall telling us where to sit.

Past inductees into the Hall of Fame welcome the Class of 2006

By the second period we had made the PPP move of the game to a pair of empty golds beside friends of mine. Hurray for apathetic fans!

One half of the Soviet Bloc looks to change while Antro decides whether to forecheck or to join Poni on the bench.

Leafs 1 v. Bruins 2: Death by a Million Paper Cuts

2006-11-17T08:36:00.000-05:00

Game Recap

If I had six words to describe the game then the post title would do just fine. The Leafs looked very much like a team that just had 5 days off. Despite putting forth a decent effort things were just not clicking. They were fighting the puck all night long and found themselves either getting their shots blocked (15), missing the net (8), or having the puck jump over their stick (a million). This is a point in the standings that can be attributed to one man: J-S Aubin. He was unbelievable and made a string of last ditch saves.

The Leafs struggle is summed up by the Antro-Welly-Poni line's results. The Soviet Bloc and Frodo did good work in the corners, cycled the puck well, won battles for the puck, and were generally the only line to consistently trouble the Bruins. However, they were unable to score despite some great half-chances.

As expected, it came down to special teams and when you are playing the most penalized team in the league (over 17 min/game) you expect a few powerplays. Apparently, the Bruins played their cleanest game of the year as they gave up only two powerplays. Luckily, McCabe, who has apparently learned that getting a wrist shot through is more valuable than blasting a slapshot, scored on a well placed, low wrist shot after Wellwood won the draw.

Unfortunately, the Bruins powerplay used their secret bank pass off the boards to get Kessel a goal. Aside from some dodgy passes, this was Aubin's only mistake. He should have cut the rebound out but those Beantown boards seem extra bouncy. That is the second goal in two games that gets scored in the exact same fashion.

Pavel Kubina's return was inauspicious. He did some good work along the boards in his own end but he looked tentative with the puck and his timing was a bit off. Bates Battaglia continues to impress with his play and he has been rewarded with what seems to be a permanent spot on the Sandpaper Line with Peca and Tucker. Jeff O'Neill continued his great season in the face-off circle with 5 wins out of 7. And since Belak does not really fight could we get one of the Marlies up? Maybe Westrum or Leeb? Would it really hurt the Leafs to give our fourth line a bit more offensive skill?

All in all, it was a game that was hard to follow. It was especially painful as the Bruins apparently read my comments denigrating them and decided to play well. The Bruins tried to set up shop in their own end in the third before McCabe tied it and then they won it on a Patrice Bergeron goal in OT. It was a point stolen entirely by J-S Aubin who made some ridiculous saves in the third to keep the game at 1-0 on a night when it looked like the Leafs would never score. The rust from the team's longest layoff all season is off and the Devils are up next Saturday night. They play for their honour tonight in Ottawa so hopefully the Leafs can do better against a tired opponent. The brightside of the loss: the sens are now in last place in the Northeast.

The Final Word

Lewis said later he had his shooters recently employ the off-net shooting strategy as an option for when the opposition blocks, or negates, the shooting lane. It's not the shortest route to the net, but it has become effective.
Kevin Paul Dupont, Boston Globe, confirming my thought that the first goal was a set play.

If the Leafs had anything to be thankful for, it was another wonderful outing from goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin, making his second consecutive start in place of the injured Andrew Raycroft.
Mark Zwolinski, Toronto Star, makes the understatement of the week.

Leafs v. Bruins: Game Day Thoughts

2006-11-16T18:07:00.000-05:00

Ok, after some technical difficulties everything is back to normal. The recaps for the Bruins game last Thursday and Montreal game on Saturday are up just below this post. Tomorrow, I will have pictures of the Saturday game, a recap of tonight's game, and another installment of the Results Comparison.

Also, visit The Battle of Ontario site where yours truly was selected as one of two Leafs contributors. This site will continue to focus on the Leafs while the other will be mainly as an outlet to mock the senators and rub any Leafs success in their face. Thanks to those that supported my candidacy over at the BoO. We Did It!

Without further ado, here are some thoughts on tonight's game:

The Leafs return to Boston tonight to contest the second in a string of games that would make Bill Murray question his sanity. Of course, during the Leafs last visit our number 1 goalie pulled his groin during a 6-4 triumph and Andrew Raycroft remains in the press box where he shares wobbly pops with The Captain. JS Aubin will be handling the tending duties and he will have the Leafs newest father (congrats to Steen too) Pavel Kubina patrolling the front of the net. This will be only the fourth game in which the Leafs $20M defence will be together.

Keys to the Game

Goaltending: Last time out the Leafs got it and the Bruins, hilariously, did not. The Leafs managed to get outshot 17-10 in the first period but left with a 3-0 lead. Tim Thomas will probably get the start tonight and will try to improve on the team's horrendous 3.8GA/game.
Shooting: The Leafs would do well to pepper the net with shots. Considering that the Bruins are 28th in shots against at 33/game and Toronto is 1st in shots for at 35.1/game I expect it to resemble a shooting gallery.
Special Teams: It will be a battle of the nines as the ninth-ranked powerplay (Boston) will face the ninth-ranked penalty kill (Toronto). The Bruins won this battle last time going 2 for 5 but it was not enough. Clearly they will want to keep the PP off the ice (Discipline boys!) but they also have to ensure that Boston's speedsters like Patrice Bergeron and Phil Kessel are not able to isolate Hal Gill. He is great in the stationary penalty kill but I think the word 'lumbering' was invented to describe his skating. Kind of like 'shaky' was invented to describe Ottawa's goaltending.
Stepper-uppers: The Soviet Bloc will have to continue their strong play. Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky combined for 3 goals, 3 assists, and were +8 last Thursday. Both players used their size to torment the Bruins defence and Poni used his speed to create scoring chances. If both players continue their recent strong play then the Bruins will be hard pressed to find an answer as, despite being the size of a sequoia, Chara can only cover one player at a time.

Overall, if the Leafs can play their puck pressure game they should be in good shape. The Bruins defence is suspect past Ottawa Old Boy Zdeno Chara and the Bruins offence is top-line heavy. Boston is probably tired from chasing AO around the ice last night. If Tim Thomas is more Gerber than Raycroft then the Leafs should prevail.