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

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.

Squash the Buffaslugs!

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!

A Week In The Life...

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.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

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.

Leafs 4 v. Sabres 2: Graveyard No More

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.

Leafs 3 v. Sabres 4: Opportunities Lost

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 4 v. Sabres 7: Aerial Hijinks

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. Sabres 1: Are You Phoenix in Disguise?

Game Recap
Scoresheet
Statistics

Flipping a coin might give you a better idea of what Leafs team will show up on any given night. On Thursday night the Leafs came out flat and were never in the game against Florida. On Saturday night the Leafs gave one of their best performances this season and handed the top team in the league their first regulation loss. For long stretches of the game the Leafs made Buffalo look ordinary. Despite pre-game reports that newly fanatical Sabres supporters would cram the Alphabet Arena there was a massive contingent of blue and white clad Leaf fans. The traveling contingent reveled in the win and did so loudly. Chants of ‘Miller’ and ‘Overrated’ filled the air with a rousing rendition of the Steam classic “Goodbye”. It's too bad they don't know the classic football song from the post title. It's always a good way to rile up a team.

This great game by the Leafs followed the same pattern as their other strong performances. The Leafs neutralized the high flying Sabres offence through the first 40 minutes with a determined forecheck that kept the defencemen from making the crucial first pass. Whenever the opportunity presented itself the Leafs were taking the body. Even Wellwood was hitting and he provided one of the highlights of the night with his physical play. He saw Spacek had him lined up in the neutral zone and he ducked down and flipped him over his hip.

The Leafs defensive coverage was the best it has been in a number of games. What few shots Raycroft faced in the first two periods were unscreened and any rebounds were cleared. It seemed to be a bad omen when Hecht opened the scoring by beating Bell to the outside and sliding the puck under Raycroft who was ready to pokecheck in anticipation of Hecht cutting in front of the net. To his credit, Raycroft shut the door and made a number of great saves in the third when the team ran into penalty trouble.

In such a complete performance it is tough to highlight any standouts. It’s tough but not impossible. Mats Sundin was, as usual, a standout with two goals, an assist, and some good work killing penalties. Matt Stajan continued to be a revelation this season and his hard work was rewarded with an assist on O’Neill’s fifth of the season. Ian White made a spectacular pass to set-up Mats’ second of the game and played one of his best games of the season in his own end. Bates Battaglia played like a guy that wants more ice-time.

The only lowlight of the game was the amount of diving by the Sabres. Last year when Hitchcock complained during the playoffs I thought it was just sour grapes. However, at times last night, especially the third period, I thought that I was watching a Serie A game the way blue-clad players were flying through the air. The worst one was Chicken Soup Campbell’s swan dive when he felt Sundin’s stick near him. About 15 seconds later on the powerplay the reigning flop-king Derek Roy felt Gill’s stick by his skates and proceeded to jump in the air and spin twice. Those were the two most obvious ones but enough to make Francesco Totti proud. Sabres fans will probably mention that Tucker stayed down a bit longer than necessary when Adam Mair drilled him from behind but in the words of Arsene Wenger, I didn’t see it. Maybe they’ll point to Ponikarovsky falling a bit easily when Roy grabbed his shoulder. I would say that Poni was knocked off one skate and pushed off with his last skate to get more strength on his dump-in. Whether you believe that homer explanation I think everyone could agree that watching this generation’s Bill Barber calling Poni a diver was a perfect illustration of irony.

The Leafs host the struggling Flyers on Monday. Let's hope that they do not play down to the competition's level. A similar performance will see the Flyers dispatched with ease and that will be a boon to the team's confidence before three straight divisional games against the Bruins (twice) and the Habs.

Maple Leaf Goals
First Goal
The Leafs forecheck causes a turnover behind the net. Ponikarovsky dished it to Wellwood on the right hashmarks who fired a hard pass into Sundin at the lip of the crease. He redirected it hard through Miller’s pads to tie the game.

Second Goal
On a 5-on-3 powerplay the Leafs moved the puck around to Mats Sundin who faked a shot and slapped a pass under Wellwood to Tucker who tapped in from his office. It was great to see everyone’s (outside of Toronto) most hated player pick up the game winning goal.

Third Goal
More pressure on the Sabres defence resulted in another goal. Steen poked the puck behind the net to Stajan who found Jeff O’Neill in the slot for a one-timer past Miller on the blocker side. O’Neill continues to get into good shooting spots and Stajan keeps finding him.

Fourth Goal
45 seconds after the third goal the Leafs pounce on a turnover at the blueline. Mats led a two-on-one and dropped a pass to Ian White who had jumped into the play. White faked a shot to bring the defender to his knees and then slid a perfect pass to Sundin who roofed a shot over Miller’s shoulder.

The Final Word

Sabres fans are used to seeing impressive displays of high-speed, hard-battling, super-skilled hockey. Usually, however, it's delivered by the home team, not the visitors; and, certainly, not the Maple Leafs. But in a table-turner, and one of Toronto's most complete efforts of the season, the Leafs beat the Sabres at their own game last night with a dominant 4-1 victory.
Paul Hunter, Toronto Star, who can count the Leafs fans among those that were surprised by the game.

The Maple Leafs obliterated them, 4-1, in front of a sellout crowd that was more locally partisan than it used to be yet still contained a vociferous enemy contingent daring enough to serenade the home team with chants of "o-ver-rated."
Tim Graham, Buffalo News, who probably did not enjoy the chanting as much as I did.

A quadruple indignity: 1) Losing to the leafs, 2) At home, with 3) Tucker getting the Game Winner while 4) Carolina coming back to win. Where’s my whiskey bottle?
Tom L, Sabre Rattling, summing up the feelings of Sabres fans everywhere.

Leafs v. Sabres: Game Day Thoughts

The Leafs travel to Alphabet Arena tonight to face the red-hot Buffalo Sabres. This first trip would have been more appropriate for Halloween since the buds' record in the home of good wings is 4-17-3 (ties) since the Sabres moved to the new rink. That record alone is enough to give you nightmares before you remember that in most games the Leafs have not even been close to winning.

A friend of mine went to see the sens there (yeah, I forgive him) and he tells me it is a shithole arena in a crappy part of town (the words 'particle board' were used to describe the walls by the upper bowl's highest reaches). That might explain why until last season this team had so much trouble drawing fans. Of course, now that they have tied the Leafs season best start (asterisk) and were one win away from the final the fans have found their way back. Good to see the bandwagon doing it's part to support the team. It's always baffled me that Leafs' fans get a bad rap for their loyalty from other fans (all of the Canadian teams) while those same fans demand loyalty from their players (see: Oilers, Edmonton). Why should they stick around if you are going to leave as soon as things turn bad?

Anyway, the net result of the Sabres success is that there will most likely be significantly fewer Leafs fans due to the increased season ticket sales. sens' fans might want to read that last sentence before they start complaining about the number of Leaf fans in Ottawa. This will probably mean that fewer Torontonians will be swearing up a storm on their trip back across the bridge.

The good news is that the Sabres played very badly against the Bruins. The bad news is that the Leafs were brutal against Florida. I won't make any predictions because when they are optimistic they are horribly off (see: games, Ottawa) and when they are pessimistic they are right. So tonight I predict that there will be hockey, Lindy Ruff will make some smartass comments while ignoring his team's proclivity for diving, and Andrew Peters will not get the retribution he deserves (if that lump of hockey crappiness even sees the ice). Go Leafs Go!

Cross Border Theft

Tonight a record held by the almost great Leafs team of 1992-1994 could come one step closer to returning across the Peace Bridge to Buffalo. Cox points out the historical balance of the record possibly reverting from Toronto to the team that originally stole it from us. Looking at the intervals in which we have shared the record I feel comfortable predicting that after 41, 18, and 13 seasons between moves that the record (if broken) will return to the Leafs in 12 seasons or less. I cannot wait until the 2018-2019 campaign and our 12 game winning streak!

The sad thing is that in Gary Bettman's rush to label all things post-lockout an improvement over the past the new record will be allowed to stand on its own merits sans asterisk despite three victories coming by way of the shootout. In the old days, the Leafs had to win the game in the first 65 minutes. Although, if there had of been shootouts then there is no doubt that the Leafs would not have made it to 10 straight wins before losing one.

On the bright side, Montreal's star defenceman Janne Niinimaa is guaranteeing a victory. That's pretty bold coming from a guy that will most likely snap his neck in the first period while trying to follow the white streaks going past him.

Update: The Habs failed to stop the Sabres as they fell 4-1.

Leafs 0 v. Buffaslugs 4: Same Old Story?

In a perfect world I would have watched the entirety of the game last night and written a summary to slake the interest of those who are not blessed with LeafsTV. However, I do not live in a perfect world and the pre-season status of the game relegated it to second-class status so I could only muster a period before the cries of 'It is only a pre-season game!? so this game doesn't matter!? CHANGE!' became defeaning.

Through My Eyes

The line-ups were obviously lacking some starters but there were a few good things that I can report based on the 20 minutes of hockey that I watched. The most important was that the new Sabres' jersey is terrible. It features numbers on the chest, white body, dark sleeves, and the colours are nothing like the original. Although, apparently, Martin Biron likes it. My guess would be that the terrible fashion in Buffalo has inured him to the hideousness of the jerseys.

Aside from the crimes against fashion I felt that the Leafs did well in the first period. They skated with the notoriously fast Sabres (I guess it is the law now that you cannot mention them without saying how fast they are), Antropov looked like he had taken advantage of his first summer not spend re-habbing something, and Raycroft reminded me of Ed Belfour. No, not the 2006 vintage but the 2004. He was very well positioned, squared up to the shooter, and did not have to rely on any acrobatics to stop shots. The defence also looked fairly good in that first period. They were strong on the puck (especially Jay Harrison) and, except for the usual pre-season errant passes, generally moved the puck well considering that the unit lacked the passing Tomas Kaberle, Ian White, or Brendan Bell.

Unfortunately, once I changed channels and stopped concentrating on the game the wheels fell off. The penalty kill that looked so effective allowed 3 PPGs in the second and a fourth in the third period. The stong play on the puck became soft and the shots on goal never really materialized. The good news is that this is just a pre-season game and I remember the Jays had losing records in the Grapefruit League during the glory years.

The Final Word

This will be a round-up of what the papers from both cities thought of the game.

Leafs coach Paul Maurice has said that he intends to stress discipline this season. He has got a lot of work ahead of him. At one point, the Leafs took six consecutive penalties. Perhaps it's unfair to expect them to erase seven years of bad habits under Pat Quinn in one night, but they'll have to do better. It would be easy to write it off to the fact that it was the first pre-season game, but it was the Sabres' first game, too.

Al Strachan, Toronto Sun

In front of an Air Canada Centre crowd that clearly wanted him to do well — they cheered warmly when the netminder gloved a wrist shot from the point — Raycroft looked good.

Paul Hunter, Toronto Star

Then, unlike their new logo, the Sabres found their legs at the intermission. No longer jittery, a few of the team's youngbloods turned the game into a stampede and trampled the Maple Leafs, 4-0. All of the goals came on power plays, drawing boos from the 18,851 fans in attendance.

Tim Graham, Buffalo News

All in all it was not the most auspicious start for the Leafs or my game reports but it is still the pre-season and we are both working out our kinks. Thank God I am not doing Paul Maurice's practices. Hopefully that means that the Leafs will be hitting their stride sooner rather than later.

Money Matters

Ingmar Bergman Shoots...And Scores has a good analysis of the overall salary commitments of all 30 teams including divisional averages and players still unsigned.

Some interesting things to note related to the Leafs:

• All five teams in the Northeast will spend over $40M this year giving the division the highest average spending in the league.
  

• The sens currently are only $29K behind the Leafs so they can stop crying poor and be glad that all of their whining about the 'Old' NHL paid off. The irony of course is that the salary cap made them lose a young player (Havlat) that they developed just as they would have under the old system. As Oscar Wilde said, "There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."
  

• Last year's surprise package, Buffalo, not only is developing some of the world's worst jerseys (and most heated backlashes) but they are also losing some vital pieces of their team. Jay McKee split for St. Louis, J.P. Dumont is now a free-agent after the team rejected his $2.9M arbitration award, and their cap figure stands at just over $41M with Ryan Miller, Dmitri Kalinin, Adam Mair, and Jeff Jillson all unsigned. Good news for the Leafs.
  

• Bad news for the Leafs: Harry Sinden is calling it quits. This will invariably improve the team as this Beantown fixture will not be around to pennypinch his stars (while inexplicably opening the purse strings for guys like Martin Lapointe) and hamstring the Bruins. At least the improvement will not come this year.
  

• Somehow Stajan is still unsigned. That will eat up most of the cap space that we have left. JFJ needs to get this done.

We are now less than a month away from opening night with the sens and I could not be more excited. Thank God the Premiership is starting up and that can keep me occupied until October fourth.