A Tale of Two Games

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.

Leafs 4 v. Hurricanes 1: Great Success!

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.

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

Game Recap

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

New

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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 4 v. Hurricanes 3: Another Successful Heimlich

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.