Game 10: The Better Team Always Wins...

So Toronto's last home game before their much needed mini road trip saw the Basement dwelling Thrashers take on the sinking (stinking) Leafs. The Leafs had Toskala in net and even the last place team in the league put their back up goalie in to face the Leafs (Hedberg). Sundin scored 13 seconds into the first and Toronto was playing a very "fuck you" kind of game. They were skating hard, winning battles in the corners, using their size against Atlanta's speed and it seemed to be working...for the first 4 minutes anyways. Tobias Endstrom threw a soft one on net that slipped by Toskala and with less than a minute left in the period, Ilya Kovalchuck just skated around every one like pylons in a drill and with an off balance wrist shot that found the back of the net it was 2-1 ATL after one.

In the second frame the Leafs came out strong again and were rewarded with another goal. This time we saw Hal Gill step into a howitzer that beat Hedberg high to tie things at 2-2. Blake and Perrin exchanged goals and with the score 3-3 going into the 3rd it looked like any one's game (and by anyone I mean Atlanta's)

Going into last night's game, Toronto had been outscored 16-8 in third periods. I believe this has to do with a few things...Toronto's lack of speed. With other teams skating around them in the defensive zone (Kovalchuck was a prime example of this last night) the leafs get tired because their defensive coverage is so poor that they resort to holding, interfering, slashing, hooking, tripping and pretty much anything else a big dumb slow guy would do with a stick to slow down a skilled speedy European. This proved to be the case when Todd White and Eric Perrin had 2 2 on 1's in one rush...as they passed the defence twice they arranged a very nice 2-0 and easily put the puck passed a helpless Toskala. With about 2 minutes left Toronto found that great play they lost at the 4 minute mark of the first and came on very strong completly dominating the Thrashers. With a huge scramble in front of Hedberg and just over 9 seconds left, Ponikarovsky shoveled a lose puck past Hedberg to send it to overtime. The ACC was going Bananas.

I am still not a big fan of shootouts...I do think they are exciting but I don't like how two teams play one another for 65 minutes only to have players 1-on-1 with the goalies. It's like having a tied football game and seeing which punter can kick the furthest...I just don't like it. Or maybe i just don't like them because Toronto sucks at them...either way they bug me. This was the first shoot out for either team this year and I'll give you the quick rundown of how the shooters did.

Leafs 1st: Antropov Scores 5-hole

Thrashers 1st: Kozlov Scores

Leafs 2nd: Sundin poke checked (not like it matters though because he would have just shot it at Hedberg's chest)

Thrashers 2nd: Hossa Stopped

Leafs 3rd: Blake stopped on a shit move

Thrashers 3rd: Kovalchuck comes cross ice and puts it back over Toskala's shoulder for the win.

So Atlanta get their first road win of the season (glad we could help) and improve to 2-1 since Bob got fired. Toronto's off to Pittsburgh Thursday then New York to take on the Rangers on Saturday. Pittsburgh will prove to be tough again (especially if they don't play down to the leafs caliber like they did last time) and the struggling Rangers will have a good chance vs the Leafs because...well the leafs just blow.

And one last thing before I go today. Week two pylon as voted by you goes to...

Bryan McCabe With his beautiful overtime winner in Buffalo (on his own net) and sloppy defensive play on recent games (and all the ones before them) he has been Leafs Nation's scapegoat for the past week. Now I can understand him wanting to downplay the own goal to the press since they want to behead him but he really needs to think about what he says before he opens his mouth. The one quote that bugged me the most was the "It's not like it was game 7 of the playoffs...it was game 7 of 82"...yes it was Bryan, but remember what happened last year when you missed the playoffs by a single point?...they all count and I'm really hoping this doesn't come back to haunt us.

Game 9: Raycroft is back into "Raycroft Form"

So tonight we saw the Chicago Blackhawks come into the ACC to take on the Leafs for Hockey Night In Canada...Again the opposing team decided to start their back-up goalie (Lalime) against Toronto, who in turn started their starting goalie who acts like a back up (Raycroft). The last time Lalime was in the ACC he got lit up in game 7 of the 2004 Eastern Conference quarter-final playoffs while allowing some brutal goals in. That was the last game he ever played as a Senator...Way to go Joe Nieuwendyk!...Wow, I actually forgot what playoffs were like...

Chicago got on the board early with a power play goal by Williams that saw the Toronto penalty killers diving around like Italian soccer players...It was brutal to watch this defensive coverage attempt to penalty kill. They looked like those idiots that put their foreheads on the knob of the baseball bat, spin around 20 times then try to race...unbelieveable...and at the end of it all McCabe is standing by him self (and no one around him by at least 15 feet) watching the whole play...Hey Fucker! get in the game for Christ sakes...you're only getting paid $7M this year...

Sundin came back with a nice short handed goal to tie things up at 1-1 Then shortly after Kaberle threw the puck on net on a 3-3 rush that went off Zyuzin's stick and in...It was a huge break that the Leafs really needed...They haven' been getting any bounces and have been getting stiffed pretty hard in the penalty calls so far this year...For the rest of the period Toronto looked very impressive. They had great back checking, and something I haven't really seen this year was the forwards were really coming back and helping the defence behind their own net with one on one battles...It looked like Toronto was going to really expose the lack of rest Chicago had because of the late arrival in the t-dot the night before.

Toronto completely dominated the second period but only had Sundin's semi-breakaway goal to show for it. Lalime was huge making some really big stops. Because I am new to blogging I don't really know how to do things...while I watch the leaf games I take little notes to remind myself what to talk about after the game. with about 3 minutes left in the second i wrote to my self 'I think this may be the first period all season (or at least that I can remember) that the Leafs haven't taken a penalty"...well way to go Scott you douche...go a head and totally jinx it. Ponikarovski, Wozniewski and Gill all took penalty's that saw Toronto deal with a 5 on 3 for almost 2 full minutes...they held them off in the second but the Third was a different story.

This is the part of the game where it gets really frustrating to be a Leafs fan. Toronto kills off the 5-3 but as Wozniewski is coming back onto the ice Chicago scores...okay no big deal. It's still 3-2 Toronto and because Wozniewski's penalty was over when they scored that just cancels out Gill's penalty and now we're even strength and still up by 1. Then again, like always, the Leafs defence decides to watch the game instead of play it. Keith comes down the right wing as they're announcing Zyuzin's goal and puts it past Raycroft with ease to tie it up at 3's. Then the flood gates open...Lang scores a brutal goal on Raycroft over his shoulder.

Now when Raycroft first came to Toronto he was pretty good (it didn't last long) all the other teams had to do was go look at some old game tapes and see that he goes down on every single shot...and I'm not exaggerating. he really does go down on every...single...shot. So now teams just shoot high and it's almost a givin' that it will go in (and it does)...and this is why I get frustrated...For the entire second period Toronto completely pwned Chicago but only managed 1 goal from Lalime. When Toronto needs Raycroft to steal a few for them what happens? he shits the bed...I swear...I can not describe the frustration I have with Raycroft. Ohh yeah, Sharp also scored on a brutal deflection to make it 5-3 Chicago. Kilger got one back late but as the Leafs were trying to make a last minute come back all momentum was lost when Ponikarovsky was called for "ghost hooking"...(that's one of those brutal penalty breaks that I was talking about earlier) Lang put in an empty net goal and Chicago ended up winning 6-4 in front of a full crowd of sheep.

So Tuesday Toronto will be playing the Thrashers...I'm really hoping that Toskala gets the start...He doesn't give you that "ohh shit" feeling every time the puck is shot at him like Raycroft does. I know it's still really early in the season (game 9 of 82) but Toronto is already under .500 and have only played 2 away games (7 home games). They've lost both their away games and I'm just thinking to myself...there are some teams who start the season with 7 or 8 game road trips and they are doing fine holding their own...what's going to happen later on this year when Toronto has more away games then home?...They certainly aren't making it easy for themselves early on this year...

One last thing before I go...Tonight was Belak's 400 NHL game and in true Belak style he beat the crap out of Koci...way to go Wade. So despite losing again tonight I leave you with this little video montage of Wade because even if you lose the war, Wade will win a few battles.

Game 3: Good News - Leafs Win, Bad News - Blake has Cancer...

With a dramatic overtime win on Saturday night the critics have tamed for now. Much to the please of Toskala, Ferguson and Maurice. Kaberle Scored the overtime winner on a power play (first power play goal of the season) making Toronto now "0 for 18" on the power play. They would be "1 for 18" if it wasn't for that brutal short handed goal they allowed in the second period to Markov.

Ian White scored in the first, Kaberle in O.T. and Alexei Ponikarovsky netted 2 goals which has some people in agreement that if Sundin can set up 2 goals a game for Ponikarovsky and Antropov then who cares if he scores #390?

So the leafs are now 1-1-1 but that kind of took a back seat after morning skate yesterday (Monday) when Blake announced that he has a rare form of leukemia known as "Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)" Although it's "highly treatable" it does come as a huge shocker. I mean it sucked last year when we were missing players because of injuries but now they might start dropping with fatal illnesses...In all seriousness though, I'm sure everyone truly hopes that Jason Blake...scores his first goal soon.

The Leafs play Carolina tonight here in the T-dot. I went to the last game these two played against each other last season. It was a must win for the Cannes and Toronto destroyed them like 6-2. After that Carolina was out of the playoff race. I really hope Toskala gets the start again (I'm sure he will because he certainly played well Saturday) and Maybe we can ride the high of the o.t. win tonight for a second win of the season...Bee-otch!