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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • Fan 590 •
ANAHEIM (Oct. 27) — The music was blaring in the Maple Leafs’ dressing room for the first time since the final weekend of the exhibition schedule… in fact, the first time in exactly one month. For those with even moderate recall, September 26th is a distant memory, but that date represented the last victory in any game for the Leafs prior to Monday night. It was an exhibition win at home over Detroit. The following night, came a seven-goal embarrassment against Buffalo at the Air Canada Centre to close out the pre-season and set the tone for the longest winless streak out of the gate in club history.
Finally, the Leaf players are able to take a breath.
And, they can thank a ridiculous Anaheim team for helping to end their interminable funk. Who are those guys wearing the black, gold and orange jerseys? Certainly not the crew that won the 2007 Stanley Cup. An endless stream of idiotic penalties enabled the Leafs to throw the puck around on the powerplay as well as they have since the Gilmour-Andreychuk days. Or, so it seemed. In fact, there was a nostalgic feeling all through the Honda Center.
Niklas Hagman scored three goals and could’ve had six… kind of a Jonas Hoglund on bennies. Tomas Kaberle ran up the points [a goal and four assists] the way Borje Salming would on a hot night in the 1970s. And, most importantly, the Leafs were provided a goaltending display reminiscient of a decade ago, when Curtis Joseph would stone the opposition when it really mattered. Rookie Jonas Gustavsson gave his club the necessary boost between the pipes and there’s no telling how much of a carry-over effect that may have.
It was refreshing to watch the Leaf players — in these eyes, a pretty fine group of fellows – enjoying their post-game environment. For their hard work against the Ducks, and in the third period at Vancouver on Saturday, the beleaguered players have earned a day off on Tuesday, when they fly to Dallas. Another energetic performance — backed by a calm Gustavsson — could augur well against an average Stars team.
E-mail howardlberger@gmail.com
Finally, the Leaf players are able to take a breath.
And, they can thank a ridiculous Anaheim team for helping to end their interminable funk. Who are those guys wearing the black, gold and orange jerseys? Certainly not the crew that won the 2007 Stanley Cup. An endless stream of idiotic penalties enabled the Leafs to throw the puck around on the powerplay as well as they have since the Gilmour-Andreychuk days. Or, so it seemed. In fact, there was a nostalgic feeling all through the Honda Center.
Niklas Hagman scored three goals and could’ve had six… kind of a Jonas Hoglund on bennies. Tomas Kaberle ran up the points [a goal and four assists] the way Borje Salming would on a hot night in the 1970s. And, most importantly, the Leafs were provided a goaltending display reminiscient of a decade ago, when Curtis Joseph would stone the opposition when it really mattered. Rookie Jonas Gustavsson gave his club the necessary boost between the pipes and there’s no telling how much of a carry-over effect that may have.
It was refreshing to watch the Leaf players — in these eyes, a pretty fine group of fellows – enjoying their post-game environment. For their hard work against the Ducks, and in the third period at Vancouver on Saturday, the beleaguered players have earned a day off on Tuesday, when they fly to Dallas. Another energetic performance — backed by a calm Gustavsson — could augur well against an average Stars team.
E-mail howardlberger@gmail.com
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