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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • Fan 590 •
TORONTO (Nov. 1) – Now comes the hard part for the 1-7-4 Maple Leafs.
After winning 100% of their games this season on the just-concluded road trip to Vancouver, Anaheim, Dallas, Buffalo and Montreal – while proving they do have at least a faint pulse in far-away places – the Leafs must return to the “comforts” of the Air Canada Centre for four of their next six matches.
Oh, the horror of it all.
The boo birds are already warming their tonsils for the big home-coming Tuesday night, when Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and the Tampa Bay Lightning pay a call to the Maple Leafs – a frightful 0-4-1 at Bay and Lakeshore in the opening month of the schedule. If the old cliché is true about the first game back after a long trip, then Rogers Sportsnet should be subject to mandatory parental controls for this one. Young, impressionable fans of the Blue & White simply cannot be exposed to the carnage that may ensue in their living-rooms. Better even to allow the kiddies an episode of “Family Guy”, don’t you think?
Apologists for the Maple Leafs – and there are undeterred thousands across our land – will rejoice over their team accumulating points in four consecutive games. These are the same folks that celebrate the edge the Leafs hold on the Canadiens in playoff wins the past 16 years, while conveniently overlooking Montreal’s slim 10-0 advantage in Stanley Cup triumphs since 1967.
Actuality suggests that a .500 road trip [1-1-3] is not even close to sufficient – not after the Leafs departed for Vancouver last week with a 0-6-1 record. Even a perfect 5-0-0 trip would have left the Leafs a game under .500, with the task of playing at a minimum 12 games over the break-even mark the rest of the way to match playoff pace of a year ago. As it stands, they must erupt at a 44-26 clip in their final 70 games for any legitimate shot at the post-season. That’s why 1-1-3 – though a bit tidier and more competitive than previous efforts – wasn’t nearly adequate.
What the Leafs showed during their 10-day journey across North America is they do possess a bit of character, and that they’ve not tuned out beleaguered coach Ron Wilson. Given the fact this club isn't good enough to compete for a meaningful rank in the standings, it was rather impressive to witness the frenetic revivals in Buffalo and Montreal. Poorly coached teams are more apt to play out the string in the difficult waning moments of road games, yet the Leafs sent Friday’s match into overtime with a short-handed goal in the final minute, then fought back from a late, 4-2 deficit to take something out of Montreal.
It had to provide some consolation for Leaf supporters to watch their team begin its recovery on Alexei Ponikarovsky’s goal at 16:32 of the third period with the deep-throated denizens of the Bell Centre wailing “Na, Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye”. The Leafs eventually waved back – as they usually do in extra time – but they did not leave the building empty-handed.
Veteran Tomas Kaberle is putting on a show with the puck not seen from a defenseman in these parts for more than three decades – since the prime juncture of Borje Salming’s brilliant career in the mid-to-late 1970s. Still, I dispute the notion of Kaberle’s “irreplaceable value” to the Maple Leafs, as I have for many months now. How much worse would the Leafs have fared if Brian Burke had traded Kaberle during the summer for a good prospect and a high draft pick? Maybe they’d be 0-9-3 right now, instead of 1-7-4. Big deal. Kaberle is patient and magical, at times, with the puck, but his skill has long been wasted on a bad hockey club. And his weakness – a total lack of physical aptitude – may never help a good club at playoff time.
Vesa Toskala returned to the net in Montreal after a three-week absence with a knee injury and certainly did not embarrass himself, or the Leafs. But, he did have the typical “Toskala Moment” in the second period, and it proved critical. Toronto native Glen Metropolit – who always performs well against the Maple Leafs – fooled Toskala with a shot from an outrageous angle, tying the match, 1-1, just 75 seconds after Ponikarovsky finally opened the scoring for the Leafs this season. Toskala was then cleanly beaten by Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez in the shootout that provided Montreal its 5-4 victory.
Now, it’s time for Wilson to take a stand. Unless team doctors have warned him about over-using Jonas Gustavsson in the immediate weeks after a groin injury – and that is highly debatable – Wilson has no choice but to trot out the Swedish rookie on an every-night basis. Given that Gustavsson hasn’t yet allowed a cheap goal in his brief appearances with the Blue & White, it’s reasonable to assume he’d have stopped Metropolit’s desperation volley from beside the net – and rather routinely. Doing so might have been the difference for the Leafs in Saturday night’s match. Toskala, by any measure, has earned a back-up role in Toronto, and even that may be flattering.
The Leafs have 13 games in November. Only twice do they play on consecutive nights [next Friday at Carolina, then Saturday at home to Detroit; a week Friday in Chicago, then home to Calgary]. If a healthy Gustavsson isn’t between the pipes in 11 of the games, Wilson should be investigated.
E-mail howardlberger@gmail.com
After winning 100% of their games this season on the just-concluded road trip to Vancouver, Anaheim, Dallas, Buffalo and Montreal – while proving they do have at least a faint pulse in far-away places – the Leafs must return to the “comforts” of the Air Canada Centre for four of their next six matches.
Oh, the horror of it all.
The boo birds are already warming their tonsils for the big home-coming Tuesday night, when Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and the Tampa Bay Lightning pay a call to the Maple Leafs – a frightful 0-4-1 at Bay and Lakeshore in the opening month of the schedule. If the old cliché is true about the first game back after a long trip, then Rogers Sportsnet should be subject to mandatory parental controls for this one. Young, impressionable fans of the Blue & White simply cannot be exposed to the carnage that may ensue in their living-rooms. Better even to allow the kiddies an episode of “Family Guy”, don’t you think?
Apologists for the Maple Leafs – and there are undeterred thousands across our land – will rejoice over their team accumulating points in four consecutive games. These are the same folks that celebrate the edge the Leafs hold on the Canadiens in playoff wins the past 16 years, while conveniently overlooking Montreal’s slim 10-0 advantage in Stanley Cup triumphs since 1967.
Actuality suggests that a .500 road trip [1-1-3] is not even close to sufficient – not after the Leafs departed for Vancouver last week with a 0-6-1 record. Even a perfect 5-0-0 trip would have left the Leafs a game under .500, with the task of playing at a minimum 12 games over the break-even mark the rest of the way to match playoff pace of a year ago. As it stands, they must erupt at a 44-26 clip in their final 70 games for any legitimate shot at the post-season. That’s why 1-1-3 – though a bit tidier and more competitive than previous efforts – wasn’t nearly adequate.
What the Leafs showed during their 10-day journey across North America is they do possess a bit of character, and that they’ve not tuned out beleaguered coach Ron Wilson. Given the fact this club isn't good enough to compete for a meaningful rank in the standings, it was rather impressive to witness the frenetic revivals in Buffalo and Montreal. Poorly coached teams are more apt to play out the string in the difficult waning moments of road games, yet the Leafs sent Friday’s match into overtime with a short-handed goal in the final minute, then fought back from a late, 4-2 deficit to take something out of Montreal.
It had to provide some consolation for Leaf supporters to watch their team begin its recovery on Alexei Ponikarovsky’s goal at 16:32 of the third period with the deep-throated denizens of the Bell Centre wailing “Na, Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye”. The Leafs eventually waved back – as they usually do in extra time – but they did not leave the building empty-handed.
Veteran Tomas Kaberle is putting on a show with the puck not seen from a defenseman in these parts for more than three decades – since the prime juncture of Borje Salming’s brilliant career in the mid-to-late 1970s. Still, I dispute the notion of Kaberle’s “irreplaceable value” to the Maple Leafs, as I have for many months now. How much worse would the Leafs have fared if Brian Burke had traded Kaberle during the summer for a good prospect and a high draft pick? Maybe they’d be 0-9-3 right now, instead of 1-7-4. Big deal. Kaberle is patient and magical, at times, with the puck, but his skill has long been wasted on a bad hockey club. And his weakness – a total lack of physical aptitude – may never help a good club at playoff time.
Vesa Toskala returned to the net in Montreal after a three-week absence with a knee injury and certainly did not embarrass himself, or the Leafs. But, he did have the typical “Toskala Moment” in the second period, and it proved critical. Toronto native Glen Metropolit – who always performs well against the Maple Leafs – fooled Toskala with a shot from an outrageous angle, tying the match, 1-1, just 75 seconds after Ponikarovsky finally opened the scoring for the Leafs this season. Toskala was then cleanly beaten by Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez in the shootout that provided Montreal its 5-4 victory.
Now, it’s time for Wilson to take a stand. Unless team doctors have warned him about over-using Jonas Gustavsson in the immediate weeks after a groin injury – and that is highly debatable – Wilson has no choice but to trot out the Swedish rookie on an every-night basis. Given that Gustavsson hasn’t yet allowed a cheap goal in his brief appearances with the Blue & White, it’s reasonable to assume he’d have stopped Metropolit’s desperation volley from beside the net – and rather routinely. Doing so might have been the difference for the Leafs in Saturday night’s match. Toskala, by any measure, has earned a back-up role in Toronto, and even that may be flattering.
The Leafs have 13 games in November. Only twice do they play on consecutive nights [next Friday at Carolina, then Saturday at home to Detroit; a week Friday in Chicago, then home to Calgary]. If a healthy Gustavsson isn’t between the pipes in 11 of the games, Wilson should be investigated.
E-mail howardlberger@gmail.com
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