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Bruins Win Tactical Battle Over Leafs; Super Bowl Prediction

February 3, 2013, 4:52 PM ET [193 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Unlike the domination the Boston Bruins had over the Toronto Maple Leafs in their six game sweep last season, the match between Northeast Division foes Saturday was a tactical game of on-ice chess, with the more experienced and playoff hardened Bruins winning 1-0, thanks to a first period goal by Christopher Bourque.

Toronto was able to remain within one goal thanks mostly to the goaltending from James Reimer. Now with five starts under his belt, Reimer has an impressive 2.46 GAA and .922 save percentage and was named the first star made 33 saves and was named the first star.

Lineup decisions, winning face-offs, power-play effectiveness and ice time were at the heart of the Leafs inability to score against the Bruins vaunted team defense.
In the expectation of a physical contest, coach Randy Carlyle stocked up on enforcers, playing newly acquired Frazer McLaren on the fourth line with Colton Orr and David Steckel.

The line saw just over four minutes of ice time during the game and did not leave a significant footprint, with the exception of being on the ice for Boston's lone goal.
The ice time distribution was again highly curious, as the veteran minor leaguer Mike Kostka led all Toronto defenseman with 27:37, superseding even team captain Dion Phaneuf, who played just over 27 minutes. Carlyle inserted Mike Komisarek into the lineup, but instead of taking bottom pairing blueliners like Mark Fraser or Cody Franson out, he opted to sit Carl Gunnarsson, who had averaged over 20 minutes over the first seven games and performed well on club’s second defensive pairing.

Franson, who is offensively gifted but defensively challenged, was unable to corral Bourque in front of the Toronto net on the game’s only goal.

The Toronto power-play continues to be a concern, as their ineffective 0 for 3 performance on Saturday lowered them to 23rd in the NHL(14.3%). Carlyle has used mostly Phaneuf and Kostka as the first unit defensive pairing, which has yet to yield consistent results, due mostly to Phaneuf’s inability to find the net. Strangely, the coaching staff has not decided to use the combination of Phaneuf and John-Michael Liles, which was extremely effective in the first half of the 2011-12, before Liles suffered a season altering concussion.

Carlyle appears to have growing confidence in young center Nazem Kadri, whose ice time increased to just over 17 minutes Saturday. The 22-year-old created a couple scoring opportunities, but was noticeably ineffective in the face-off circle, as he lost 11 of 13 draws.

Teams like Boston provide difficult matchup situations for clubs like Toronto. Carlyle believed it was necessary to stock up on bigger, tougher players against the Bruins, but the players inserted were mostly fourth liners or bottom pairing defenseman, playing in significant minutes.

Boston, on the other hand, have Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton getting significant minutes on their top pairing and top two lines.

Until Toronto has players who can neutralize and impose their physical will playing prominent roles, they will continue to come up short.

The Leafs face Carolina in the final game of their three-game homestand Monday night.

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My Super Bowl Prediction is that I will be stuffed after eating pizza and chicken wings by halftime. :)

Seriously....my prediction for the game is San Francisco 27, Baltimore 21, for what it's worth(and that ain't much).


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