Ottawa wins 5 - 1
Steve says:
I arrived ridiculously early to the rink in an attempt to avoid rush hour traffic. I still cant figure out why the Sens rink is out in the middle of nowhere...but that's another issue..
I brought my lovely wife with me who is also a Leaf fan, although I noticed some signs of her cracking under all the Sens propaganda while we were there...we'll have to work on that...
I wanted to grab some dinner, but both of the restaurants in the building served everything with meat...and I do mean everything...even the salad has chicken!...whats a vegetarian to do?...
Then the Leaf fans started arriving in groups...so many in fact that I am pretty sure we outnumbered the Sens fans in the seats. The atmosphere was pretty exciting. They put on a big show about the "Battle" of Ontario and all that...Leaf fans were very vocal upon welcoming the team during the warmup.
Then the game started and I knew something was amiss on the first play in the Sens zone...WE WERE PINCHING OUR D!!!!
"Oh no" I thought. Don't leave Toskala out to dry...yet that is precisely what they did. The Sens recognized what we were doing and made us pay every time.
Bell's first shift was awesome...he was leaving his feet on every check...just pummeling the Sens...and he kept it up on the few shifts that he got...Wellwood had some nice hands, but didn't pass the puck very well...
I don't need to go into details about the game on the ice...I'm sure you will see many replays all over TV...but what was going on in the stands was great...even when down 3-0, Leafers were still every bit as vocal as before...The heckling, the chants...all so loud and really spirited...hell, even after the game there was a Leaf fan who had a poster of Alfreddson made up to look like a clown stood on top on the stairs at the exits and got a chant going...
All that energy even after an ass whooping reminded me why I love this team so much...we just keep beleafing that one day we will rise to glory, we will take down the giants of the game and stand victorious....and it will be sweet..
Go Leafs Go!
here are some pics.
On the way to the rink, a storm was brewing...
The Leafs were outskated at every turn (please note the trailing Sens winger at the bottom of the picture...!)
Sens fans chanted "RaaaayCroooft" when Toskala got pulled
At this point the game was tied...the opening faceoff!
They looked good at warmup...lol
Chris:
Ouch. They make it really hard to be a fan some days don’t they.
The Leafs rode into Ottawa last night, up against the best team in hockey right now. And the end result was a shellacking that’s become more and more familiar over the past couple of years.
It used to be that we could count on the Sens inexperience and nerves to have them drop a game (or two) whenever they came to town. These days Ottawa reserves their choking for the playoffs.
So what killed us last night? Same old story, the odd man rush. After Toskala’s stellar performance in net a couple days ago I think all of Leaf Nation could see that we’d finally settled on a starting puckstopper. Unfortunately, Toskala may not want the job. I mean would YOU want to be the guy responsible for being the last line of defense after your shoddy D has once again dropped the ball. I sure as hell wouldn’t.
Where is the defense? What is being done? If the fans can see the problems with such crystal clarity why can’t the front office? You know, if I came into the office on a daily basis and regularly failed to perform the basic tenets of my job they’d sling my arse out onto the street and rightly so. I realize that professional sports is not a desk job, but the principles remain the same.
Last night marked the return of Kyle Wellwood as well as the first appearance from Mark Bell in a Leaf Jersey. Both got solid amounts of ice time and neither one made much of a impact on the game.
The single goal scored by the Leafs? A powerplay zinger by Antropov.
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