Road Trip!

Steve says:

With that sweet home win, the boys in blue get themselves ready to hit the road on a 7 game road trip. They will not be back at the ACC until Sat. Dec. 29th vs. Rangers (Avery vs. Belak anyone?).

Anyway, here are the teams we are playing on the road, their last 10 game record and their position in relation to us in the standings:

Thrashers 5-4-1 below us
Canadiens 3-6-1 above us*

Hurricanes 4-6-0 above us

Lightning 3-6-1 below us

Panthers 6-4-0 below us

Islanders 3-5-2 below us

Flyers 4-4-2 above us*

(* equal in points, but they have games in hand)

So it looks like we have a good chance of not only winning some more games on the road, but with the race being so close (only 7pts separate us from 1st in the East!) we could really put ourselves in a good position heading into the 2nd half of the season.

Also, with the issues that teams like the Sens have been having lately, and the schedule they have in front of them, there is a chance of a few losses which would be great for the Leafs.

All of theses games are "4 point" games meaning that if we win in regulation, not only do we get 2 points, but we keep the other team, who happens to be in our conference race, from getting 2 points.

Hope we can keep up the winning ways.

As an aside, there is talk of the Leafs talking trade with San Jose...Marleau for Kaberle?...personally I think we should stick with the happy group we have for now...I think adding Marleau would only add to our offense..which isn't really an issue..it's the D we need to secure going forward.

Game 10

Chris says:

So the Leafers lost a game to the powerhouse Atlanta Thrashers.

I’m sorry, I couldn’t say that with a straight face either.

Well, somebody has to lose to the last place team, it might as well be us. The good news here is all in the stats, three assists by Blake, a goal and two assists by Sundin and some solid goal tending by Toskala. We also managed to slink away with a single point, thanks to Poni’s third period heroics.

But this stuff is merely the icing on the cake. Leaf fans hunger for a real meal. To see their squad go out there and dominate instead of half-assedly relying on the big guns. Nobody makes the playoffs by hoarding single points from OT losses.

Unfortunately the cushy home stand is over now. We’ve got a six game road sched coming up. Maybe a little adversity will toughen this team up. Maybe what we need is the laughter and jeers from other fans as their teams sharpen their sticks for an easy W. Maybe we need to stop telling everyone we can play good hockey and start actually doing it.

Maybe.

busy day off

Steve says:

Hartly got fired in Atlanta. Talk of Pat Quinn or Pat Burns taking his place.
Poni expected back on #1 Line with Sundin and Blake on Thursday.
McCabe getting roasted by hockey media.
Leafs spend entire day working defensive zone coverage drills.
Flames lose a 4 goal lead and lose the game in shootout.

whew!

Chris says:

The rumour mill has it that Wellwood could be making his first appearance of the season on Saturday. I have yet to be wowwed by Wellwood, but that's primarily because he's injured so often.

Colaiacovo is apparently on the mend as well.