from last night...to tonight

Steve says:

Some good things happened for the Leafs:
Sens beat the Penguins
Devils beat the Bruins
Flames beat Tampa

but, with the good comes the bad

habs beat flyers
isles beat yotes

So after all the dust has settled, Toronto gets bumped down to 10th place.
The good way to spin this is that we are now in a 3 way tie for points with Pittsburgh and NYIslanders. Pittsburgh has played the same number of games as us, and the Islanders only have 1 game in hand.
The Habs, Rangers, Bruins, and Devils have all also played the same number of games...so we can really see where we sit right now...which is out of a playoff spot.

That means that our future is really in our own hands now. Hopefully we fans will not be left on the edge of our seats hoping for some other team to win in order to decide our playoff fate this year.

Of the games happening tonight, here is who I hope wins...

Caps over Sabres
Flames over Canes
Leafs over Thrashers (duh)

Go Leafs Go!

Game 17 vs Buffalo Leafs win 3-0

Toronto Maple Leafs at Buffalo Sabres
Toronto wins 3-0

Steve says:

Hey Buffalo...who's yer daddy?!!!

suh-weeeet game! I can't believe I am saying this but the Leafs played a near flawless defensive game!..and a lot of it had to do with McCabe...Holy frik! Even Raycroft played a great game. Nice save at very key times...something you cant usually say when describing Raycrofts play.

Maybe Tucker and McCabe saw something from up in the press box for the last little while and passed it on to the rest of the guys....oh wait ...I know what it is...

They probably said "Hey Leafs...play some frikking basic defense and we can win some games"

I loved how the 3rd checker on the forecheck stayed in the high slot all game long taking away the passing lanes, creating turnovers and...the thing I was most excited about...there were always... ALWAYS 2 defence back.

I dont care if the trap is boring hockey..

IMO, until we start piling up some wins...play that trap...

nice work...hope we can keep it up against the Rangers.

Game 7

Steve says:

Raycroft was great.
Gamache was great.
McCabe was McCabe.
So we lost.
We need to send him away...far far away...and bring up some hungry youth who actually want to help us win. McCabe (and the defensive play as a whole) was so terrible that it staggered my mind last night.
No goalie can face 40-45 shots every night and be expected to win. No Goalie could...not Luongo, not Gerber, not Brodeur...no one...
we need defence!
we need defence!
(continue repeating until blue in the face)

Chris says:

There was a time when I was pretty stoked to have B-Mc on our D corps. Of course, a lot of that positive karma was pre-lockout.

Back then McCabe had a hell of a slapshot from the blue line and was dumping forwards on their collective asses faster than you could say "pay raise". But then the lockout came along. Suddenly the only the thing the "can-opener" was good for was two minutes in the penalty box. And the once vaunted slap shot? Not as effective when the other team knows its coming and sets up their D accordingly.

It was enough to get McCabe 5 years, 29 million dollars and absolutely no-trades without his say so. If only the ink had time to dry before he started stinking up the joint. I guess its hard to care about hockey when you're fornicating in a big pile of cash every night.

Here's the bottom line. McCabe is our highest paid player and as such he either needs to play like it, get benched or be traded. And my money's on the trade. We need to take what we can get for this guy and run. Look, I knock around a couple of sports for fun and I've made more than my share of mistakes on the field. So I know that perfection just isn't possible. But in the NHL there is no excuse for shoveling the puck into your own net. At this level of play you will be judged for each and every mistake you make, fairly or not. He's either incomptenent or he just doesn't care anymore.

I suspect it's a bit of both.

For whatever reason, McCabe's early career promises have ripened into a smelly pile of rotten crap. Maybe he just can't take the pressure of playing hockey under the microscope of such a hockey mad town. Whatever the reason, I've run out of patience and out of excuses.

Bryan McCabe your time here is done.

well...that was painful...

Steve says:

Ok...well....they pretty much sucked all around last night...uhm...*searching for a good point to last night's game*


oh yeah...here's a good point...Ed Belfour lost 7-2 to the Ottawa Senators in the preseason the same year he owned them in the playoffs....so...hopefully this will be a serious kick in the ass for Toskala et al to wake the hell up and play some real hockey.

They were beaten by Derek Roy alone!

I just don't know...maybe these boys needed a good schooling like that. All the preseason games have been decided by one goal...so maybe they always went back to the dressing room thinking that they were actually in these games ...until someone came along who decided to really take it to them...and last night was the result.
But, that being said, it is pre-season, and perhaps they were trying new things...

unfortunately, losing is not new anymore...