Pogge

Chris says:

If the question is how do the Leafs win more games, Pogge is not the answer.

It's indicative of the just how much the Leafs are panicing that they would even think of calling Pogge up to potentially have him start a game. From what I've heard he's at least another year away from being a legitimate goalie.

By even calling him up it says the Leafs are hoping that their number four guy on the depth chart has enough mad skills in his pocket to make up for his complete lack of experience in the NHL. I don't know, maybe he does. I keep hearing the guy being touted as the Leafs next big thing, but I haven't seen him in action so I can't seperate the hope from the hype.

Rather than being a wake up call it comes off as a desperation move. It shows that the Leafs have abandoned smart hockey in favour of throwing any and everything at the wall and praying that something sticks.

The only way having Pogge as a starter makes any sense is if you officially call the season and want to try and groom him for a starters position next year. Even then you've still got three other guys ahead of him.

With the kind of games Raycroft has been posting no other team is going to take him off our hands. No other squad is desperate enough, or foolish enough, to think that Raycroft will be their saviour on the ice. He's shaping up to be a backup goaltender, if that. What happened to this guy? Where did that rookie sensation vanish too?

Clemmensen isn't a starter. He's good enough to hold Brodeur's skates, but he's not the guy you give the nod to on a nightly basis.

Toskala. I like him where he is. I'm absolutely not against the idea of having Pogge be the backup man to Toskala right now. It'll blood him, give him experience and the Leafs aren't going to lose anything by trying because at this point the season has gone way beyond just 'circling the drain' anyway.

You can't even pin last night's loss on him. He was good enough to nail the door shut for over forty minutes of play, on a pretty splashy showing by the Sharks no less. But how the hell is he supposed to do his job when the Leafs are taking stupid penalities and leaving the team at a two man disadvantage? On a team icing Thornton, Marleau and Cheechoo that's just a recipe for disaster.

Last night's game in a nutshell? The Leafs played good solid hockey for a period and a half last night, then they got tired, and sloppy and let the Sharks waltz back and steal it all away. If we'd finished the game with the same intensity in which we'd started it, and still lost, I'd say 'game well played' and some times the other team is just the better team.

But we lost because we gave up. Looks like the fans aren't the only ones who can see the writing on the wall

Steve says:


Bringing Pogge up is not a desperation move. We're beyond desperation now. This season is in the crapper and everyone knows it now...
But bringing Pogge up is a slap in the face of Raycroft. It's PM's way of saying "you little bastard...how dare you play that way on my team. You will now sit and watch as this kid takes your job!"
When they showed us Raycroft sitting and watching the game, it looked as though he was half asleep...even when we had the lead! That pissed me off.

Even Sundin is showing his frustration. A nice shove of the official at the end of the game was like an exclamation mark about the way he is feeling these days. I wonder if he saw the Scotty Bowman interview on CBC where Scotty basically said that MLSE (or more specifically, Richard Peddie) turned him down at the beginning of the season.
How many cups has this guy won? and on how many different teams in how many different situations....and Peddie turns him down why? because we are only 3 weeks away from training camp?

Holy F**************************************************************************************************************************K!

Game 35 - Leafs lose again...2-1

Game 35: Toronto Maple Leafs at Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Wins 2 -1

Steve says:


I didn't catch the game cuz I was out with my son playing hockey...trying to teach him the one-timer. I figured "this game is in the bag". We have been kicking TB's butt lately, and Toskala has been spectacular, we've lost a couple so we'll be hungry for a win again, AND TB has put in a backup rookie goalie from the AHL.


No way we could lose right?


well...wrong...and it is all the fault of 2 things...

1. why do we not have guys camped in front of the net waiting for Jason Blake's multiple rebounds?
2. composite sticks....when will players learn that the benefits of having a slightly lighter stick do not outweigh the negatives of broken sticks leading to turnovers, and in this case, a game winning goal for the other team...

At least my boy got better with the one-timer...I can't wait for his game on Sunday.

this rookie backup from the AHL just schooled our #1 line!

Chris says:

I'm back! Did you miss me?

Yah well, screw you too.

When I last posted on Hockey Talk the Leafs were slowly spinning towards playoff elimination as third period collapes and a porous defence had combined to sap the will of even the most diehard fan.

It's nice to see how some things never change.

There's precious little that's really positive to say about the Leafs these days. McCabe is gone for 6-8 weeks and, depending on how charitable you're feeling, that little development can be viewed in a lot of ways. My two cents? You can't trade him unless he's out on the ice daily and nightly and ever so rightly, proving his "worth".

But that's just sour grapes from a guy who's afraid his team is going to be on the outs once playoff season rolls around again.

A quick analysis. Our O is what it is. Most nights they're good enough to pot a least a couple goals in the other team's net. Out backstopper? Not quite top shelf, but definetly a cut above what we icing at the same time last year. Our D. Nonexistent.

They're older, slower and less skilled than our opponents. Without a significant upgrade on our blue line you might as well just stick a fork in us, we're done.

Game 34 - Leafs lose 3-2 in OT

Steve says:

W

T

F

?

Game 33 - Habs roll over Leafs...again

Steve says:

Wow...we looked awful out there...so many defensive breakdowns...on the Koivu goal, both our defencemen were standing still in the high slot! He just walked out from the corner and deked Toskala for an easy goal.

It was painful to watch after they have been playing so well.

Speaking of painful,...McCabe went down hard in the third with a broken hand (broken in 3 places!) so he'll be gone for about 6-8 weeks. That could be the difference on our defence and could be the difference in our season ....of course, this is McCabe...so maybe somehow this will actually turn out as a benefit for us...

From last night, 5 of the teams we needed to win did,(Yotes, Canes, Penguins, Wings, and Sens) but the most important of all those wins did not happen. That puts us back in 9th again. Points wise we are tioed with the Penguins, but they have a game in hand. We are 1 point out of 6th place...

So tonight we need a few things to happen:
Devils over the Flyers
Yotes over the Rangers
Blackhawks over the Panthers

That will keep everybody close and help us out with those games in hand...

and hopefully the boys can regroup around that loss in Montreal....

Game 30 - Boston wins 2-1

Steve says:

I went to this game since I was visiting friends in Toronto. Chris however wussed out after pulling an old-man stunt during his afternoon knitting session. No worries, I went anyway...and got a ticket for $50....all those people who think it is impossible to get Leafs tickets have probably never tried.

As for the game, it was pretty boring to watch...the trap Boston played pretty much killed the Leafs multiple attempts to carry across the blue...which is what was pissing me off...why could PM not see the 1-4 trap and tell the guys to go back to the dump and chase?

Also, any time White or Woz touched the puck, it usually ended up as a turnover...I mean there were some seriously bad passes out of our zone....

The Leaf goal was lucky by Blake...caught Auld daydreaming I think...the first Bruin goal was lucky..same thing..Toskala dreaming about something...the 2nd Bruin goal was a nice screen job and slapshot...

I think that, as boring as this game was, if the Leafs had decided to take more shots on goal, they could have pulled off a win...instead they tried to make the perfect pass...but it usually ended up on a Bruin stick...

I cant wait for the next game I go to at the ACC...I'll need to make sure Chris isn't at his bridge club meeting...

Game 20

Boston Bruins @ Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston wins 5 - 2

Chris:

"Gee Chris. Why aren't you writing about the recent loss of the Leafs?"

"Well, Phantom Reader" I'm not writing about the Leafs because I have absolutely nothing to say that I haven't already mentioned in the last 19 some odd posts."

"Oh?"

"Allow me to break it down for you. Raycroft was in net (cue furious head nodding). The defence was at its best, which is to say it had more holes in it than a colander and frankly the whole team was skating around the ice like a bunch of multi-millionares who were just there to earn there paycheques. So good on you Toronto. You've managed to live up the expectations of all your fans. Which isn't saying much these days."

Game 18

New York Rangers at Toronto Maple Leafs
Rangers win 3-2 (s.o.)

Steve says:

Leafs lost a close one...in a shootout...
I have never been a fan of the shootout...I know it adds tension and excitement, but the problem I have with it is that it takes away the "team" aspect of the sport.
All through minor hockey we preach "team team team" but then in the NHL, we say Team, until it comes to winning the game.
I dun..old fashioned? maybe...

Anyway, I am impressed that we came back from being down 2 @ home to tie it up...it showed good disciplined play on the part of the Leafs (except Tucker who fell for Avery's little game within the game).

Toskala played well..too bad about the loss...his record does not do his performance justice.

Chris:

A mixed bag of tidings in this game. I'm loving that Toskala is the go-to guy in net now. He's far from perfect but he's got a quick little glove hand that's tough to beat.

More than once in this game Toskala kept the Leafs in it, especially in the third period and OT when the Leafs were taking penalties at extremely inoppurtune moments. Although a shout out is definetly in order for the PK unit. There were a couple of set up passes that skittered arcross the front of the crease, but overall they did a great job, challenging the puckhandler and willing to lay their bodies on the line to stop the shot.

Something that I'm noticing more and more about the Leaf's game is their stick work in the neutral zone. Top notch boys. They're making sharp, crisp passes in the neutral zone and really doing a fantastic job of carrying the puck up the ice. This is head and shoulders above last year's dump and chase mentality. Dump and chase can work, but to often you're just throwing the puck away.

A loss, but a loss with potential.

Game 16

Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators
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.

Game 14

Toronto Maple Leafs at New Jersey Devils
New Jersey wins 3 - 2

Steve says:

ok.. a little late so the sting of the loss has worn of (such is the life of a Leaf fan)...i do recall not being happy with the number of penalties we took...but still liking what I saw from Toskala...

Game 13

Washington at Toronto
Final Score: Washington wins 7 - 1

Ovechkin goes for a skate in Toronto
Steve says:

Holy hell! what is with this team and falling to shite at home?

I cant believe that Washington chased Toskala from the net!

That defense was painful to watch...again we followed the puck like it was a magnet and left the high slot open...

Our guys forgot who they should be covering...often that guy left open was Ovechkin! Who the hell leaves Ovechkin open?

Get it together boys..we know you can't win all of the games...but you should have won last nights game...
damn!
ps. I am 1 week away from the Sens/Leafs game in Ottawa that I have tickets for!

Chris says:

Seriously. Stop it.

Just stop it. Do the Leafs have a multiple personality this year or what? Or maybe the faint praise from Leaf Nation after two wins in a row combined to give them a false sense of security.

What a crap game.

On one hand I'm glad, because I have Ovechkin in my hockey pool and I pulled down a couple good points last night.

But mostly I'm disgusted. The Leafs are going to lose games like any other hockey team. But what the hell is the story with all these blowouts? Did they learn nothing from the lessons of the last two games? Was it some sort of elaborate tease?

Come one guys, get it together. You've got some of the most generous fans in the world and they'll forgive a lot. But one thing they won't let you get away with is playing hockey without a decent grasp of it's basical fundamentals.

Do better.

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.

Game 9

Steve says:

Ouch...
:-(

Chris says:

WTF was that? Ever been so mad at what's happening during a game that you've chucked a remote control at the television? My only consolation is that Raycroft wouldn't have been able to stop that either.

So. Another meltdown for the Leafs. The first two periods were great. Strong, consistent performances from the all the Leafs. We brought it right to the front door of the Chicago Blackhawks and the results were on the board. Up 3-1 by the top of the third.

But even as early as five minutes remaining at the bottom of the second the Leafs were showing signs of self destruction. It was a seemingly endless string of penalites that started it all.

Hooking, tripping, delay of game, apparently we were trying to run the entire gamut of the NHL penalty book. After starting the third with two men down it looked as if we were going to escape the glut of penalities unscathed.

Well, in the end, that wasn't the case. Andrei Zyuzin snapped a goal past Raycroft at 1:04 in the third period and the Leafs were done. Their mental focus was shot to hell and the Blackhawks proceeded to run up the score on them. In the end all the Leafs were able to do was score one more goal.

If they aren't hanging their heads in shame today they should be. But in all likelihood, would you hang your head in shame when you've got millions of dollars to make the pesky pain go away? I thought not.

It's one thing to loose a tightly fought match, but it's quite another to lose a game that you so neatly had in your hands.

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.

Game 6

Chris Says:

Sid the Kid broke his personal scoring draught, by scoring a pair of goals on us, please pardon my surprised face, which make all the difference when the score ends up being 6 – 4.

An aside, will Sidney Crosby get saddled with this nickname for the rest of his life? Or will he grow out of it? A note to Sidney, “The Great One” has been taken.

Again our Defense was porous at best and it seems like there’s not going to be much hope for these 07-08 Leafs if they can’t stop the other team from scoring. Even the greatest goaltender in the world is only as good as his defenders. What do you think we could get for McCabe right now? A six pack and a half off coupon at McDonald’s? Right now, if it were me, I’d settle for just dropping his salary.

Next up Buffalo, and if you've been following that team's games lately you'll see that we're in for a rough one.

Steve says:
Mcabe is killing us. It's as simple as that. With his defensive issues leading the way, our goaltenders are getting killed out there. It's too bad because Toskala and Raycroft are both actually playing really well...but have nothing to show for it.

Game 4

Chris says:

A brief analysis of last night’s 7 - 1 loss against the Hurricanes.

“Oh hey Chris, what are you doing?”

“Punching myself in the gut repeatedly.”

“Why?”

“Because it hurts less than watching the Leafs play”

If you happened to miss last night’s work shop on how to score goals, you didn’t miss much. In fact, you didn’t miss anything at all. Actually, I stand corrected, Sundin did tie Sittler for career points at 916. Not like that makes up for the whole sordid affair. It's time to sit back and let the excuses fly.

Steve says:
OUCH! Poor Vesa. He must be wondering "what the hell am I doing here?". I remember a Habs game where they were playing so poorly that Patrick Roy took the puck from behind his net and stick handled all the way out past 3 players to past the red line as his way of telling his team, "look, if I can do it, with all these pads and nobody to pass to, why cant you guys?"
He got a penalty because there is some rule that says Goalies cant go beyond the centre ice (stupid rule btw), but it woke the Habs up.
Maybe Vesa needs to do something like that.
Anyways, I really don't blame Vesa for last night. Yes it is bad when a goalie lets in 7 goals, but in his defence, here is a quick rundown of the goals:
Goal #1 - this one is partially Vesa's fault, he went down to early (as he appears to do regularly) but also, Justin Williams is allowed to walk in form the half boards and get a clear shot...that should never happen...but it does all the time, cuz our D guys are afraid to hit.
Goal #2 - again, no help by the D to clear a rebound
Goal #3 - Toronto D is killing a penalty,...poorly
Goal #4 - if you watch the replay, Boyd Devereaux actually watches the Carolina player skate past and into the zone with the puck before snapping out of his daydream to try and chase him down, but by then it is too late and the puck is in the back of the net. Would have been nice for Vesa to stop this one.
Goal #5 - another bad PK
Goal #6 - another bad PK (starting to sense a theme here...penalties = goals against)
Goal #7 - this one hurt the most IMO. Kilger simply watches as Staal skates in, goes past him, drives to the net and stuffs it not once, not twice, but 3 times on the short side. Kilger doesn't touch Staal once! NOT ONCE!
It's called defence you lazy bastards! hit them as they come into your zone! They cant shoot or pass when they are flat on their ass!
Last night Vesa stood on his head trying to give us a chance, but when my 11 year old sons team plays better D that the Leafs, what chance did they have?
None.
better pick up your socks boys or nights like that will happen again and again.
ps. Did you see McCabe trip over his own net, under no pressure by Carolina...man,...that guy is starting to really suck lately...oh...and hey Steen...try opening your eyes when searching for the puck...!

Game 2

Steve says:

First, the good stuff.

SUNDIN TIES SITTLER!!!

Ok, on with the rest...

Steve's Report Card
Game 2

Offense - C

Defence - D

Goaltending - B

Overall, it was more of the same. More Penalties. More Defensive breakdowns.
I didn't think that Blake-Sundin-Antro really gelled too well last night. But Toskala was really good. It was nice to see our goalie making a few great stops at key times to keep us in the game. It must be frustrating for him to make all those stops and then still lose because of the 10 penalties we took against one of the most offensive teams in the league. On top of that, we totally failed to make anything of the chance we got on the powerplay (I don't think we can call ours, a "power"play). At one point we had an extra man for 4 minutes. and what happened? Nothing, barely even a scoring chance.

I do have a bone to pick with the reffing in the league however. This is not because of the penalties. Don't worry I'm not some guy who whines when his team loses that the refs were paid or anything stupid like that. No, this is because of inconsistency from one game to the next depending on which ref you get. The Blake goal which was disallowed due to Goaltender interference was a correct call. As much as I didn't like it, it was the correct call to make (although my Leafer side says that I am sure Blake did everything he could to get out of the way). My issue with it is the fact that 20 minutes later in a different game, Phoenix scored a goal and they had players literally sitting on the Blues goalie. How does that goal count but the Blake one not?

vs

Inconsistency from ref to ref has plagued this game for decades. There needs to be a standard set and met each and every night from every ref so that the players know each night what they can and can not do.

Go Leafs...take this same game (minus the penalties) to Montreal (1-0-0, 6th overall) and kick their asses!

Game 1

Steve's Report Card
Game 1
Offense - B
Defence - D
Goaltending - C

I felt that our Sundin-Blake-Antro line was fantastic, especially when you consider that it was only their 3rd time playing together as a line. Good things to come from them. Lines 2 and 3 were average, generating some chance. Line 4 was ineffective. Not as much hitting as I would have expected.

Defensively I thought it was a sideshow. I was screaming at my TV for our D to hit guys like Heatly, and Alfredsson. They really only showed up for the 2nd half of the 2nd period. Much improvement to be made, but I think Paul Maurice can do it.

Goaltending, Raycroft was basically the same as last year. Andrew made some good saves (like stopping Alfredsson on the breakaway, atta boy Andrew), but also let in some weak ones, which is pretty much the same story as last season. This is a game where, if he had made a couple of key saves, I would now be praising his off season training or something like that. But it looks like he took off his skates, went south, got married, came back and put his skates back on.
Hopefully Toskala is no longer suffering from media-itis.

Final comments - Overall I am happy with the Leafs performance. When playing the supposed 2nd best team in the NHL, the buds looked pretty damn good.

Go Leafs Go.

Chris says:

Steve already kinda said it all didn't he.

Blake-Sundin-Antropov? That's a line I can see good things from. Even if that one goal did go off the skate, our boys were in place and the timing is right. We can only get better there.

Defence. I'm sorry, I didn't see any defence. I DID see a lot of scoring on Raycroft. But that's nothing new. None of it looked like Defence however.

So. We solider on. But we'll get an opp to match up against them soon enough. Hopefully this time the outher come will be a little more in our favour.

Leafs Nation is just a bit worried

Steve says:

so...here are my notes for the last game against Detroit

first of all...we had the Marlies out there..so don't get all freaked...but I am a bit concerned because the errors that were made, were not made by the young uns so much as the team as a whole....

goal #1 - what the heck was Vesa thinking coming out of the net when there were 3 red players deep in the Toronto zone?

goal #2 - Vesa makes a good save but lets out a big rebound which Ian White does nothing with in terms of defending and Detroit puts it in...I dont blame Vesa for that one...Ian White was just standing there

goal #3 - another rebound, another non play by the Leaf D man. White and Coli are both to blame...they were killing a penalty, but it was weak PK indeed

goal #4 - i cant believe Vesa lets that in...routine shot should have been a routine save.

Battaglia looked really good out there...had a lot of presence which is missing from the blue and white...

Chris says:

I had to fight the urge to pick up a pair scalped tickets to this event. S and I were meeting friends at a Jays game and we had to walk by a looooong line of scalpers just to get there. So unfortunately I won’t be able to offer up a first hand POV to this game. However, a buddy of mine wasn’t above flaunting his seats to me over drinks the night before.

When I quizzed him about the game after the fact he wasn’t able to give me the details of who scored and who was in net. BUT, he did remember that they asked fans to stay behind after the fact to be extras in the new upcoming Mike Myers’ film being shot here in Toronto, Love Guru. He’s Australian so he can be forgiven for his faulty hockey memory. As an aside, I got a sneak peek at the Love Guru script, it’s going to be hilarious and a nice shot in the arm for Leaf fans.

Here’s all you need to know about the game.

Detroit 4. Toronto 0.

And Toskala was puckstopping, in theory anyway. I forget, how much are we paying to have two goaltenders who can’t keep the puck out of the back of the net?

Postscript: Downie got a twenty game suspension, when and if he makes it to the big leagues. Not long enough IMO.