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!

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.

Jackass Alert

I don’t care how young you are, how badly you want to make the cut or that you got dumped to the ice yourself mere moments ago Steve Downie’s hit on Dean McAmmond was absolutely disgusting.

I disagree with those who say fighting and hitting have no place in hockey. In my opinion, they do. At the very least, they’re a part of the game and to remove them would make that game less enjoyable for me.

But there’s a rule. An unwritten rule. And that rule says dirty hits are not allowed.

Downie left his feet to hit McAmmond. He leapt at him with the intention of hurting McAmmond and making a bit of a splash for himself in doing so. About the only thing I’ll give Downie is that he probably didn’t mean to hurt McAmmond as badly as he did and in his post game interview he seemed genuinely repentant.

Doesn’t cut it.

Actions speak louder than words. As far as I’m concerned they can turf this little Bertuzzi wanna-be out of the League for the rest of his life. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

Steve says:

Steve Downie as a Canadian Hero....remember?

Normally Chris and I agree on stuff like this, but this time I gotta say that I am not 100% on board..
Was it a dirty hit ....yes

Did he leave his feet...yes

Was it a bonehead move and should he be suspended...yes, of course

BUT

Was MacAmmond wearing a mouth guard and did he have his chinstrap done up properly which would have probably kept his helmet in the prop position to protect him from injury (CSA approved remember)...

NO!


Hockey is a tough game. There are hits on every shift of every period of every game. People are bound to get injured...it's a simple fact of numbers...


The gear is there to protect you choose to take the "cool look" over the "safety" then you are putting yourself at risk.


I agree that the hit was dirty and done with rage, but I don't believe there was intent to injure...intent to put a Senator on his ass? YES of course, but to injure...I don't buy it.


We were all cheering this guy last year when he was leveling Russians as part of Team Canada. If a Russian player had been injured, people would probably start spouting about how they cant handle the physical aspect Canadians bring or blah blah blah.

Look at both sides of the incident.
I think he should get 10 games and the Flyers should be penalized as well...Once the NHL starts holding teams accountable for thugs, you will start to see less of them. It's only because the owners don't lose out in anyway that guys like this are still around.

Chris says:

He left his feet with intent to hurt McAmmond. How much he intended to hurt McAmmond is irrelevant.

There's a check and then there's thinking you're Superman and that you can fly.