The Leafs host a Thrashers team that is light one dirty coach and short of confidence. Of course, that means that they will probably win tonight since the Leafs love playing down to their opposition. They are the only thing between the Leafs and the bottom of the barrel in terms of goals against.
While the Leafs as a rule love to lose games that they should win they are also 3-0 in 'must-win' games so far this season. Good thing too because Ian White says that tonight is another one of those. He also runs his mouth in the way that no number 5/6 defenceman that cannot play defence should.
Although, he might not be the 5th/6th defenceman for much longer. Anton Stralman is in the lineup! Now if life is fair White won't sit since he has been much better than last year (not saying too much). It is much more likely that Andy Wozniewski will find himself learning that defencemen on the bubble cannot take stupid penalties with regularity, look lost in their own end, and contribute next to nothing offensively unless you are making over $7M this year.
There is talk of a 7 man defence tonight but that's patently ridiculous. These guys can barely play defence with set pairings. How will chopping and changing those pairings help when the Leafs' main problem is that their defence play as if they just met each other?
Boyd Devereaux is also returning to the lineup and he'll be replacing Tucker who is injured and apparently has been injured since training camp. Three cheers for the medical staff!
As per your votes, Mats Sundin's 2 goal performance was enough to win the player of the game.I'll keep a running tally of the results in the right sidebar. Also, in the pre-game comments, I want to get a prediction game going so put in your guesses for who will score take the first shot, get the first penalty, and score the first goal. I'll keep a running tally of the results in the right sidebar. Last game's winners were: Shot - Kilger, Penalty - Pohl, and Goal - Sundin.
As always, your thoughts throughout the game are much appreciated in the comments. Each period and overtime/shootout gets their own section so just reply to the relevant section's main post. You need to set up an account to comment so register and share your thoughts.
