Don't look now but the Leafs are looking like a real hockey team. Which only means that Washington will probably blitz the Leafs tonight.

At least I was ready for it. In honour of the Leafs' performance last night I'll be putting forth a similar effort in my recap. Clearly there was no player of the game for the Leafs. It was a happy day at The Red Star and the Grope and Flail (reading the comments on stories gives you hilarious insight into the minds of National Post readers. Just move to Texas already):

They went out against the Washington Capitals last night with the rather obvious shared sense that this was going to be an easier night than the two previous road games in Pittsburgh and New York. The body language and effort level of the Leafs suggested that the Caps were merely the lowly Caps while they, by virtue of their long waiting list for tickets, 22 per cent return on investment, high definition, Pravda-like TV network and majestic brand recognition, were clearly the superior entity and thus deserved the two points on the line.

There was plenty to cheer at the Air Canada Centre last night: a scoreboard image of Ed Belfour, harkening back to better times and consistent goaltending; a funny clip from the movie Slap Shot reminding that players "feel shame" in the penalty box; and, of course, each announcement that there was only one minute remaining in the period.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs' general manager emerged from the press box, moments after his team's humiliating 7-1 defeat to the Washington Capitals, the fans who remained for the entire game verbally pounced on Ferguson before he reached the elevator.

"You suck," one disgruntled fanatic said.

"Nice job, Ferguson," another facetiously said.

The Other End of the Rink

What a nice deflection by Andy Wozniewski on AO's second goal. Hey, someone had to step up in Bryan McCabe's absence.

Alright, being the ultimate optimist I did a little research on how often these types of blowouts have occurred since the lockout (that is basically year zero for me now) and found that the Leafs had lost by 5 goals or more 11 times in that time period. I chose that as the barrier because 5 goals is a beating while 4 is just being overmatched plus I noticed that the Leafs have lost by 4 quite a bit.

However, in the games following those beatings the Leafs are, wait for it because it defies logic, 9-1-1. So buck up Leafs fans because they are going to beat the Devils on Friday if only because it's on the road.