The Leafs play the Hurricanes for the last time this season. The Canes have actually played a pretty significant part in the Leafs' season thus far. In the first matchup of the year they ruined my visit with a 7-1 shellacking of the buds. It highlighted many of the flaws with the team specifically Darcy's injured knee and Make-A-Wish's awfulness.
The second matchup was the infamous Poni Braincramp game. This one came after a loss in Montreal which ended a strong 6-2-1 run that looked to have positioned the Leafs well for a push for the playoffs. It looked like it was going to be a strong bounceback game before Poni decided to try to walk the puck into the Canes empty net. From the jaws of a potentially uplifting win the Leafs managed to snatch a defeat that became part of a 1-4-2 before a win over the Lightning stopped the bleeding.
Of course, that win was the last before a five game winning streak put the final nail in the Leafs coffin. Who did the Leafs end that run of failure against? Of course. So this year the Hurricanes have provided the exact opposite result that the Leafs have needed. We can only hope that this trend reverses itself. Sundin's not getting traded if the Leafs are within spitting distance of the playoffs.
Remember to put your SPG Guesses in for tonight's game. There are prizes for the best and worst final tallies. Also, try to guess at which of the Leafs many failings will be most responsible for their loss tonight. My guess is that their inability to lift sticks will cost them the game.
