Tonight is game 1 of the West Coast Waffle week and it will be a lesson in hockey dichotomy. Up front, both teams are extremely young. Hall, Paajarvi, Eberle, Omark, Gagner, Cogliano for the Oilers; Kessel, Kadri, Kulemin, Bozak, Versteeg for the Leafs. None with more than 3 full seasons under their belts. In goal, it's a different story as J.S. Giguere and Nikolai Khabibulin will be the oldest players on the ice for their respective teams. And boy are they ever showing their age:
Those are some atrocious stat lines for two old guard goalies. Though the last time these two teams played, the Bulin Wall had a 33 save shutout enroute to a 5-0 Oilers win. It's time for the Buds to even the season series and continue their winning ways. A win tonight, and the Leafs catapult into a tie for 10th place in the conference. A loss and they help Edmonton widen the gap between teams in and out of the draft lottery.
Let's win one for Giggy. GO LEAFS GO!
Update:
From Jonas Siegel on Twitter, Keith Aulie and Jay Rosehill are a scratch tonight meaning fan favorites Brett Lebda and John Mitchell will be on the ice. Lebda has played an average of 15:00 in the 14 games he's suited up for this season and has yet to be on the ice for a Leafs goal. That's means that the Leafs are playing with a natural handicap for 1/4 of the game tonight. So if you see Lebda on the ice, feel free to get up and use the restroom or get another beer as it's all but guaranteed that nothing good for the Leafs can come from him being on the ice.
