My buddy wants me to go to Montreal to see the Leafs and listen to that ridiculous chant in February. We went last year and watched the Leafs lose 5-1 while McCabe broke his hand on a typically underpunished Habs hit. Last night's game, coupled with the 8-2 drubbing makes me question whether that trip is a good idea.
C
urtis Joseph fell to his knees in the blue ice, and the sniper must have thought he'd been transported to some minor-league barn where the netminders aren't quite ready for the big time.
Hey look who's back to writing articles about hockey that would be better served as bird-cage liners! Actually, I agree with the premise but man is it mean.
Maybe bringing in Cujo and shipping out the promising Scott Clemmensen to New Jersey, where Clemmensen has done fine work standing in for Martin Brodeur, was a so-dumb-it's-smart tentacle of Operation Tank for Tavares. Whatever, if they actually are trying to make the playoffs around here – and we assume Brian Burke got the memo that the pension-plan kingpins are counting on the revenue – Joseph's hurting the cause even when he doesn't playOh yeah, it's stupid too. What planet does Feschuk live on where he doesn't realize that MLSE is not counting on playoff revenue this year? Who gives an assignment to a reporter that can't be bothered to do even the most cursory of research? The Star printed a nice letter about how it would strive to improve itself and we assume Dave Feschuk got the memo. Apparently, he decided to ignore it.
The Leafs last night were a lot like leftover champagne from a New Year's Eve bash the night before: Flat and uninteresting.
They fell 4-1 to the Buffalo Sabres on home ice and afterwards, head coach Ron Wilson said about the only thing he could do to prevent such a dull effort was to "fight the other coach."
Mark Zwolinski, The Toronto Star
That would make the price of a ticket palatable.
Special Teams
Special teams are something we have talked about as a key all season. As of late the Sabres penalty kill has been faltering and the power play has been less than spectacular. Tonight they scored two power play goals and killed off all five Leaf power plays. The Leafs were able to get some chances on the power play but they were kept mostly to the outside. When they did get a good chance, Miller was there to make the save. Miller has been key to the penalty killing all season and his team seems to feed off him.
I have nothing to say here other than to note that the Leafs' powerplay needs to pick it's spots better. A goal with the score 0-0 tends to help a little bit.
When Lindy Ruff called out his forwards after Tuesday's dismal 4-2 loss to Washington, the main point was that his grinders seemed to be his most interested players.
No offense to them but the Sabres don't go very far if they're the best the team has to offer. The stars better lead the way, and they did exactly that during Thursday's 4-1 win over the punchless Toronto Maple Leafs in Air Canada Centre.
And there's the difference. The Flying Sabres had their diving superstars ready to play while the Leafs' kept wondering what team they might be joining in the next two months.