Detroit 2 - Toronto 1

I was going to break this down period by period, but, wow was this game the epitome of "it's only the preseason".

It wasn't the easiest game to care about. There’s a distinct possibility some of these guys will be cut before tomorrow's game. Without any of the high-end regular players on the ice to compare to, I didn't have the option of picking a few hopefuls to focus on for the whole game and tell you how they looked in comparison to the "real" players.

From the get-go this group demonstrated why Babcock characterized tonight's lineup as "Marlies". The effort is there, and to my untrained eye some understanding of the systems is there, but the ability to actually do things like consistently complete passes just isn't. The vets of the group (especially Polak) were demonstrably slower than both the Detroit farm team on the ice and their own younger players. Babs criticized last night's players as skilled but needing to learn to compete - tonight I definitely saw the compete, but a whole lot less of the skill.

One worrying example - or it would be if I thought this team was actually the team starting the season in the NHL - came about a quarter of the way through the second period. When systems are working well and everyone's in sync, all five players should be on the TV screen at once, or at least for most of the time. There was a noticeable period where there were only two Leafs on the screen were Lindberg and Clune. They were in the Detroit zone, they should have had backup.

Before I comment on individual Leafs players - there was a scary moment in the second when Red Wing Ben Street took a skate to what looked like the neck or the ear and rushed off the ice. Hope he's okay

Standouts

Jhonas Enroth saw the puck a lot but  made a number of good saves. He seems more inclined to redirect the puck somewhere low-danger than to stop the play, and his puck-handling doesn't make me as nervous as any of the other Leafs goalies. Gave the impression of a good, clean goalie. The second Detroit goal came off one of the few rebounds that didn't get very far off of his pads and left him way out of position but it was a rarity.

Brendan Leipsic - the goal scorer. Was in the right place at the right time, and showed off some wicked reflexes to get a shot off almost the moment he got the puck. In both the second and the third I noticed him most at the beginning of the period. Got some good opportunities and quite speedy up the middle. Also ended up in the penalty box for a high stick about middle of the third.

Colin Smith caught my eye shortly after the first Red Wings goal when he reached out and helped his goalie out to avoid a goal. He was in on quite a few puck battles. Went off for a while in the first after getting high sticked behind the play, but was back on the ice in time to assist on the Leipsic goal.

Kerby Rychel had a good moment in the second, banking one off the post that nearly went in to tie the game - Howard had to scramble to put a glove on it.

Peter Holland got a chance to play centre tonight. He was on the starting line with Kapanen and Greening. He stood out a lot in the first, aggressive, trying to create opportunities, carrying the puck. I also noticed him a fair bit when he started whaling on Russo after a play late in the first that saw Russo called for interference and landed Holland in the box for an extra two for roughing. After that, I actually commented in the third that I wasn't sure he'd been on the ice since. Cue the following tweet:

He also promptly drew a hooking penalty, demonstrating that these recaps are all written by a biased narrator who cannot see everything at once.

I noticed Frankie Corrado a lot tonight, both with some offensive opportunities and defensively sticking close to his assignment and forcing players out wide. One of his more egregious mistakes was a penalty for crosschecking in the second.

Roman Polak should not be on this team. I know the rhetoric is about how he's a good example because he works hard and buys into the system. But "work hard and you'll still be too slow to keep up with AHLers" is really a bad message to send. If you want to emphasize the benefits of working hard surely you should be able to point to actual benefits beyond "getting ice time above people who are better at hockey".

Babcock was quoted as saying tonight was an opportunity for some of these players to change his mind. I didn't really see anyone who grabbed that opportunity and ran with it.

Next game is tomorrow night against the Red Wings again, this time in Detroit with a much more "Leafs" lineup.  Let's hope the outcome is different too.

Maple Leafs Prospects