There are a bunch of pretty simple explanations for why the Leafs got smoked tonight. To start off the Boston Bruins have a more talented group of players than the Leafs do. Tuukka Rask took a shutout into the third but didn't have a lot of work because Boston (especially Zdeno Chara) did an excellent job keeping Toronto to the perimeter of the ice and clogging up the neutral zone.
Toronto's played two games since they last met Boston, Boston stayed at home and rested. They had four days off while Toronto's played a game every other day since leaving Boston and having to come back. That's not going to get better any time soon, the Leafs play a ton of back to backs and play pretty much every other day until the Olympic break. They'll head home to play the Capitals on Saturday before playing Ottawa Monday, Phoenix Wednesday and heading to Buffalo on Friday before going back to the ACC to play Boston again in nine days.
I actually stopped writing this because Grabovski and Kulemin broke through and scored a pair to make it 3-2, but Jason Blake took his third high sticking penalty of the game, this time on Zdeno Chara, to torpedo the Leafs' effort late in the third.
Phil Kessel wasn't hugely effective; chalk it up to a Bruins team that knows not only his tendencies but also seems to be the only team that understands that he doesn't like to be hit and there's no one else on the Leafs worth covering. He hasn't scored in four games now, he needs to snap out of this before it turns into a funk. I have confidence in him, it's been a rough week.
This game was painfully boring to watch as a Leafs fan, but as Archimedies said all night if the Leafs played this style and won none of us would say a word so don't cry about it. If the Leafs were a better team they'd break through the trap and generate chances.If JFJ hadn't traded Rask and two first rounders for fringe NHLers in Toskala (who wasn't the problem tonight but didn't do anything to make me think he's competent either) and Raycroft we wouldn't be adrift praying for wins but here we are.
On the bright side Toronto's 6-3-1 in their last ten though and that's not terrible at all. The busy schedule might work in Toronto's favor if they can rattle off a few quick wins before facing Boston again. The good news is there are four games left to play against the Bruins and three of them are in Toronto. We'll have our revenge eventually.
