Leafs Can’t Get The Job Done In Buffalo – Are We Surprised?

Well, the Leafs chose to add to their ridiculously long streak of futility in Buffalo as they were downed by a score of 5 – 3 in Thursday’s game. The game itself was fairly exciting with a fast paced, high intensity, in-your-face feeling to it. There was back and forth action amidst the screaming of over 18 000 crazed fans, predominantly Leaf supporters. However, if you enjoy watching a technically executed, defensively well-played game, you would have had trouble finding any of that in tonight’s game.

At least six of the eight combined goals scored were the result of brutal defensive breakdowns or simple execution problems. The four goals the Leafs allowed, excluding the empty-netter, were chances the Sabres should not even have been presented with had the defense executed properly. On the first goal, Kaberle was far too soft on his man in the corner. He allowed him to get the puck behind the net and fire a pass to Zhitnik who crept in off the point just behind the Leafs infront of the goal who had their backs turned to the play in the slot. The second and third goals were the results of the defensemen’s inability to handle the puck infront of the goal. Inevitably, it would be turned over for a chance right in the slot. The fourth goal looked as though Belfour had it smothered but Satan was able to poke in the obviously uncovered puck. He should not have even had this opportunity as he should have been trying to pick himself up off the ground after being knocked down.

The power play was again, an awful attempt at what is supposed to be time where your team has an advantage. The Leafs had the man advantage for the remaining 3:51 of the game. During this power play, they were unable to manufacture one decent scoring opportunity. For the final minute with a two man advantage after pulling Belfour, they could not even gain the red line before it was iced by the Sabres. If anything has to improve, this is, by far, the most important priority. To put it nicely, the power play has been anemic all season long. If the defense is going to be questionable as it was tonight, the power play must cash in on these opportunities to give the Leafs a chance to win hockey games.

The Maple Leafs will take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday at Air Canada Centre in what promises to be an extremely physical game that will leave you tremendously irritated with several players on that team.

Antropov’s Bad Luck Strikes Again

It seems like as soon as Nik Antropov gets his career turned around and back on track from his last injury, within a month or two, another serious injury befalls him. After recovering from reconstructive surgery to both knees two seasons ago and a number of smaller injuries last year, Antropov was finally beginning to find his spot on the Toronto Maple Leafs while developing into an excellent, top 6 forward. He was off to a good start this year with three goals, and physically, he was finally beginning to use his size to his advantage.

On Monday night against Atlanta, another serious injury would befall Nik Antropov. At some point, early in the game, Antropov’s shoulder was separated on a fairly innocent looking play which saw him stumble and fall with his shoulder forward into the boards.

Prognosis by the team doctors says that he will miss a month at the minimum and, quite possibly, a lot longer should the shoulder require surgery. For Antropov, this will be yet another serious injury to overcome. The only good news is that Antropov, after two serious knee injuries, seems to heel quite well as he has not had any recurring problems after the surgeries to his knees.

His injury will also, not allow for Coach Pat Quinn to stay with any constant lines. He will have to juggle some players around to fill Antropov’s empty spot on the top line. Speculation says that Owen Nolan will be brought up to the first line with Sundin and Mogilny but who will take his spot is still undetermined. Renberg is still trying to recover from his rib injury sustained early in the season. Once he is ready, he could take Antropov’s spot on the top line. Until he is ready, this may allow Nathan Perrott to return to the lineup.

It will be important for the Leafs to come out with a strong effort against Buffalo on Thursday to prevent the crushing loss against Atlanta from starting a losing skid. This could be difficult as Buffalo seems to have improved from last year, not to mention the fact that the Leafs always seem to struggle in Buffalo.

Leafs Can’t Close The Deal As Thrashers Battle Back Late In Third

For about 52 minutes during the Leafs contest with the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday night, it looked as though the team in blue was in complete control. The Leafs played very well through the first two periods and into the third both defensively and offensively; however, at the 11:57 mark of the third period, the Leafs found a way to literally implode in less than 30 seconds.

The Maple Leafs were, once again, on pace to hold their opponents to under 20 shots. It also looked as though Ed Belfour was well on his way to adding another shutout to his leading total among active netminders. Mark Savard had other ideas as his play all night long was strong and would eventually spark the Atlanta Thrashers comeback. With about 8:00 to play in the third period, after a long time was spent by the Thrashers in the Leafs zone controlling the puck, Savard peeled out into the slot and drilled a good shot over the shoulder of Ed Belfour. Within 22 seconds, the Thrashers had tied the game. Joe Nieuwendyk was unable to tie up his man on a wrap around attempt allowing him to come out in front to jam in the second chance.

Late in the game, undisciplined penalties were, once again, the route to defeat the Leafs chose to take. With under a minute left, Belfour took a roughing penalty putting the Leafs down two men. While this penalty did not come back to haunt them, another undisciplined hooking penalty taken by Mats Sundin in overtime canceling the Leafs power play for the remaining portion of the game would. This brought the total amount of players on each side down to three, something which is rarely seen and obviously, something teams do not practice on a regular basis. It was during this situation that Marc Savard would score his second goal of the game sealing a very impressive comeback by the inspiring Atlanta Thrashers.

From a Leafs perspective, they have nobody to blame but themselves for this implosion late in the game. The undisciplined penalties must stop and all twenty players must put forth a solid effort for 60 minutes. The line of Fitzgerald, Roberts and Nieuwendyk was probably the Leafs best line scoring both goals and creating a number of other chances. Perhaps most alarmingly was the injury that befell Nik Antropov. It has been reported that he has a shoulder separation; however, the severity has not yet been determined. Initial prognosis is that he could miss anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks which, for the development of coherency on the Leafs top line, is not good.

Congratulations to the Florida Marlins, the 2003 World Series Champions

Offense Keeps On Rolling

For the second game in a row, the Leafs offense looked as though it might be falling into a groove. The remaining players who had not yet begun to produce, specifically Mats Sundin, got in on the goal scoring as well. Tonight’s game also marked the return of Alex Mogilny and Bryan McCabe to the lineup. Both players made a positive impact on the game: Mogilny recorded two assists and McCabe scored a goal and recorded an assist on Reichel’s empty net goal.

Mogilny, who quite obviously does not look as though he has missed a beat during his five game absence, once again displayed his tremendous talents for patiently handling the puck until a teammate becomes available. On both goals he registered assists on, Mogilny made remarkable passes to open teammates charging to the net looking for the puck. On McCabe’s goal, Mogilny recovered the puck in the corner and navigated his way out to the blueline where he put a backhand saucer pass right on the tape of McCabe’s stick who was wide open on the opposite side of the rink beside the net. McCabe had no trouble tapping in the puck to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead. On Sundin’s first goal of the season, Mogilny, from the centre of the rink, put a pass right on the stick of Sundin who was flying to the net. Sundin was able to squeeze it in the short side on Kolzig.

Mogilny and Sundin were paired together on the same line tonight with Antropov of the left side in hopes of getting Sundin going. Both players scored two points on the night proving coach Pat Quinn’s decision to be a good one. Hopefully Quinn will keep this line together because it seemed tonight that every time they were on the ice, the Leafs looked as though they were poised to score a goal.

McCabe also played very well in his return to the lineup following arthroscopic knee surgery on October 5th. He looked very strong and fit in very well on the blueline. With the addition of McCabe to the defense corps along with established veterans like Kaberle, Marchment and Klee, the Leafs defense corps should be one that is more than capable of getting the job done every night.

On Monday, the Leafs will take on the feel good story of the league this year in the form of the Atlanta Thrashers. After the profound tragedy, those people went through, one cannot help but to cheer for them. The game should be tight as all games the Thrashers have played in this year have been tight.

Maple Leaf Offense Comes To Life

The Maple Leafs marched into Phoenix with a great deal of confidence that they gained in their tight 3-1 victory over Dallas on Wednesday. They came out in the first period showing a lot of enthusiasm with hard forechecking and good puck pursuit. Their offensive game was finally at the level Leaf fans expected from the beginning of the year.

Despite the solid showing offensively, undisciplined penalties, once again, almost led to the surrendering of the lead. Mikael Tellqvist, who started his first NHL game, played very well especially late in the third and early in the first when the Leafs got down two men for two minutes. During that penalty kill, he made a number of strong stops preserving the 1-0 lead for the Leafs.

Owen Nolan scored two goals and recorded an assist along with displaying some of the characteristics that are often attributed to his name. Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts also showed some of their magic combining on a play to record the Leafs third goal on the evening.

Tremendous 3rd Period Carries Leafs To Victory In Dallas

A poor first and second period were quickly forgotten among fans and media members alike after an outstanding third period allowed the Leafs to pick up their second victory in the fourth game of a five game road trip. Overall, the Leafs played their best game of this young season. A number of unproductive players including Sundin, Nieuwendyk, and Nolan began showing signs of life which is really important for the Leafs offensive attack.

Contrary to the way they played Monday against the Islanders, the Leafs, especially in the third period, had a much more dominant offensive attack. They were able to produce several good chances in the third period along with 14 shots. If it was not for a number of great saves by Dallas netminder Marty Turco, as well as the shot Nolan rang of the goal post, the Leafs would have scored a few more goals in this game.

Defensively, the Leafs were much tighter tonight. Players were backchecking and defensemen were recognizing their assignments and completing them with success. Tomas Kaberle played a very solid game. He played very well defensively as well as adding an assist on Joe Nieuwendyk’s game winning goal. He made a strong defensive play late in the third period with Dallas trying to tie the game. Stu Barnes was behind the net and tried a fancy play by attempting to put the puck off the back of the net and regain control once he was around Kaberle. Kaberle recognized his size advantage over Barnes and effectively took him out of the play against the boards.

Players like Sundin, Nieuwendyk and Nolan who were not producing began to show signs of regaining their offensive touch. Nolan rattled a shot off the post in the third period. Sundin and Nieuwendyk combined on the game winner recording Sundin his first point of the season.

Belfour was rock solid down the stretch. He stood his ground during a chaotic goal mouth scramble with a minute remaining in the game which saw him make two or three key saves to preserve the one goal lead. Robert Reichel would add an empty net goal before the game was done.

The Leafs will roll into Phoenix for the final game of their five game road trip. Should the Leafs win tomorrow’s game, it could quickly change what looked to be a terrible road earlier in the week into a pretty successful one by the end.

Leafs Set To Challenge Stars In Dallas

The Toronto Maple Leafs along with their bruised and battered egos from a terrible performance in Long Island on Monday will take on the Dallas Stars tomorrow in what will be the only meeting between the two teams this season. The Leafs will obviously have to play much better in all areas of their game if they want to walk out of the Continental Airlines Arena tomorrow with a victory against a strong and confident Dallas Stars team that lead their division with a record of 4 wins and 2 losses.

Following the Leafs brutal performance on Monday against the Islanders, head coach Pat Quinn said, "quite honestly, we are too easy to play against." Frankly, this quote very accurately summarizes the Maple Leaf's problems. They are not posing enough of a challenge to opposing teams. They are not doing all of the important simple little things like backchecking, tying men up infront of the goal, and controlling the puck. Giving the puck away in their own zone has been a major issue this season as it has led to a number of goals already.

Then there is the power play. It is clearly not functioning at the level most people were expecting. Right now, the Leafs sit 28 out of 30 teams with only 2 goals in 27 opportunities. This must improve because, come the end of the season, power play rankings are often a very good indication of the type of success a team had. Very rarely does a team finish in the bottom third in the power play rankings and have a realistic chance of winning the Stanley Cup.

The Leafs are also ranked in the bottom third in penalty killing. Having both special team components ranked in the bottom third of the league is a very dangerous situation to be in. If a team is not scoring power play goals but they are giving them up, it makes it almost impossible to win hockey games on a regular basis.

When a team is not doing well in all these aforementioned areas of the game, saying we are too easy to play against is probably quite accurate.

It is not likely to see Mogilny back in the lineup until the Leafs return home on Saturday. Mikael Renberg's status is also not know at this time.

iTunes Is Awesome

I recently downloaded iTunes for Windows off of www.apple.com after my friend Jeff convinced me that I was missing out. Now, I can honestly say with tremendous conviction that it is one of the best downloads I have ever done. Apple recently came out with a version of iTunes for Windows to not only grow the program’s popularity but also to encourage the use of the online music store once it comes to Canada early next year.

I was a little skeptical at first because, for some reason, I had a preconceived idea that Macintosh programs were bad. Suffice to say, I no longer have that idea in my head after I have experienced all of the unbelievable features of iTunes for Windows.

In my opinion, there is no other music manager that can even come close to comparing to it. It has a very visually pleasing interface which makes it extremely easy to use. You can browse through your songs by genre, artist, and album. You can also create smart playlists which automatically sort your music according to predetermined criteria. This is a really useful feature for somebody who likes to have music organized in decades or musical eras.

One of my favourite features of the program is the play count feature. iTunes automatically keeps track of how often a song is played and then allows you to sort songs by most played. This really helps you determine your all time favourite songs as you can see which song you play most often.

I definitely believe iTunes is one of the best music managers out there. It is easy to use, efficient, full of features, and best of all, it's free of www.apple.com. If you take the time to download this program, trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Awful Effort By Leafs On The Island

All the confidence and momentum gained during the shutout victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday was certainly not with the Maple Leafs during their ridiculously poor effort against the New York Islanders. Not only did the Leafs loose but they also had a bite taken out of them by the injury bug again. Mikael Renberg left early in the game with an upper body muscle strain. As specific as that injury description is, the Leafs do not need any more injuries piling up as there are still a number of guys including Alex Mogilny and Bryan McCabe who are trying to get back in the lineup after recovering from a groin and knee injury, respectively.

It seems like ever since round 1, game 3 of the 2002 playoffs, the Maple Leafs have found the Nassau Coliseum tremendously difficult to play in. They lost all three road games in that series and were then beaten handily on December 17th, 2002, their first game at the Nassau Coliseum since the playoffs. The Islanders home is quickly becoming a dreaded place for the Maple Leaf to play just as Buffalo’s home was like for them for the better part of the 1990’s.

It was particularly disturbing that only 11 000 people decided to show up to a game between two bitter rivals played in New York City. It is not like they had the Yankees to contend with as the World Series is off until tomorrow. It certainly does not say much for the popularity of hockey in the New York Islanders area.

Mikael Renberg left early in the game with an upper body injury. The Leafs are already, early in the season, trying to recover from the injury bug, therefore, more injuries are certainly not needed. More will be heard about his situation tomorrow once the Maple Leafs training staff assess him. McCabe is aiming for a return to the lineup following the conclusion of the road trip on Saturday against the Washington Capitals. This will be a welcomed injection of talent into a struggling Leafs defense corps.

A couple of games in the western United States on Wednesday and Thursday against the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes respectively are ahead. The Leafs have not been to Phoenix for a number of years and they go to Dallas very infrequently. Hopefully the Leafs can pull off a couple of wins to make this current road trip a decent one.

Belfour Wins Goaltending Duel With Theodore

The Maple Leafs were finally able to record a victory in a tight goaltending duel against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. This game brought a lot of positive things forward, things that Maple Leaf fans were expecting to see last week when the team kicked off their season against the same Montreal Canadiens. Belfour was excellent all night as he and Theodore were trading saves throughout the game.

Defensively, the Leafs looked very confident limiting the Canadiens to only 15 shots. This was, by far, their most efficient game of the season. They were able to keep good scoring chances to a minimum. Belfour made a couple of big saves late in the game to preserve the one goal lead.

Rick Jackman really stood out by playing his best game of the season. Jackman, who led the Leafs in ice time during tonight's game, recorded the only goal of the game, his second career goal and his first since 1999. Coach Pat Quinn showed confidence in Jackman by putting him on the ice for the last minute of play. Jackman seems to be improving each game he plays. If he continues to receive a good portion of ice time including power play time where he is excelling as well, there is no reason why he could not develop into a solid defenseman potentially scoring 10 to 15 goals throughout the course of the year. Jackman had a very offensively prolific junior career but has never been able to recapture his offensive touch in the NHL. Should Coach Pat Quinn continue to use him on the power play, he could probably register a respectable point total just as Bryan McCabe did two years ago when he spent a lot of time on the power play.

Another positive was the Maple Leafs ability to avoid taking unnecessary penalties. Had they been chewing up the ice to the penalty box, the victory would have most certainly slipped away as Leaf fans have seen already too many times this season. Whether the decrease in unnecessary penalties came as a result of Wade Belak being out of the lineup for the game or not remains to be seen. It is imperative for the Leafs to continue their disciplined play shown in tonight's game to allow a good chance of winning tight games. Belak has had a poor start to the year with far too many trips to the box for penalties that were unnecessary and untimely.

The Leafs take on the Islanders on Monday in what is sure to be a physical game as it always is when these two bitter rivals hook up. With the confidence gained tonight, hopefully the Leafs can carry that through to pick up a win.

Big Test In Swamp For Leafs

The Maple Leafs will embark on their five game road trip tomorrow in New Jersey without one of their most offensively skilled players in the lineup. Alex Mogilny will, more than likely, not be available for tomorrow’s game. The Leafs have had trouble scoring goals so far this season and without Mogilny, the Leafs also may find goals hard to come by tomorrow as the Devils are a proficient team when it comes to a boring, yet effective, defensive style known as the trap.

Early prognosis on Mogilny’s injury suggests that he may be out for up to two weeks recuperating from the groin pull he suffered during the third period in the tie against the Washington Capitals on Monday. With Mogilny out of the lineup for an extended period of time, it puts the Leafs at a severe offensive disadvantage as goals have been hard to come by this season. Players like Sundin, Nolan, Renberg, Tucker, Nieuwendyk and Antropov will have to start contributing to the Leafs offense. With the exception of Nik Antropov who scored a bizarre goal during the tie against Washington, none of these aforementioned players have recorded a point. This is a trend that will continue to grow in concern as the pointless games continue to pile up for these players.

Taking Mogilny’s place in the lineup for tomorrow’s contest against the Devils will probably be Tom Fitzgerald who recently recovered from a shoulder injury suffered in training camp.

The Leafs better find a way to start to score goals quickly as a poor road trip could land them in quite a deep hole in the eastern conference standings by the time they return home on October 25 to face the Washington Capitals.

Who's Worried, I'm Not

With eighty-one regular season games remaining, there is a lot of time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to sort out the disorganized attempt that was game one of the season. Various things could be used to potentially explain the reasons for the poor effort and subsequently awful performance the Maple Leafs put forth last night against the Montreal Canadiens; however, none of them should be considered excuses. There is no excuse for lack of effort and disorganization put forth during a home opener on a Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Leafs spent six days in between their final preseason game and their first regular season game. A lay off of this length at any time during the season is not a good thing let alone when it occurs between the end of the preseason and the beginning of the regular season. Players agree the preseason is too long. Therefore, it could be tough to remain focused for the extra week in between. Nonetheless, this should have given new players a chance to acclimatize themselves with their new teammates and a chance for coach Pat Quinn to work on some key strategies. Obviously, the extra week was not used as a bonus but rather an inconvenience that would lead to a poor first game.

It is also possible that the Leafs may have underestimated the Montreal Canadiens, especially after they were handled quite easily by the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. This tells us two things. The Canadiens may not be as bad as they have been described as and the Maple Leafs may not be as good as the Senators. Regardless, this still does not qualify as an excuse for poor effort.

One of the only positives from last night's game was the play of rookie Matt Stajan. Stajan, one of the best forwards last night, had a number of chances himself and created a number of chances for teammates, none of which could be converted for goals. Stajan looks to be ready to spend the whole year with the Maple Leafs as he showed confidence, maturity, and poise well beyond his years during the preseason and into last night's game as well. He could be the surprise player of the year.

With eighty-one games remaining, the Leafs should be able to figure out their collapse during yesterday's game. The Leafs will be a playoff team this year but finishing as high as possible will be important to help avoid playing a strong team in the first round. It is important that a good effort is put forth against the Washington Capitals in their next game. The team goes on the road for five games immediately after the Capitals game which does not give them time to go blindfolded through the first two weeks of the season.

Waiver Draft A Waste Of Time

Once every season, at probably the worst possible time in the hockey year, the annual waiver draft is held. Teams are required to protect a certain number of players and leave a certain number unprotected. Some players, usually rookies or players with little NHL experience are exempt from the draft meaning they do not require protection. This draft was designed to allow less competitive teams to boost their rosters with quality players just before the start of the season, with the thought in mind that this draft would help to balance the playing field. The reality is; however, this simple approach of suddenly transforming teams like the Atlanta Thrashers into Stanley Cup contenders just does not work and quite frankly, should be scrapped.

First of all, it is very infrequent that players who could potentially make a difference on a team are left available. In the past ten years, the only major acquisition that was made during the waiver draft was when the New York Islanders acquired Chris Osgood from the Detroit Red Wings after the Wings left Osgood available in favour of protecting the newly acquired Dominek Hasek. On the whole, usually eight to ten moves are made each year throughout the league in the waiver draft and even serious hockey fans are left scratching their heads as they try to figure out who these players are and where they came from.

Secondly, bad teams are bad teams usually because of one or two things: lack of team unity or lack of funds preventing the team from acquiring strong players. Neither of these problems, especially the latter, could be addressed during the waiver draft. Think about it! Any player who could potentially make a difference on a mediocre team will either be protected or they will be left available with their hefty salary acting as a deterrent to any under funded team who could not afford to take on such a high salary especially when their budget has been set like most budgets are by this time of year.

Lastly, teams often will protect their core players and especially their prospects as they are cheap and have a ton of upside making them very attractive to under funded teams. This means a solid player, in the Maple Leafs case, Travis Green, will have to be alienated and left unprotected. Bad feelings can develop quite easily in this case between player and team making the waiver draft look even more ridiculous.

I’m not sure why the NHL keeps putting teams and players through this ridiculous and colossal waste of time that we know as the waiver draft. Nothing of any magnitude occurs except once in a while in extreme circumstances. Bad teams do not get better. Good teams do not get worse. All it does is cause bad feelings, bruised egos, and a lot of wasted time!