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.