Leafs Jobbed In Carolina

After perhaps their most ineffective effort of the season last Wednesday at home against the Boston Bruins, the Leafs went into Carolina tonight to take on the Hurricanes. In their previous two meetings of the season, both games resulted in some excellent competition between these two growing rivals. Tonight’s game was no different as the Leafs and Hurricanes battled back and forth until a shootout was required to decide the outcome. In the end the Leafs fell by a score of 4-3 but not without some controversy.

Early in the overtime period, the Leafs believed they had won the game on a jam play infront of the net. After being reviewed, it was decided the evidence was inconclusive and the goal was disallowed. From angles shown on TSN during the TV broadcast, it seemed the puck had entered the net but on this night, the Leafs did not get the call they perhaps deserved.

The Leafs surmounted three separate deficits throughout the game on goals from Jeff O’Neill, Jason Allison and Chad Kilger. Allison has raised his level of play over the last week or so and has been a factor offensively on a more consistent basis. He continued this trend tonight with a goal where he beat Carolina netminder, Martin Gerber, with a very sneaky move as he walked into the slot all alone.

Kyle Wellwood, despite an absence from the scoresheet, was arguably the best forward on the night for the Maple Leafs. With just shy of eleven minutes of ice time, Wellwood was a threat on each of his fifteen shifts. While it is unrealistic to suggest Wellwood will get anymore than eleven to thirteen minutes of ice time per game, an aspect of the game where he deserves to be used in more frequently is the power play.

The Leafs have struggled on the power play lately, much in part to the oppositions’ realization that Bryan McCabe is the main ingredient of the power play. Knowing the Leafs will always try to set McCabe up for point shots with the man advantage, teams have begun to neutralize that play leaving the Leafs looking for new answers. They have to start to shake it up a bit on the power play, perhaps have Kaberle shoot more often and concentrate on trying to create some plays down low. That is an area where Wellwood would excel, as he is very crafty with the puck and would most certainly create some havoc for penalty killers. Not only would that give the Leafs some other options to go to on the power play, it would also draw defenders away from McCabe allowing him more opportunities to use his frightening shot.

The Leafs have a very busy week coming up where they will play four games in six nights starting tomorrow at home against Montreal.

McCabe Fires Two Against Rangers

It seems to be becoming a habit for Bryan McCabe but as far as his team is concerned, it is a habit that McCabe can just keep on developing. Tonight’s game marked the fifth game this season in which McCabe has notched the game’s opening goal. McCabe would go onto score another goal which eventually turned into the game winner on a play that was almost a carbon copy of his first goal. Kaberle and McCabe are quickly becoming one of the most dominant defense pairings this season on the power play and tonight’s game proved no different.

The Leafs also managed to hold the Rangers to under thirty shots on the game, something they had not done to any opponent in quite a while. Against a team with weapons like Jagr, Straka and Nylander, on paper it seemed as though the Leafs would have their hands full keeping the Rangers under control but apart from a few prolonged stretches, the Rangers were held to a reasonable number of scoring chances. When called upon, Belfour was solid and made a few big saves down the stretch.

With two of their next three games against division rival Boston, this is the time where the Leafs need to put together a four or five game winning streak to put some distance between themselves and the Bruins in the standings. After squandering a few opportunities early in the season, the Leafs again have a chance to firmly entrench themselves in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Leafs’ Problems In Buffalo Continue

Every time the Leafs go into Buffalo one thing is for sure, fans are in for a high-paced, energetic and often times, a high scoring contest. That was again the case tonight along with something else that is usually assured when the Leafs are in Buffalo: a loss. Despite a tremendous start to the game in which the Leafs spent a great deal of time attacking the Sabres zone, the Leafs still went into the first intermission down by a goal. They would eventually work the score to a two all tie, but the Sabres took over from there on in scoring three consecutive goals en route to a 5-2 victory.

Ed Belfour had another somewhat frustrating performance, allowing a couple of questionable goals and making an adventure out of each time he ventured from the crease to play the puck. It is tough to criticize Belfour as he is often very dependable but after allowing the soft first period goal, it really seemed to take the wind from the Leafs’ sails and brought on almost a feeling of “here we go again”.

Mats Sundin and Alex Steen continued to play effectively on the same line as Steen registered his seventh goal of the year on a very intelligent play made by Sundin. Steen’s ice time is continuing to increase as he is becoming, along with some of the other promising rookies, one of the finest young players in the league capable of playing at all times during the game.

The Leafs have no time to relax as they are in Montreal tomorrow night to take on the red hot Canadiens.

Leafs Blown Away By Hurricanes

Much to the surprise of many prognosticators around the NHL, the Carolina Hurricanes are off to a tremendous start, in fact the best start in their franchise’s history. Their unbeaten record at home has certainly been a main reason for their early success. Oh yeah, and some guy by the name of Eric Staal. All he has done so far in his second season in the NHL is lead the league in scoring with twenty five points in twelve games. It was the Eric Staal show again tonight as he went onto score twice and add an assist in the Hurricanes 4-3 victory over the Leaf.

The Maple Leafs’ youth played a major role itself despite falling to the Southeast division leading Hurricanes. Matt Stajan and Alex Steen each had impressive three point performances. Steen, who continues to improve dramatically, registered his first two goal game in his NHL career along with his first shorthanded goal. Apart from these youngsters who are consistently contributing, the Leafs have seen their offense dry up somewhat over the past few games as big producers from earlier in the season like Allison, Lindros, O’Neill and Tucker have all seemed to fall into a slump at the same time.

The power play which had been the Leafs saving grace while their defensive coverage was deplorable has also disappeared. The Leafs went zero for six on the power play while squandering a lengthy five on three opportunity in the second period. Teams around the league have heard quite a bit about Bryan McCabe and have adjusted their penalty killing tactics appropriately taking away many of his opportunities for shots from the point. It is imperative for the Leaf to attempt to generate more scoring opportunities down low on the power play as teams will not let themselves be beat by McCabe anymore.

It will be a busy time for the Leafs over the next week as they will three games in four nights beginning Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Sometime over that stretch of games, the Leafs hope to welcome Mats Sundin back to the lineup after his lengthy absence recovering from an eye injury. Given the sluggish of their offense lately, his return cannot come soon enough for the Maple Leafs.