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.