Leafs Can’t Steal Crown From Kings

Ed Belfour will need a fourth attempt to move into second place on the all-time wins list after the Maple Leafs fell by a score of 2-1 to the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings made their only appearance in Toronto tonight looking to snap a three game win streak and were successful playing a strong team game, suffocating the Leafs as the game wore on. It was also the much anticipated debut of super pest Sean Avery and perhaps the swansong for Jeremy Roenick in Toronto. Both played minimal contributions in the game: Avery, relatively well behaved for his standards and Roenick was coming off a fairly intense bout of pneumonia.

The Leafs have fell victim of late to a disappearance of contributions from players who are looked upon for significant contributions, namely Eric Lindros and Jeff O’Neill. Darcy Tucker has found another gear during their absence, vaulting himself into the lead in team goal scoring. Despite Tucker’s new found scoring touch, the Leafs need to have more scoring come from their top players in order to be successful on a consistent basis.

After their heaviest stretch of the schedule which saw the Leafs play seven games in eleven days, it is followed up by perhaps their most quiet stretch with only four games in the next fourteen days. So far the Leafs have not fared to well. We will see if they can turn it around this Saturday against the Dallas Stars.