Home Ice Horrors Continue For Maple Leafs

Two games on the road to conclude last week in Pittsburgh and New York seemed to cure many of the early season ailments that had plagued the Maple Leafs. Defensive zone coverage was organized and no longer resembled a jailbreak. There was an element of aggressiveness and an effective forecheck that generated offense. Goaltending was as good as it has been for the Maple Leafs since prior to the work stoppage in 2004-2005. Then the Maple Leafs return home for a date with the Washington Capitals and all the positives that surfaced throughout the brief road trip vanished during a ghoulish 7-1 loss two days before Halloween.

Washington got on the board early with a goal from Boyd Gordon at the 3:19 mark of the first period. Alexei Ponikarovsky was quick to respond for the Maple Leafs beating Capitals’ netminder Olaf Kolzig thirty one seconds later on a set up from Mats Sundin. From there though, the Maple Leafs had no answers from Alexander Ovechkin who scored twice in the game or any other player wearing a red and white jersey for that matter.

Vesa Toskala was pulled in favour of Andrew Raycroft after the Capitals scored their fourth goal in the first period. Toskala, though not spectacular, was not the primary issue of concern in this game as defensive lapses occurred frequently leaving him with little chance to make stops. Where the Maple Leafs kept pressure to the outside in Pittsburgh and New York, they allowed Ovechkin and Nylander to set up camp behind the net and in the slot making the lives of both Toskala and Raycroft very difficult. So much for the Maple Leafs being a tough team to play against.

The Maple Leafs will be off until Friday when they will travel to New Jersey to take on the Devils to kick off a four game road trip that will see them also make stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Buffalo.