Leafs Manage Single Point Against League’s Worst

The Maple Leafs have been a team lacking confidence for the better part of the first ten games of their schedule. Last night’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers - the league’s worst team to date - was meant to be one where plaguing mistakes could be corrected and optimism could be rejuvenated for a positive start to the second ten game segment of their schedule. However, after the Maple Leafs struggled to a 5-4 shootout loss, neither goal was accomplished. In fact, the Maple Leafs were lucky to receive just a single point in this game thanks to a goal from Alexei Ponikarovsky with just ten seconds remaining in the third period. For all intents and purposes, this effort only made things worse for all those who consider themselves to live in the wide reaching regions of Leaf Land.

Going into last night’s game, the Maple Leafs and Thrashers ranked as the bottom two teams in goals against per game and by the end of sixty minutes, both teams quite vividly displayed why that was the case. Mats Sundin opened the scoring thirteen seconds into the first period skating uncontested around the Thrasher net and jamming the puck past Thrashers’ backup netminder, Johan Hedberg. The Maple Leafs did not hold the lead for long though as Tomas Kaberle, who has looked very much unlike Tomas Kaberle to this point, got caught minutes later on an offensive rush forcing Mats Sundin to cover his spot on defense and take on dynamic winger Ilya Kovalchuk in a one on one situation. The Russian speedster easily beat Sundin to the outside and dropped a pass back into the slot for rookie defenseman Tobias Enstrom who beat Maple Leaf netminder Vesa Toskala for his first career NHL goal.

Kovalchuk put the Thrashers ahead just before the end of the opening frame when he was allowed to circle out from behind the Maple Leaf net and fire a shot past a screened Toskala. Over the remaining two periods, the Maple Leafs were forced to fight back from one goal deficits on three separate occasions on tallies from Hal Gill, Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky.

The early season trend of third period difficulties continued for the Maple Leafs as well. After managing to begin the third period tied at three goals a piece, due solely to the exceptional play of Vesa Toskala, the Maple Leafs again could not come up with a solid effort in the final frame that would have led to victory. Only once the Thrashers had taken the lead with just under seven minutes remaining did the Maple Leafs begin to show signs of life. Although they did generate considerable offensive pressure in their desperate attempt to tie the game, it was hardly a sound effort with most of the offensive chances coming at the expense of defensive concentration leaving them lucky not to give up another goal.

Surprisingly – or perhaps not – the Maple Leafs showed very little energy or interest in a very winnable game. Head Coach Paul Maurice and his troops have spent the past three weeks explaining how they must be a difficult team to play against on a nightly basis to have legitimate opportunities to win but have rarely heeded their own advice. Consistent trips to the penalty box also continued, affording the Thrashers five power play chances: many of said infractions were of the mindless variety. Atlanta, to their credit, stayed penalty-free for the first half of the game and ended the night with only three minor penalties.

Mats Sundin and Jason Blake were again at their offensive best, in spite of their defensive shortcomings. Both players picked up three points against the Thrashers leaving Sundin in a tie with Hendrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings for the lead in NHL scoring – each with seventeen points - and Blake, too, within striking distance of that distinction.

Following yet another disheartening loss, Paul Maurice indicated his eagerness to hit the road with his team after starting the season with eight of their first ten games on home ice. Unlike most teams, the Maple Leafs have yet to go on a protracted road trip preventing them from spending considerable time amongst themselves bonding as a team. Maurice will get his wish over the next two weeks when seven of the Maple Leafs’ next eight games will take place away from Air Canada Centre starting Thursday night in Pittsburgh.