Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.17

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Back in mid November when the Maple Leafs suffered through a one win in eight game stretch, it was thought that the end was near for the jobs of one or even all of Paul Maurice, John Ferguson Jr. and Richard Peddie. Upper management professed patience to the riled up members of Leaf Nation, suggesting that all teams, even defending Stanley Cup champions, go through difficult times over the course of a season. Almost on cue, the Maple Leafs turned around and rolled off four consecutive wins silencing many of their critics. Hell, we even heard some people start suggesting this Maple Leaf team could do some damage in the playoffs.

Then came a seven game road trip that we suggested on this very program would hold the fortunes of the Maple Leafs season in its hands. After a disappointing 2-3-2 record during this sojourn away from Air Canada Centre, followed up by a despicable effort in their return home against the Rangers, it appears we can expect a lot more of the one win in eight games team from November instead of the team that won four in a row to start December.

The question now is how much worse does it have to get before changes are finally made? Since taking over as GM from Pat Quinn in 2003, the Maple Leafs have gone from a legitimate Stanley Cup contender to perennial straggler in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The goaltender acquired in exchange for top prospect Tuukka Rask may never win another game for the Maple Leafs. Eric Lindros, Jason Allison, Alex Khavanov, Mike Peca, Pavel Kubina, Hal Gill, Jason Blake, Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker have all signed lucrative contracts under JFJ and not one has been even remotely worth their money.

In the years to come, the contracts of Kubina, Blake, McCabe and Tucker will loom over the Maple Leafs putting a severe anchor on any ability to quickly rebuild. If all this cannot prompt a significant shakeup of the Maple Leafs management structure, I’m honestly not sure what will. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Road Trip Finishes With Whimper In Philly

The Maple Leafs met the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time this season last night at the Wachovia Centre in the final game of their season long seven game road trip. Looking to salvage a third win on this trip after several wasted opportunities for points earlier in their road sojourn, the Maple Leafs were strong in the opening period until giving up a goal with thirty five seconds remaining.

Carlo Colaiacovo – making his return to the Maple Leaf lineup for the first time since their final game of the 2006 – 2007 season – and Pavel Kubina failed to get back into position after rushing back to cover up in their own zone allowing Jeff Carter to jam a centering pass behind Andrew Raycroft.

The Flyers grew their lead to two goals late in the second period when Joffrey Lupul scored his fourteenth goal of the season but Mats Sundin would pull the Maple Leafs back to within one goal when he netted a power play goal with only twenty seven seconds left in the second period.

In the final frame, the Flyers came out strongly scoring just over three minutes in on a goal by Daniel Briere to restore the Flyers’ two goal lead. Just less than five minutes later, Joffrey Lupul scored his second goal of the game to put the Flyers ahead by three goals virtually ending the Maple Leafs’ hopes of salvaging any points out of this game.

After this disappointing effort against the Flyers, the Maple Leafs will head home to take on the New York Rangers on Saturday night.

Leafs Sloppy After Christmas Against Islanders

Hockey players are creatures of habit. If you need any proof, just take the first period of last night’s game between the Maple Leafs and Islanders with both teams having deviated from their normal routines for two days over the Christmas break. The Maple Leafs arrived in New York early on Boxing Day to play the Islanders that night instead of arriving the night before as is usually customary in the NHL. The result was a first period of play that seemed like both teams had reverted back to a preseason style of play, making questionable decisions with the puck, being terribly out of position defensively, and offensive breakouts that resembled jailbreaks.

Making things even more uncomfortable for the Maple Leafs was the fact that they were playing infront of a netminder who they had not seen in their goal since November 24th against the Phoenix Coyotes. Andrew Raycroft made the start with Vesa Toskala having returned to Toronto to nurse a groin tweak that had been bothering him over the last week. Strong at times, especially late in the third period when he made two big stops to send the game to overtime, Raycroft did look shaky in the opening period and allowed three goals on fourteen Islander shots.

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring early in the first period when Matt Stajan set up Alex Steen at the 6:13 mark. The Islanders though responded quickly when Andy Hilbert scored less than a minute later to tie the game at one goal each. Mark Bell put the Maple Leafs back in the lead midway through the period – Darcy Tucker recorded an assist on the goal, his first point in the month of December – but the Islanders would score twice more before the end of the opening frame on goals by Mike Comrie and Bill Guerin to hold a 3-2 lead after twenty minutes.

The second period, by comparison, was considerably more defensive minded with both head coaches no doubt using a few choice words during the first intermission to remind their teams that Christmas was indeed over and gift giving was no longer necessary. Rick Dipietro, who started in goal for the Islanders, was replaced by Maple Leafs’ archenemy Wade Dubielewicz at the beginning of the second period when an injury Dipietro suffered during the warm up became too difficult to play through.

Alex Steen scored his second goal of the game early in the third period with the Maple Leafs short handed to tie the game at three goals each. Neither team could score a deciding goal in regulation which forced the game into sudden death overtime. With just ten seconds remaining, Mike Comrie scored to win the game for the Islanders after Jason Blake - making his first appearance on Long Island since signing with the Maple Leafs in the summer - turned the puck over at the Islanders blueline resulting in an odd man rush the other way.

The Maple Leafs will travel further south to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Thursday night in the final game of their seven game road trip.

Kubina Makes Amends In Florida

Two nights earlier in Tampa Bay, Pavel Kubina or at least his broken stick, was wearing the goat horns after his exploding cue cost the Maple Leafs an odd man rush against which eventually led to a Vincent Lecavalier goal with less than a minute to go in a tie hockey game at the time. Fifty nine solid minutes of work put forth by the Maple Leafs and nothing to show for it. Couple that occurrence with the last minute implosion against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and all of a sudden what appeared to be two solid road performances yielded the Maple Leafs but one meager point.

On Saturday night against the Florida Panthers – their fifth game on this seven game road trip – the Maple Leafs played an equally strong game for the first fifty nine minutes but this time, they managed to survive the final minute of the third period and eventually went onto win the game in overtime by a score of 2-1.

Fittingly, it was Pavel Kubina who netted the overtime winner on a blast from the point with the Maple Leafs working on a man advantage situation. Since Bryan McCabe suffered a wrist injury on December 15th against the Montreal Canadiens, Kubina has been given more ice time and has excelled - when his stick has allowed - in anchoring the Maple Leafs blueline. Kubina played twenty eight rugged minutes against the Panthers and is arguably playing his best hockey as a Maple Leaf.

Kyle Wellwood opened the scoring early in the game when he scored his fifth goal of the season with the Maple Leafs on the power play. Olli Jokinen tied the game for the Panthers with twenty seconds remaining in the second period.

The score stayed tied at one goal apiece in large part due to the netminding of Vesa Toskala who turned in another tremendous performance making twenty nine stops throughout the course of the game.

The Maple Leafs head into the brief Christmas break tied for eighth spot with thirty seven points in the Eastern Conference standings along with the Florida Panthers. The Buds will hit the ice again on Boxing Day to take on the New York Islanders.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.16

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Before embarking their longest road trip of the season a week and a half ago, we suggested on this program that five out of seven wins would be necessary to allow the Maple Leafs to not only keep afloat, but to start to establish themselves as legitimate playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference. Now five games in, five wins is out of the question with the Maple Leafs going 2-2-1 thus far during the road trip. Two more games remain against the Islanders and Flyers, both teams struggling of late after strong starts to the season. Winning both would give them nine out of a possible fourteen points, a decent result considering the loss of Bryan McCabe early in the trip.

What’s most disappointing for Leaf fans is the fact that of the five games played so far on this road trip, only one of them has been a game they had no business winning. Against Montreal, they were simply not very good but in their other losses to Carolina and Tampa Bay, the Maple Leafs wasted two solid road efforts with atrocious play in the final minute of both games. For the most part, defensive play in the absence of Bryan McCabe has not been an issue. Hal Gill, Pavel Kubina and Ian White have all seen increased ice time and have raised their games accordingly.

The biggest issue right now for the Maple Leafs right now is goal scoring. Vesa Toskala, who has given his team a chance to win on most nights over the past month, has been the only reason why they have been getting away with it to this point. Over the past week, Mats Sundin’s line has been quiet for the first prolonged stretch of the season and only Matt Stajan with three goals in his last six games has scored consistently. Improved performances out of Kyle Wellwood, Darcy Tucker, Jason Blake and Alex Steen will be key as the Maple Leafs will require some secondary scoring over the final two games before finally returning home next Saturday December 29th. But hey, all that was just rigmarole.

Strong Effort Wasted Against Hurricanes

For fifty eight and a half minutes against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at the RBC Centre in Raleigh, it looked like the Maple Leafs were ready to slot a commanding victory in their win column against the same team that beat them 7-1 at Air Canada Centre back in early October. However, once Carolina scored their first goal at the 18:35 mark of the third period, it showed that while much has changed for the Maple Leafs since that crushing defeat on home ice, they are still a very fragile team, especially with a lead in the third period.

After starting slowly in the first period, Vesa Toskala provided an example of the much improved netminding he has provided the Maple Leafs with of late by weathering the storm and keeping the game scoreless. Carolina went on a two man advantage late in the first period but the Maple Leafs efficiently killed that penalty leading to a Boyd Deveraux goal – his third in his last three games – with just over two minutes remaining in the opening frame.

The Maple Leafs controlled the second period playing exceptional “road-style hockey”. They kept things simple and limited Carolina’s offensive chances with efficiency in their own zone. While holding the Hurricanes to only to only four shots in the middle frame, Tomas Kaberle scored late in the period on a power play to grow the lead to two goals.

In the third period, the Maple Leafs effectively shut down the Hurricanes’ attack and Vesa Toskala appeared on his way to another shutout. Cory Stillman scored late in the period to put the Hurricanes on the board. Less than a minute later, Ray Whitney tied the game for the Hurricanes with the Maple Leafs looking flustered and unorganized after allowing the first Carolina goal.

The Maple Leafs got into penalty trouble in the overtime period allowing Scott Walker to win the game for Carolina with a power play goal.

The Maple Leafs continue their road trip Thursday in Tampa Bay against the Lightning.

Maple Leafs Lose Game, McCabe In Montreal

Less than twenty four hours – perhaps that was the problem right there – after handing the Atlanta Thrashers a convincing 4-0 defeat on Friday night, the Maple Leafs were handed a lopsided defeat of their own on Saturday at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. The two points though was not the biggest loss for the Maple Leafs on this night. Late in the game, Bryan McCabe was rubbed out along the half boards in his own end by Andrei Kastsitsyn, jamming his wrist and falling to the ice in obvious agony. Following the game, it was determined that McCabe had broken his left wrist in three places and will be out a minimum of six weeks.

The injury comes at a time when McCabe was playing his best hockey of the season, finally starting to resemble the McCabe who earned that mammoth contract at the end of the 2005-2006 season. On Monday, doctors will determine if McCabe will require surgery. Paul Maurice and John Ferguson Jr. now have the task of finding a replacement to account for some of McCabe’s thirty minutes of ice time per game.

Obviously, a call up from the Marlies – likely one of either Derrick Walser, Bryan Muir, Anton Stralman or Jay Harrison (Staffan Kronwall is out with a broken hand) – cannot simply be plugged into the lineup and utilized as if he was McCabe. Minutes for Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, Ian White, Andy Wozniewski, and Hal Gill will have to increase as Paul Maurice spreads out McCabe’s ice time between the five remaining defensemen and the call up from the Marlies.

The Maple Leafs were never in this game against Montreal. The Canadiens opened the scoring on a goal by Saku Koivu midway through the first period. Koivu scored again early in the second period allowing Montreal to employ the trap – a defensive style the Maple Leafs have struggled against dating back to the Pat Quinn era – shutting down any kind of speed the Maple Leafs attempted to generate through the neutral zone.

Boyd Deveraux managed to snap the shutout bid of Habs’ netminder Carey Price late in the third period.

The Maple Leafs will head back to the southern United States to take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.15

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It’s been that kind of season for Bryan McCabe. Struggling to start the season, he loses all confidence whatsoever and was practically run out of town by so many of the fickle fans of the Maple Leafs. Finally about four weeks ago, McCabe started to look like the McCabe of old: playing physically and tough in his own zone and being, for the most part, reliable with the puck. Just when people were starting to get off his back and back into his corner, McCabe breaks his wrist in three places on a questionable hit in a game that had already been decided.

Now Leaf management has to decide how they are going to fill the nearly thirty minutes of ice time per game that McCabe was chewing up until he returns. Staffan Kronwall spent ten games with the Leafs during Kubina’s absence but he too is now hurt. Wade Belak has played on the blueline in the past, but for eight weeks and at least ten to twelve minutes a game: probably not the best option. So then you look to the farm and find Derrick Walser, Bryan Muir, Jay Harrison and Anton Stralman.

None of these options will provide the offensive production that McCabe is capable of so you look for which one will be the most reliable in around fifteen minutes of ice time. Stralman is a top prospect but didn’t look entirely comfortable yet in the NHL in his first tour of duty with the Leafs. Harrison seems to have slipped on the depth chart somewhat and did not look comfortable when he started last season with the Leafs. Walser is producing offensively at the AHL level but remember there is a big difference between the two leagues. Muir has close to 300 games NHL experience and has shown that he can be a dependable player on the blueline who will keep things simple and get the job done. And over the next eight week, that’s all the Leafs will be looking for. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Toskala; Top Line Carry Leafs Over Thrashers

At the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on November 29th, the Maple Leafs turned their season’s fortunes around with a convincing 4-2 victory over the Thrashers, lying to rest the notion that anybody from Richard Peddie, John Ferguson Jr. or Paul Maurice right on down through the organization to the assistant zamboni driver could be shown the door. That win sent the Maple Leafs on a stretch of five wins in six games, restoring the faith of many of the card carrying members of Leaf Nation. Last night in their first return visit to Atlanta since that turning point night, the Maple Leafs defeated the Thrashers again, this time by a score of 4-0, continuing their shockingly strong play of late.

After firing head coach Bob Hartley when they went on a six game losing streak to begin the season, Atlanta found new life and climbed back into contention by the time early November rolled around. Lately though, the Thrashers have returned to their lethargic ways allowing themselves to be easily outworked and committing horrendous turnovers that simply cannot be committed by a team that expects to win more games than they lose.

Case in point, with an opportunity to open the scoring against the Maple Leafs while on the man advantage last night, netminder Kari Lehtonen – quickly transforming himself from “can’t miss prospect” to “high draft pick bust” – mishandled the puck behind his own net allowing Boyd Deveraux to notch a shorthanded goal into a gaping cage. So much for any momentum the Thrashers may have gained from that power play. Instead, the goal energized the Maple Leafs and sent the Thrashers into an even more tentative state.

Just over three minutes later, Mats Sundin scored another soft goal growing the Maple Leafs lead to two. Vesa Toskala was solid all game long making twenty four stops including one on an Ilya Kovalchuk breakaway that could have reignited the Thrashers near the end of the second period. In his last seven games, Toskala’s tremendous play allowing only ten goals during this stretch is a major reason for the corresponding play of the Maple Leafs.

Alexei Ponikarovsky scored twice in the final five minutes of the third period to ice the game in favour of the Maple Leafs. Nik Antropov picked up three assists setting up both of Ponikarovsky’s goals as well as Sundin’s early in the game.

The Maple Leafs headed north after this game and will take on the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Leafs Roll Over Lightning

The Maple Leafs held their annual Christmas themed game last night at Air Canada Centre against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Holiday themed music, Christmas style fan contests and visits from numerous different Santa Clauses were all in store for those in attendance. Why so early though on December 10th did the Maple Leafs decide to hold this Christmas shindig? By the time the next Maple Leaf home game roles around, the big show will be all over – all the presents delivered, all the eggnog consumed, all the chestnuts roasted. The Buds will now embark on a seven game road trip – arguably their most critical stretch of this season – before finally returning home on December 29th to take on the New York Rangers.

With this ominous road trip facing them, it made last night’s game against the Lightning all the more important. After cruising to a 6-1 victory over Tampa Bay - a win that gave them five wins in their last six games - the Maple Leafs will now set out on the heels of their best stretch of hockey all season long which bodes well for a road trip that they not only hope will be successful but in fact must be successful to keep their playoff hopes afloat.

Both teams kept the play tight in the first period with neither side generating much in the way of quality offense. In the second period, the Lightning came out strong but Vesa Toskala was outstanding keeping Tampa Bay off the board. Midway through the middle frame, Jason Blake scored to begin a stretch of four goals in four and a half minutes for the Maple Leafs. Sundin followed Blake’s marker after he was set up with a tremendous stretch pass from Tomas Kaberle. Sundin knocked down the waist high pass at the Lightning blueline while fighting off a defenseman and managing to stay onside, leaving him with a breakaway on Lightning netminder, Johan Holmqvist.

Nik Antropov scored moments later on the power play to grow the Maple Leafs lead to three goals. Chad Kilger scored thirty four seconds later on a wrist shot from the blueline that fooled Holmqvist; prompting Lightning head coach John Tortorella to pull him in favour of Marc Denis. Michel Ouellet put Tampa Bay on the board late in the second period snapping Toskala’s bid for a shutout.

The Maple Leafs responded with a strong third period picking up goals from Matt Stajan and Chad Kilger. Toskala made thirteen stops in the final frame and twenty six overall en route to his eleventh win of the season.

The Maple Leafs will travel to Atlanta to take on the Thrashers on Friday night.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.14

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Over the first thirty games of the regular season, the Maple Leafs have been a very up and down teams. For stretches of time, they have looked average. For other stretches, they have looked downright awful. And sometimes, the Maple Leafs have even looked like a team that is a capable playoff competitor. However, through all of their inconsistency to start the season, one aspect of their game has remained consistent throughout but certainly not in a good way. The Maple Leafs power play has yet to come to life this season and after struggling to no goals on six opportunities Saturday night against Boston, their power play now sits 29th out of 30 teams in the NHL.

Last season, the Maple Leafs power play was not blistering but it was more than acceptable running at 17%, good enough for 16th overall. So with the same players plus the addition of the offensively talented Jason Blake, why can’t the Maple Leafs get rolling on the man advantage?

Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe no longer surprise anybody. McCabe’s point shot and Tucker’s office at the side of the net have been the bread and butter of the Leafs power play since the end of the lockout. Teams know it’s coming and are taking it away forcing the Maple Leafs to come up with something new. Problem is, the Maple Leafs haven’t shown us any new ideas.

Instead of looking elsewhere, the Maple Leafs seem content to spend all of their power play time trying to set up one of those two aforementioned options. With neither the Tucker or McCabe option available, this makes it very easy for opponents to kill penalties against the Maple Leafs.

It’s time to simply things: get big bodies to the front of the net and get the puck on goal in hopes of generating rebounds or tip in opportunities. Fancy isn’t working right now, but ugly goals are worth just the same. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Trapping Bruins Stifle Leafs

Trust the Boston Bruins to snap the Maple Leafs four game winning streak. Now in three meetings with the Maple Leafs so far this season, the Bruins have made beating them a habit – each time doing it with a different goaltender: Tim Thomas in the first win, former Leaf prospect Tuukka Rask in the second, and newly acquired Alex Auld last night. Dating back to last season, the Bruins have won eight of the last eleven meetings with the Maple Leafs.

Jason Blake got the Maple Leafs off to a good start scoring midway through the first period on a shot that beat Alex Auld low to the short side, a goal reminiscent of a Joe Nieuwendyk marker against Patrick Lalime in game seven of the Maple Leafs vs Senators series in the 2004 NHL playoffs. This game though would not hold the same outcome for the Maple Leafs as the Bruins tied the game on a goal by Chuck Kobasew just two minutes later.

In the second period, Dennis Wideman gave the Bruins the lead after Brandon Bochenski beat Darcy Tucker in a battle for the puck along the boards and got it to Wideman at the point. His shot eluded a screened Vesa Toskala who made eighteen stops on the night.

Once in the lead, Boston employed a stifling version of the trap in which they clogged the neutral zone with four skaters and made it difficult for the Maple Leafs to complete a pass, much less generate any kind of speed. For much of the final half of the game, it seemed like Claude Julien was still coaching New Jersey as the Bruins used a defensive system that is now synonymous with Devils’ hockey.

Even before taking the lead, the Bruins sat back and did not pressure the Maple Leafs offensively until Toronto made a mistake. Both Bruins goals were generated as a result of Maple Leaf defensive miscues, not pressure from Boston.

The Maple Leafs will conclude their brief two game home stand on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning before heading out on a seven game road trip.

Less Is More For The Leafs In New York

Playing their hottest stretch of hockey of the season, the Maple Leafs went into New York looking to grow their winning streak to four consecutive games with a victory over the Rangers on Thursday night. Coming off a fifteen shot performance against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, good enough for a 3-1 victory, the Maple Leafs again made the most of a limited shot output scoring six times on sixteen shots against the New York Rangers. Despite their recent success generating under twenty shots per game, this is not a trend the Maple Leafs will want to continue.

Vesa Toskala was the primary reason for victory against the Predators on Tuesday, stealing a win for his team in arguably his best performance as a Maple Leaf. On Thursday against the Rangers, the Maple Leafs benefited from an unusually shaky Hendrick Lundqvist who seemed to battle the puck throughout the first two periods of this game before being pulled in favour of Stephan Valiquette to begin the final frame.

A more determined commitment to the defensive side of the game is likely the reason for the drop off in shots over the last few contests. The Maple Leafs are not taking as many chances offensively in order to ensure they keep things under control in their own zone. Earlier in the season when their offense was firing on full power, they were generating their chances at the expense of reliable defensive positioning which inevitably ended up costing them wins when they were simply unable to outscore their opponents.

Matt Stajan and Mats Sundin scored within the first eleven minutes of the first period to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead. The Rangers fought back to tie the game at two goals a piece before the end of the opening frame when Dan Girardi and Fedor Tyutin capitalized on two power play opportunities.

In the second period, Nik Antropov took over scoring twice before adding another early in the final frame to give the Maple Leafs a commanding 5-2 lead. The three goals marked a natural hat trick for Antropov and the second hat trick of his career.

Late in the third period, Matt Stajan set up a “goal of the year” candidate eventually finishing a tic-tac-toe play by sending a pass across the Rangers goal crease to Alex Steen who tapped it in for his fifth goal of the season.

The Maple Leafs will look to keep rolling on Saturday night against the Boston Bruins.

Toskala, Belak (Yes Belak) Shine In Predators Defeat

The feeling inside Air Canada Centre last night was one that fans became very accustomed to during the tenures of both Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour in Maple Leaf uniforms. Routinely, Joseph and Belfour would steal games for the Maple Leafs, games the team had little business winning. At the end of each season, those games would often add up to the reason why the Maple Leafs were firmly entrenched at the top of the Eastern Conference standings and not fighting for the final playoff position.

Since the end of the lockout, the Maple Leafs have not had that luxury. In 2005-2006, after a year off during the lockout, Belfour was simply not the Belfour of old. Last season, Andrew Raycroft won a team record thirty seven games merely because he played in just about all eighty two. Never did he steal a game. Since the beginning of the season, Vesa Toskala started his Maple Leaf career slowly causing many to wonder if in fact he would be the answer to the goaltending woes.

Finally after four consecutive solid performances, it appears the Maple Leafs finally have the goaltender they were expecting when John Ferguson Jr. acquired Toskala from the San Jose Sharks last summer. Stopping thirty four of thirty five shots against the Nashville Predators, Toskala was the reason the Maple Leafs won after managing only a season low fifteen shots on goal themselves. Toskala committed robbery against Predators shooters on several occasions including turning Jason Arnott aside on twelve different occasions. Shea Weber was the only Predator to beat Toskala, his goal coming late in the third period off a deflection.

Despite limited time spent in the Predators zone, the Maple Leafs made the most of their offensive chances scoring three times on fifteen shots against Nashville netminder Chris Mason. Nik Antropov scored in the first minute of the first period to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead. Mats Sundin earned an assist on the goal stretching his streak of consecutive home games with at least a point from the beginning of the season to sixteen. Matt Stajan scored a spectacular goal batting the puck out of mid air on the backhand to grow the Maple Leafs lead to two goals early in the second period. In the final frame, Wade Belak broke a one hundred and forty three game goalless drought when he jammed a rebound past Mason to put the Maple Leafs up by three.

Belak’s last goal came nearly four years ago on December 20th, 2003. Apart from his goal though, Belak contributed eight robust shifts in which he injected energy with his physical presence and was a reliable player in the defensive zone. Should he continue that same style of play in the future, it will be a long time before Belak spends nine consecutive games in the press box as a healthy scratch as he did during the month of November. His reinsertion into the lineup and the Maple Leafs win streak falling at the same time comes as no coincidence. Belak has given Paul Maurice a viable option on the fourth line to turn to for a spark of energy to ignite the team.

Belak, Toskala and the rest of the Maple Leafs will attempt to push their season high winning streak to four games on Thursday night against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Leafs Win Second Straight

When the Maple Leafs losing streak reached four straight games after a loss to the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout this past Tuesday night, they appeared to be a team spiraling out of control having dropped to second last place in the Eastern Conference and talk of axing any or all of John Ferguson Jr., Paul Maurice and Richard Peddie spread throughout the sports pages of Toronto’s newspapers. Two wins later and suddenly there are a lot more people getting back into the Maple Leafs corner.

Following a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins – the Maple Leafs second win in three contests against Pittsburgh this season – John Ferguson Jr. even had reason to gloat. All three of his major off season acquisitions – Jason Blake, Mark Bell and Vesa Toskala – played significant roles in giving the Maple Leafs only their second winning streak of a season that is already twenty seven games old.

Bell, who started on the Maple Leafs’ top line with Mats Sundin and Nik Antropov, opened the scoring early in the first period with a quick shot from the slot after taking a feed from Mats Sundin. Sundin’s assist gave him points in fifteen straight home games to begin the season breaking the eighty three year old record previously held by Babe Dye set in 1924-1925.

In the second period, Jason Blake snapped an eighteen game goalless drought when he teamed up with Kyle Wellwood to score on arguably the longest two on nothing in NHL history starting from their own blueline. Wellwood carried the puck and held on until sliding a pass to Blake in the goal mouth who flipped it over the blocker of Penguins’ netminder Dany Sabourin.

Vesa Toskala made thirty stops including several of the spectacular variety down the stretch as Pittsburgh pressed for the tying goal. The win restored Toskala’s record on the season to the 500 mark at eight wins, eight losses and two overtime/shootout losses.

Matt Stajan, Alex Steen and Boyd Deveraux drew the assignment of keeping Sidney Crosby’s line in check and for the most part, Crosby’s unit was a non factor throughout the game. Evgeni Malkin made like Alexei Yashin and disappeared last night registering a minus three rating and turning the puck over constantly in the neutral zone. Apparently he had over twenty minutes of ice time but he certainly went unnoticed, at least in terms of positive contributions.

The Maple Leafs’ defensive play was as good as it has been all season as they prevented the Penguins from establishing an offensive presence in their zone.

Looking ahead to next week, the Maple Leafs will try to reach their first three game winning streak of the season when they will take on the Nashville Predators at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.13

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"Let's face it. It probably was the wrong place for a rookie general manager to start. I mean, all GMs make mistakes, but they are not under the constant microscope and scrutiny that you have in Toronto, which is, in our opinion, the top hockey market there is.” Words spoken by MLSE president Richard Peddie earlier this week regarding his hiring of John Ferguson Jr in 2003 and frankly the best thing he could have said so long as the question was “What is the dumbest thing Richard Peddie could possibly say to further ignite the five alarm fire surrounding the management of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Whether Peddie meant hiring Ferguson was a mistake or hiring Ferguson despite his lack of experience was a mistake, he essentially said he made the wrong move.

Give Peddie full credit for admitting a mistake that is certainly not a secret to many anymore but now what choice does he really have other than to fire JFJ. If he doesn’t, how can Ferguson be expected to operate effectively when his boss has stated publicly that hiring Ferguson was a mistake? It’s time for Richard Peddie to step away from managing the sporting operations of MLSE and instead focus entirely on maximizing the company’s revenue intake. Peddie tried dipping his hand into the Toronto Raptors’ business but that didn’t go so well. Now with Bryan Colangelo in full and complete control, the Raptors are heading in the right direction. With Peddie still somewhat involved on the hockey side, the current state of the Maple Leafs speaks for itself.

It’s time for MLSE to follow their own model. Select an intelligent hockey person, whoever they decide it to be. Give them full control and let them do whatever they feel must be done to rejuvenate the Maple Leafs, no questions asked! Richard Peddie, you are not a bad executive. You know how to make the money, you just don’t know how to run a sports operation. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.