Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.11

www.afootinthecrease.com

Conventional wisdom says that for a team struggling to score goals, shoot more often. Well the Maple Leafs – tied for twenty second overall in the NHL in terms of goals scored - took that advice to heart in their game against the New York Islanders on Monday night, firing a franchise tying sixty one shots at goaltender Dwayne Roloson but only managed to beat him on three occasions.

If there was anything positive to take from that game, it was the fact that despite falling down 3-0 in the second period, once the Maple Leafs decided to start playing, they dominated much of the remaining time in the Islanders zone. That they were unable to score more than three times is beside the point. Shoot sixty one times and eventually they will start to go in.

Later in the week in their next two games against Tampa Bay and Florida, the shots kept coming – notching thirty five and thirty three shots respectively – and finally, the Maple Leafs were rewarded with some of those shots translating into goals, combining for ten goals in those two games.

With each passing game, Phil Kessel continues to justify the hefty price paid to acquire him, displaying a type of raw offensive talent the Maple Leafs have been unable to boast since perhaps Alex Mogilny. The fact that he is only twenty one years of age though sets him apart from Mogilny who was later in his career when he was with the Maple Leafs. A better comparison might be a young Mats Sundin when he was acquired in 1994 as a twenty three year old.

It’s no wonder that now with an improvement in terms of offensive production, the Maple Leafs are starting to string some wins together. Now with points, including three wins, in their last five games and a solid work ethic during that stretch, this is the team people were expecting to see since the beginning of the season. It’s a shame that it took a quarter of the campaign to get it going though. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.