Forgive the slight delay and sag in content this last week, won't you? Ol' Wrrrtika's been feeling a little under the weather.
The Leafs, however, have not - it would seem.
The team had a pretty busy week, playing 4 games in 6 nights (something of a standard in this truncated season).
Wednesday's tilt against Ottawa signified the mid-way point of the
Well, I'll give you a hint - they wound up exactly .500 on the week for points percentage.
Who did they beat? Who beat them? Where did that funny little extra point come in? Hit the jump to find out!
goaltender ben scrivens seems confused about a puck in his crease.
The Week That Was:
The action kicked off on Monday as the Leafers played host to the Martin Brodeur-less Devils.
The first period started off rather slowly in this one, but the good guys went to the dressing room up 1-0 on a goal from Nazem Kadri.
During the second period, the wheels fell off of things for a bit as the Devils scored two straight, both by Marek Zidlicky, and the Leafs went into the dressing room for the second intermission down 2-1.
Come the third though, it was all Leafs again. Jay McClement potted the tying goal on a slick individual effort.
Clarke MacArthur gave Toronto the lead again on a nice shot from a sweet Kadri dish.
Phil "I'm apparently not good at hockey if you listen to the pundits" Kessel popped the insurance goal, and the good guys won this one 4-2.
Personnel decisions on this one were a benefit and detriment all at once - on one hand most of the facepunchers [notably Orr and McLaren] were scratched for this bought. This led to an a faster, better rested Leafs team capable of hammering out the comeback in the third. On the other hand, with the heavyweight champions of the world out of the lineup, wouldn't one expect Grabovski to be able to gather up more than 13 minutes of icetime? Hell, Colton Orr had 15 minutes of ice a few times last week. That needs to be reversed, I'd wager.
Toronto was somewhat lucky to come away with the win here, being outshot 28-18 at evens at 30-23 for total on the night. Reimer was pretty awesome in this one though, and turned away 28 of 30 - many high quality chances - for a .933 SV% on the night. It just goes to show, Reimer and Kadri? They're pretty good.
Two nights later, the Senators were in town, and a bit more fun was had.
Reimer was your starter again, with Ben "Still Not Scrivens" Bishop in the other net
This one opened up on a sour note as Frazer McClaren KO'd Dave Dzyurinski (in his first game against Toronto no less) just 26 seconds in. This lead to a pretty confusing scene wherein Leaf fans started up their "GO LEAFS GO" chant as a man with an obvious concussion struggled to use his legs properly. It was pretty bad, really. I won't link it - it's out there. This of course did ignite the quarterly "staged fighting" debate, and get all the pundits up in arms. It sure didn't stop Colton Orr and Chris Neil from going at it five minutes later.
Anyhow, after all the fighting was out of the way a hockey-game broke out. At the end of all the shenanigans, the Leafs headed to the intermission up 2-0 from on a dandy from Bozak, and a slapper from (the now streaking) McClement.
The second was a calmer affair, but featured another two goals, early in the frame. One from JVR on a nice feed from Kessel (who had a goal and two assists on the night) and another - Ottawa's first of the game from international man of mystery, Mika Zibanejad. Toronto headed to the dressing room up 3-1.
Things from there got a little hairy, as the third was a bit of a shootout. Ottawa struck early as Zack Smith potted one on a snapper before the two minute mark. Toronto would pull ahead by two again, nearly 2 minutes later, on a Phil Kessel powerplay marker (his sixth on the season, he's heating up now.) while the abovementioned Zibanejad served a slashing minor. Kadri would net his tenth of the year on a great individual effort before things got a little scary. With a three goal lead, the Leafs relaxed slightly, and were burned by Daniel Alfredsson with 8 minutes left to get back within two. Then it got even scarier! Colin Greening - remember him? Mr.LastMinuteGoalAgainsttheLeafs? Yeah, well he goes ahead and scores one with under two minutes remaining.
It makes for a rather hectic finish, but the Leafs managed to hold on for the 5-4 lead, Kadri's marker standing as the game winner.
Continuing their possession woes, Toronto was outshot 43-28 on the night!
This really isn't so acceptable on a game to game basis. Some nights you get lit up, but constantly getting outshot by a differential of +10 is worrisome - even if you can argue the quality of many of those shots.
Either way, over 40 shots is too many. Wonder how that happened?
oooh.
Nonetheless, Reimer kept the Sens to one goal less than the Leafs, stopping 39 of 43 on the night for a .907 SV%. Certainly not world-beating, but at least Sens beating. The Leafs won the midway point of the season, and continued looking good.
Riding high off of back-to-back wins to start the week, the blue and white strode into Boston, heads held high. I'm not sure why, other than the fact there was a game between these two squadrons that night.
Reimer was given the night off, facing over 71 shots in his last two contests combined.
Ben Scrivens was the starter for our Toronto Maple Leafs. Some guy called Anton Khodubin (sounds like a street fighter move) took nets for the B's. He looks a little like this.
whoa. if looks could stop pucks.
This was a pretty lacklustre affair that never really got the blood pumping.
It certainly wasn't the 8-0 shellacking we've seen in years past, but Toronto was definitely playing catch up throughout this one. Boston took a 1-0 lead to the dressing room on a Patrice Bergeron tally in the final minute of the period.
Kadri tied it up with his 11th, (!!) a nice tip on a Clarke MacArthur shot early in the second. The Bruins were unphased, however, and Tyler Seguin restored the lead less than five minutes later, converting on a feed from Brad Marchand. The Leafs would again give up a goal late in the period, this time to David Krejci with just under 2 minutes left, giving Boston a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
Jay McClement, continuing his hot streak, got the Leafs back within one with just under five minutes left, but after pulling their goalie in an attempt at the equalizer, Tyler Seguin (who?) scored his second of the game into an empty net, securing the final score at 4-2 for Boston.
Miraculously, the Leafs outshot the B's 27 to 25 (they did only muster 5 in the third with the game on the line.) 6 of those total shots came from Grabovski and Bozak who had three each to their name.
This was something of a playoff barometer for the Leafs, taking on a team many see as a contendor for the Eastern Conference crown. While Boston never seemed in peril of losing this one, the Leafs managed to skate with the team for two thirds of the game, and didn't let the score get away from them - not exactly a brightside - but at least a silver lining to the crowd.
This takes us up to our marquee HNIC matchup
Penguins v Maple Leafs - March 9 2013
Our Hockey Night in Canada matchup starts with a cute little tribute to Stompin' Tom Connors, writer of "The Hockey Song" who passed away earlier this week at the age of 77. The night would be rife with said tributes though, so just pretend that this mention covers them all.
The Leafs headed into this one with 3 wins in their past 4.
Pittsburgh comes into town with an identical record in their past 4.
Your starters for this one are James "Too Many Nicknames" Reimer and Marc-Andre "Flower-Power"
Fleury.
witness the horror as MAF unleashes some flower power on his stick.
This one uhh, well it didn't start out too well. Have a look see.
look at the stick work from kessel.
This is really just a stroke of bad luck - Kessel goes for the block and his stick breaks. The redirect goes to Neal, who already has Reimer to his mercy as he reacted to the initial shot. Whelp, 36 seconds in and the good guys are down 1-0. Can't be that bad, right? Of course not!
Look! Just over six minutes later, the Leafs pull even - on the powerplay no less! Check it out.
it's super useful to have guys stand in front of the net.
The Leafs powerplay had been in a bit of a lull all week, and clearly the Penguins haven't done a whole bunch of scouting on the Leafs - pretty much plays 1 through 1D feature the Kessel shot originating from the half-boards. But hey, a goal's a goal. Kessel's shot was a rocket - there was a dude in front of the net to screen, and that probably would have gone in had JVR not gotten a piece of it. Either way, Toronto pulls even. Great, right?
Seven minutes later, the inevitable happened. During some sloppy defensive zone play, the puck squirts loose during a scoring sequence. Whose stick does it wind up on before all is said and done? Why Sidney Crosby of course. I bet you can imagine what happens from there.
whoops
Things look pretty innocent on this 2-2 rush - that is until the shot is tipped and Reimer has troubles controlling the rebound. This corralled by Letang who will tell everyone that was a pass to Crosby and not a shot. Sid knows what to do with an empty net though, and boom 2-1.
Things would go from bad to worse just over a minute later when former Canadian Prime Minister and present Penguins defenceman Paul Martin would direct a shot on net that is ultimately tapped home by Beau Bennett (who may have one of the better names alliterative names in the NHL)
i think everyone got a little caught up with
malkin on this one, no?
Following this, the Pens would take a 3-1 lead into the dressing room during first intermission after outshooting Toronto 13-5 in the first.
Coaches Corner was the typical ordeal, Cherry lamenting the mainstream media's issues with fighting as well as bemoaning the call to make visors mandatory. His arguments against are, for the most part, archaic and sort of silly, but hey - I guess my tax dollars make his expertise more... expert? Who's to say?
Back on the ice for the second period, the Leafs began the period with a little more jump, but couldn't manufacture any quality scoring chances early. Some puck luck worked the Leafs way as at the halfway point of the game, "the best overall player in the game" (according to wayne gretzky) would be sent off for two minutes for tripping. The Leafs "new, improved" powerplay went to work, and Cody Franson halved the Pens lead just 17 seconds into the powerplay, converting a slick, cross-ice, Phil Kessel (this guy only scores goals, amiright?) feed for his 2nd of the season.
seriously - to all the kessel naysayers, look at the
development in this guy's game. look how he passes.
look how he draws puck pressure.
trade kessel? give me a break.
Pascal Dupuis? You know him, right? No, Dupuis, not Dijon. Anywho, he kinda sucks. Good at hockey, but a bit of a jerkwad. That's sort of my stance on anyone with commemorative cup winning tattoos. Anyway, he of the Pittsburgh Silver Ink decided he'd had enough of this one goal lead BS, and put the Pens up by two again, taking home a nifty wraparound tally on this goal.
did i call this a nifty wraparound? i meant crappy
bankshot from the back of the net.
So this one is already becoming a bit of an olde west shootout, eh?
No, no. Not a hockey shootout (though that may happen later, wink wink)
Six goals in under forty minutes of play?
The Dead Puck Era this ain't.
So the teams decided to keep shooting, 'cause apparently this leads to scoring.
Who'da thunk it?
Your next goal scorer? Look no further than Clarke "The Dude the Leafs should resign instead of Bozak" MacArthur. Ol' Clarkey Mark? He can shoot, no doubt about it. Check out his Mac-ness burying his 7th of the season, a mere minute later.
check out that release!
sticktap to frattin, picking up an assist in his first game back.
After MacArthur brought the Leafs back to within one, the teams would muster up little else in terms of offense (i mean, other than 7 goals after 40 minutes) and the teams would head to the second intermission up 4-3. Toronto outshot the Pens 12-11 on the period (helped by powerplay time), bringing the shot totals to 25-16 in favour of Pittsburgh.
The teams would return to the ice for the third and play a much more conservative style, Pittsburgh reigning it in, looking to hold their one goal lead and Toronto playing the patience game, looking for their opportunity to equalize. Both teams would squander powerplay opportunities with the Leafs killing of a stupid "oh, man - the glass is to low in this arena" penalty to Nazem Kadri (this kid is all over the score sheet!) and the Pens killing off a man advantage dolled out due to an interference penalty on Brooks "who never hooks" Orpik.
It was looking pretty likely that Sid and Co. were going to be able to hang on to this lead and skate out of Toronto the victors. Then Phil Kessel happened.
With just under 5 minutes remaining in the final frame, Kessel skates the puck up ice like a man on a mission. His initial rush is broken up, but the Leafs maintain pressure in the Pittsburgh zone. The puck squirts back to the point and Mark Fraser directs a shot through, the rebound slides to Kessel and he slides it past Flower-Guy for the equalizer.
Kessel reaches 3 points on the night. Yup. No heart.
The teams would sit back and run down the clock in anticipation of overtime.
The third period buzzer would sound, and the Leafs had acquired themselves at least one point by tying it up and heading into overtime. Not bad, overcoming 2 goal deficits twice. Although the Leafs forced the extra frame, much of the third was dominated by Pittsburgh, who directed 13 shots on the Leafs net, contrasted by Toronto's 5. Nonetheless, overtime was about to start, and only one shot is needed to end it there.
The Leafs would manufacture numerous quality chances in the extra frame, notably by Kulemin and Grabovski early on. Kessel as well as Crosby, had chances as well, but was ultimately unable to capitalize. What does that mean? SHOOTOUT.
Hey, I hate the shootout, okay? Just putting that out there.
It's a dumb way to settle a tie. I mean, yes, hockey is a goal-scoring competition, but not between single skaters and goalers. This is like that year when the CFL had Field Goal shootouts. Except it's lasted for much longer, and sucks much worse.
So, Bozak goes first. He does not score. James Neal goes second. He does score. Nazem "Nifty Mittens" Kadri doesn't convert on his attempt, so it's down to Crosby. If Sid scores, the Pens win, if Reimer stops him, we shoot another round. Let's see what happens.
welp, whaddya say?
So the Pens take this one home 5-4 in a shootout.
Final shots on the game were 41-26 in favour of Pittsburgh. Reimer stopped 37 of those for a .902 SV%.
Mr Flower stopped 22 for an .846 SV% (wow, all-star numbers right there.)
Kris Letang led all skaters with 30:13 of icetime.
Dion Phaneuf led the Leafs with 28:50 (slightly above his average)
Phaneuf and Kessel lead all players with 3 points each (3 assists for #3, a goal and 2 assists for #81)
Well, it sure did take the Leafs a while to lose on in the shootout.
So, there we have it. Week #1 of "Death March" is in the books, and the Leafs faced it head on, coming out with a .500 record (two wins, two losses). They managed to beat a couple of teams that the should have (NJ and OTT) and kept with a couple of teams that are certainly front runners in the East (PIT and BOS). The continuing trend of getting outshot is a little worrisome, again, but hasn't really started biting them in the rear end yet. As a result of their effort during the week, Toronto hung on to their 5th place seed with 31 points, 1 ahead of Ottawa and 4 behind Boston. Not a bad record for a team that many questioned even making the playoffs this year. There certainly are some underlying issues that may still rear their ugly heads (lack of powerplay production, poor possession stats) but the Leafs are getting solid goaltending for the first time in a while and some of the young guns are producing (whoo, KADRI!), so at least it's fun to watch. Should they be able to sustain this pace of play (specifically the penalty kill, which was perfect on the week) and improve small areas of play (zone exits, and powerplay, specifically) we could be looking at a team headed to the first round of the playoffs. That would definitely be fun to watch.
The Leafs have a slightly lighter workload this week, and hopefully take advantage of it.
They'll travel to Winnipeg on Tuesday to play the Jethrashers, then return home to play Pittsburgh again (?) then the Jets again Saturday (??).
Ideally they'd pick up at least 2 wins this week, beating the Jets (26 points, 9th in the east) twice.
Pittsburgh is starting to click, and that poses bad news for everyone in the East, but the Leafs always get up for these games, so who knows? So long as they continue beating the teams behind them, and picking up points against the big boys, Toronto should be in good shape.
Odds and Sodds:
The Trade Front:
-Well now, it turns out we were all super early to bite on the "Mike Komisarek wants a trade" ordeal.
Were one to read between the lines, it does sound as though the much-maligned veteran isn't happy with his suggestion, and probably would like the opportunity to play elsewhere - but hey, he didn't "ask" for a trade, so there is that.
-You guys remember Mike Brown? Yeah?
He was pretty awesome. Brian Burke picked up Mike Brown back in 2010 during one of his truculence runs. Mike Brown offered plenty of truculence, moustacheness and hands of stone for the Leafers. Unfortunately, new GM Dave Nonis needed to make some room on the roster for returning forward Matt Frattin, and poor Mike Brown was shipped to Edmonton for a conditional 4th rounder. Mozel Tov, Mike Brown - you and that rad handlebar will be missed.
too bad "moustache-power" never became a thing.
Realignment:
Remember that stupid realignment plan that was proposed many moons ago, then shot down, then re-emerged last week with a couple of tweaks as the forerunner for the new set up for the league? Yeah, well the NHLPA approved it, meaning it's pretty much good to go. I can't say this is surprising, but it is annoying.
When you look at the "Central" which now encompasses the old Northeast, plus Detroit and the Florida teams, it really makes one wonder what the league has planned. Teams in the West are unhappy about more travel. Teams in the East are unhappy about mis-weighted conferences. But hey, the dude that runs Little Caeser's is happy, and NBC is happy, so it's a win-win, right?
Hey, at least the Red Wings dominance is fading.
Visors and Staged Fights:
One of these things has to come, and one of these things has to go.
Got any guesses?
Listen, every single player in the league comes up wearing a full face shield or at least partial visor. Why stop? That's almost as stupid as NASCAR drivers getting rid of their rollcages because they can't see, or F1 drivers deciding their seatbelts hinder their car handling abilities. This has to happen, and likely will sooner or later. The NHL has had so many close calls over the years. Marc Staal this year, sure - but look at Chris Pronger, Marion Hossa, Bryan Berard and Taylor Hall. Someone's going to lose an eye in a game, or worse, a warm up, and then everybody looks worse. In no other industry is the safety of workers so fought against, and yet the NHL drags its feet on each and every element relevant to players safety. One day this will bite them. Just grandfather the damned things in. You don't wear one now? That's your own dumb fault. You're coming into the league after this? Sorry, no choice. Keep it on. It's not like anybody looks to MacTavish like he's a folk hero for being the last guy to not wear a helmet.
When it comes to this staged fighting stuff, the answer is almost as clear. Watching McLaren KO the young Senators enforcer this week made me pretty sick to my stomach. The physicality of hockey is one of its major drawing factors, not detriments, and nobody wishes to take it away. This however was not part of that physicality. This was a fight for the sake of fighting - not defending a teammate, not upholding the "code". Just two enforcers trying to "wake up" the benches. Sadly, I fear this too will not come to change until something terrible happens on the ice, but I hope I'm wrong. 20 years ago hockey fighters were just that - hockey players that fought. In the last 10 years or so though, there's been a change. All of a sudden these are heavyweight boxers on skates that can take a punch better than a pass. I'm not sure there's a place in the game for that. Heat of the moment fights because someone's taken liberties with your goaltender or star player? I'm not sure your average hockey fan wants or needs to see that go. Two behemoths clubbing each other with meat hammers to justify paycheques (no offense intended to players in this role - they can still probably play better than me) ? We can probably do without that.
Okay, then. Busy week that was in the world of Leafs - let's say you head back here around this time next week and we do it all again? Alrighty then.
No comments:
Post a Comment