Did the Leafs play last night?
TOR vs FLA 11/02/06
Did they? Because it sure didn't look like it for the first 47 minutes.
Right off the bat, the Leafs were caught sleeping by Olesz who scored his first of the year. I'm tired of the Leafs being a remedy to other teams' scoring woes. And I mean really tired. Ottawa sucks, then bam, thirteen in two games. The Avs get their second win of the season in six tries against the Leafs at the ACC. Now, the Panthers who had scored four in the previous three games, score on their first shot. A few different things are going on here, but the common denominator is the Leafs. Not good.
Credit to the Panthers who thwarted almost every rush through the neutral zone. The Leafs generated zero speed through center ice, and Panthers were creating for all the turnovers they forced. As a result the Leafs were outshot for the third straight game. I guess all the shots were used up in Montreal over the weekend.
It also didn't help that Florida wasn't called for a penalty until seven minutes left in the second, but that is neither here nor there. The Leafs did squat with their lone power play advantage. Of course, the Leafs PK was solid, so there is that. And of course, a solid penalty kill doesn't win games.
The nail in the coffin came off Quietcowski's stick early in the third on a breakaway. #8 for Florida played an impressive game, and if not for his goal, the Leafs might have salvaged a point. First McCabe scored his second of the year, get this, at even strength. Sundin then rifled a slapper through Eddie "No Comment" Belfour. (Doesn't Sundin's shot look lethal with a composite stick?).
But the Leafs showed up with too few ticks of the clock remaining, and squandered one, and possibly two, crucial non-North East divisional points. The Leafs do have six points in the last four games, but last night felt like a missed opportunity. I should probably be used to that feeling by now.
____________________________________________
TCF Pool Update - Congrats to 86, aka JP McGovern, for leading through the first month of the season with 285 points.
Did they? Because it sure didn't look like it for the first 47 minutes.
Right off the bat, the Leafs were caught sleeping by Olesz who scored his first of the year. I'm tired of the Leafs being a remedy to other teams' scoring woes. And I mean really tired. Ottawa sucks, then bam, thirteen in two games. The Avs get their second win of the season in six tries against the Leafs at the ACC. Now, the Panthers who had scored four in the previous three games, score on their first shot. A few different things are going on here, but the common denominator is the Leafs. Not good.
Credit to the Panthers who thwarted almost every rush through the neutral zone. The Leafs generated zero speed through center ice, and Panthers were creating for all the turnovers they forced. As a result the Leafs were outshot for the third straight game. I guess all the shots were used up in Montreal over the weekend.
It also didn't help that Florida wasn't called for a penalty until seven minutes left in the second, but that is neither here nor there. The Leafs did squat with their lone power play advantage. Of course, the Leafs PK was solid, so there is that. And of course, a solid penalty kill doesn't win games.
The nail in the coffin came off Quietcowski's stick early in the third on a breakaway. #8 for Florida played an impressive game, and if not for his goal, the Leafs might have salvaged a point. First McCabe scored his second of the year, get this, at even strength. Sundin then rifled a slapper through Eddie "No Comment" Belfour. (Doesn't Sundin's shot look lethal with a composite stick?).
But the Leafs showed up with too few ticks of the clock remaining, and squandered one, and possibly two, crucial non-North East divisional points. The Leafs do have six points in the last four games, but last night felt like a missed opportunity. I should probably be used to that feeling by now.
____________________________________________
TCF Pool Update - Congrats to 86, aka JP McGovern, for leading through the first month of the season with 285 points.
posted by mike @ 5:14 PM
3 Comments:
At 11:40 PM,
Wardo said…
You know what I'm really tired of? Leaf TV.
Even if I wanted to pay for it (which I don't) this game was unwatchable to me, because my satellite provider won't allow me to pay for Leaf TV because I live in the Ottawa viewing area. They told me it has something to do with blackout rules.
One more reason to hate the Senaturds.
I hope Melnyk's flagship drug product turns out to cause cancer, turning him into a pauper overnight so the Senators bankrupt themselves into oblivion.
Then, maybe I could see all the games again.
At 6:03 PM,
Anonymous said…
Come on over to forumICE.com and join a great panel of Leaf experts.
We are a growing community of NHL fans and experts and we would love to see you there.
LS
At 12:45 AM,
Caiden Craig said…
Thank you for writing and sharing this
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