Begin's right foot

Thank you Steve Begin's right foot.

I know it is bad karma to cheer the misfortune of others, but with all the Leafs misfortune throughout the season I'm confident that my happiness about this bad luck for the Islanders will at the worst make me even with the hockey gods.

The conventional wisdom for prognosticating who will make the playoffs in the East comes down to goal-tending. You must have your team defense and scoring depth, but if you don't have clutch goaltending you won't have much after 82 games. The Rangers have it, again, after it was strangely missing in the first half. Tampa Bay didn't have it, then had it, but now they don't. Carolina might have it, if Cam Ward finds his key to the zone where he lived during last year's run to the Cup. Montreal seems to have found it in recent rookie call-up Halak(Have you seen that 'Doom' demon on his mask? cool, but unsettling). Who knows how long Halak will have it, but the Crystal Ball waits in the wings, but he might not have it back either. Toronto has it sometimes, but that is usually when the team plays well in front of Raycroft.

And that leaves the Islanders, who had it big time. DiPietro was the horse which was single-handedly pulling New York into the play-offs. He beat the Leafs by himself twice in February, as I'm sure other victims of the white-hot /long contract goalie would attest. But with this news of Ricky D out indefinitely, a race for two spots from six (33%) that just became a race for three spots (thanks tampa) among six teams (50%) is now a race for three spots between five teams (60%).

And if Mike Dunham proves me wrong, he won't do much against the Sabres or Devils.

Sometimes, the cliche 'it's the little things' really rings true; one right foot out of forty-six on a team over eighty two games = 3772 feet per game, and all it took was one.

Now, you might be thinking, but the Leafs still don't have much of a shot given the fact they don't hold any tie-breakers. But if you are thinking this you didn't have your confidence in this team dismantled and then built back up in the span of twenty four hours this past weekend by the likes of Stajan, Steen (How pissed off does his look lately?! Whatever it is, I love it), Wellwood, Carlo, Antro, Kubina and Raycroft. If the young guns are capable of carrying this team in its time of greatest need this season, I'm thinking these last few games are very winnable. And if Sundin and Bates and Pohl can join the party....the Leafs might just make it in, and make it in on one helluva roll.