Leafs @ Bruins The Aftermath

Tonight the Toronto Maple Leafs lost their 4^th straight games to the defending Stanley cup champs. The worst part of this loss was the Leafs were outplayed badly in the 3^rd period when they still had a chance to come back in the game. Now as per usual after a bad loss or a couple in a row people in Leafs Nation are beginning to panic, to them I say calm down a bit then let’s look at this realistically. After a slow start to the season the Boston Bruins are hitting their stride and have been an impressive 13-0-1 in their last 14 games. The Leafs who were expected to be a bubble playoff team outperformed expectation in the early part of the season and since have had some injury problems bringing them back to earth a bit. Is it disappointing to lose to a division rival 2 games in a row, yes. Is it natural to want some changes made to the team so they can compete with the top teams in the NHL, yes of course. On the other hand we must also look at the strides this team has made in the past few years, and instead of being 3-8-3 in November we were above .500.

Ok so does this mean I think that tonight’s effort in the 3^rd was great.. no, do I see room for improvement , of course. However I feel I must look for improvement in realistic areas. For one I expect a good game against the Rangers, rebounding from a pair of losses is important and the Leafs can ill afford to go into a slide now. I will mention tonight the Leafs improved in taking penalties only taking 2 and allowing 0 power-play goals. The line juggling that Ron Wilson did was good and given a few more days of practice and another game may produce more results. I thought Kulemin and Grabo were very good tonight. The return of Reimer tonight was huge and although the Leafs lost our goaltending was not an issue at all.

My final message in this blog is that there is no need for a huge trade right now, the Leafs do not need to be blown up, and instead they need to stay true on the path they are on. Also when some bodies begin to come back (Army in a week) hopefully they can outperform expectations once again. GO LEAFS GO

Leafs @ Bruins Father Son Game

Tonight the Leafs visit the Bruins to end a home and home series that saw the Leafs lose the first game 6-3 on Wednesday. Now the big story coming into this game is the return of the one and only James Reimer who has been confirmed as the starter after missing over a month with concussion like symptoms. On a lesser lineup not Cody Franson will also slot in tonight for the blue and white in place of Keith Aulie.

So far this year the stats against Boston are not pretty, of course Reimer hasn’t played a game against the Big Bad Bruins and he was 3-0-1 against them last year. So far this year without Reimer the Leafs are 0-3-0 with 19 goals against, and while the Leafs played much better against the former champs on Wednesday they still made some mistakes. So what are the major factors that have led to 3 straight losses to the Bruins:

-         Penalties; against the bruins this year the Leafs have taken 12 penalties and have been scored on 4 times

-         Powerplay; the Leafs have had 10 powerplays in the 3 games against the Bruins yet have only managed to score 1 goal on the man advantage

-         Tim Thomas, so far this year the Leafs have faced Tim Thomas in all three games and he has been great 5 goals against, 1 shutout in 3 games

It is pretty obvious to me what the Leafs need to do tonight in order to win; stay out of the box, capitalize on the powerplay opportunities they get, don’t make mental mistakes in our own end.

I should also mention that this is the first game of the Father and son roadtrip weekend, lets hope the Leafs put on a good show with their dads on hand!

Yesterday for the first time I asked some questions at the end of my blog and today I think I will continue with that.

Phil Kessel has 78 goals as a member of the Maple Leafs when do you think he will hit 80? Perhaps tonight against his former team?

Some have suggested that with the return of Reimer and Monsters improved play that the Leafs should look to flip him for a high return, do you agree disagree or think they should wait till the deadline?

On a side note Kulemin will be playing on the third line tonight with Grabovski and Crabb, something I mentioned as a distinct possibility in my blog yesterday, Frattin moves up to the second line.

GO LEAFS GO

December Week 1 Questions for the Month

 Today is another off day for the Leafs and in anticipation of the beginning of the first Leaf game of the month tomorrow against Boston here are some questions and issues that will be answered throughout the month. Firstly some injury updates today; Mike Brown will be out a further 6 weeks after back surgery, Colby Armstrong is expected to be back in about a week, finally James Reimer has been given full clearance to play!

So with Army about to return what will that do to the Leafs lineup, well it would seem someone will have to be sent down the Marlies, I believe the best bet on this is Colbourne, as it will help his development as well Joey Crabb is much more fitted to slide down and play a 4^th line role. I think its also safe to expect that Grabovski will either play in the 2^nd or 3^rd line centre slot with either Bozak playing in the 1^st or 3^rd and Connolly playing in the 1^st or 2^nd depending on line chemistry and play in the early part of the month.

 Another big question this month is Kulemin, he has been known to be a slow starter and despite putting up some points lately has not been able to score very often. At what point is this no longer a slow start? Its 25 games into the season and 2 goals is not worthy of a 2^nd line wing position. It is possible to move Kulimen to third line and put Grabovski there as well which could help jump start them as they find the chemistry they showed throughout last season and the beginning of this one. That would mean Frattin Connolly and Macarthur would make up the 2^nd line, not a bad idea if things continue to go badly for Kulemin.

Now I will pose a couple of Questions to you and hopefully you can answer in the comments on this blog for me!

First who do you believe will have a bigger December Kessel or Lupul?

Secondly with Kadri being named AHL player of the month for November, when will he get a call up? Next injury or if Kulemin continues to struggle?

Thanks for reading look out tomorrow for a pre-view of the Boston Game and as always GO LEAFS GO!!!

November Wrap Up

November has come and gone once again and the Leafs have come out the other side in pretty decent shape. Finishing the month at 7-6-1 the Leafs are still 2^nd in the division and 4^th in the conference, now when u compare this Novembers to lasts where the Leafs went 3-8-3 the jump in records is astonishing! At the beginnings of November I said the Leafs needed 8 wins this month, they fell one win short of that bu still did very well considering the injuries they sustained.

 Last night the Leafs played the Bruins who were 11-0-1 in the month of November with a chance to finish November 1^st in the conference… however despite a good game by the Leafs they came up short the wrong end of a 6-3 score. However I do not believe that this score is indicative of the Leafs play last night. The Leafs held their own against the defending champs despite 5 penalties including a long 5-3 and some non-calls by the refs. The Leafs could have won this game if not for a few bad shifts. Now normally I try to stay pretty positive in my blog and don’t go on long rants but today is the exception.

In the third period last night the Leafs were down 4-3 to the Boston Bruins they had just cut a 2 goal deficit to 1 and had a chance to make a comeback to tie the game. Then they had a horrible shift… a bad change leads to Schenn getting stuck on the ice he tries to clear a puck but fans on it then all hell breaks loose. The bruins’ player takes the puck behind the Leafs net and we stand there watching him like he’s Wayne Gretzky while he plays with himself for like 20 seconds! On top of this we do not cover any of the players in front of the net despite not challenging the man with the puck at all! Eventually this leads to the bruins 5^th goal and the end of the comeback for the Leafs!

Ok that’s it end of rant. So now we enter December and the first game is against the Bruins in Boston hopefully the Leafs can split the home and home and get December off on the right foot. The Leafs enter December with a record of 14-9-2, with 13 games this month the Leafs will need to be over .500 once again 8 wins should be the target this month to stay in the playoffs. A record of 8-3-2 for the month would be great, would give the Leafs a 22-12-4 record overall. Here’s to a great month of hockey GO LEAFS GO!!

Congrats to Joffrey Lupul on being 3^rd star of the month

Leafs November/ Bruins-Leafs home and home

So it's been awhile since I wrote a blog entry… So I’m going to try and make this one a good one! There is a lot to talk about right now in Leafs Nation, with a quarter of the season gone and an important part of the schedule coming up for the Leafs. Today I want to talk about injuries, upcoming home and home against the Bruins, the Leafs record so far in November, and goaltending( as per usual lol).

Ok so lets start with injuries, we all know that the Leafs are banged up right now and have been for awhile, however the real story is the Leafs play despite being injured as well as what is Ron Wilson going to do when the injured Leafs start to comeback. The Leafs are 4-1 in their last 5 games with call ups Joe Colbourne and Joey Crabb playing well on the third line, further complicating matters is the play of Tyler Bozak on the First line and Tim Connolly on the 2^nd, Connolly is a point per game player in the games he has played this season. Grabovski came back into the lineup last night and was slotted into the 4^th line... which lets face it can’t continue. So do the Leafs send Colbourne back to the Marlies to make room for Grabovski on the 3^rd line or does Grabovski go to the second line Connolly to the first and Bozak back to the third? Somehow I don’t think Bozak or Connolly will be moved right now those 2 lines are playing too well, however moving Grabovski to the 3^rd line and sending Colbourne back to the Marlies is entirely possible. Actually makes sense if David Steckel returns to the lineup on Wednesday. That’s the forwards now on defense the Leafs have 2 injuries Komisarek and Gunnarsson. Now Komisarek is a ways away from returning and Cody Franson has played well in his place IMO. The major concern for me is Gunnar hopefully he can return for the Bruins game as he has been if not the best one of the Leafs best defensemen this season! His calm play will be missed greatly against a team like the bruins if he is unable to play. So my last point on injuries has to do with the last thing I want to talk about in this blog so I will touch on goaltending a little bit further along. Basically the Leafs management and coaches have some decisions to make in the next 2 days … do they play what has worked for the last 5 games or do they send some guys down?

Let’s face facts the 2 games the Leafs have played against the Bruins this season have been… ugly I think that’s the best word to use. 13 goals against and 2 goals for does not give Leafs Nation confidence going into this back to back especially with the Bruins playing their best hockey of the season. If the Leafs are to win either of the games in this home and home they need to come out strong, and yes this is a recurring theme in my blogs but in this case it is imperative on home ice after a successful road trip if the leafs can control play early and get a goal or 2 past Tim Thomas they have a chance in the game. Following this if the Leafs can pull out a win in the first game it gives them an increased chance at a win in the second game, getting the Bruin monkey off their back so to speak. In all honesty I would like to see 3 out of 4 points in these next 2 games.

The Leafs are having a good November by Leaf standards they are 7-5-1 with one game remaining in the month. Now at the beginning of this month I said that in my opinion the Leafs would need 8 wins in November to remain at the top of the division, well that seems to be pretty solid prediction and with one game remaining the Leafs can reach that total. With the injuries that the Leafs have sustained as well as the usual type of record the Leafs have in November, this year has been a pleasant surprise. This leads me to my next topic goaltending!

The Monster is back! 8-4 so far this year but most importantly he is 4-0 in his last 4 with a .941 save percentage and 1.75 GAA these numbers have allowed the leafs to win 3 straight. It also helps the Leafs with Reimer’s injury because as Monster plays well there is less pressure to rush Reimer back and furthermore Reimer can even sit on the bench for a few games before he returns to the Leafs net. Now many people may not agree with this however as long as Monster is playing well he should get some starts and when Reimer is ready he will play.

GO LEAFS GO!

*Monsters stats; http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8475361

Leafs this Week/ Toronto @ Nashville

This is my first entry of the week and there is a reason for that, I needed a break from the Leafs. It was a 3 day break but I needed a break especially after their game against Ottawa. One which I spent most of the game yelling at the TV, I felt a few days off would be good for me. So I’m back and ready to talk about the Leafs again, tonight they play Nashville, Franson and Lombardi make there return and with 7D in tonight ill be interested to see Gardiner play some forward time!

Now I want to talk goaltending, I’ve played net for going on 13 years now, and although I will never be close to the NHL level I do have a general understanding of the position. Having said that I am very impressed with Ben Scrivens, not only has he stolen games for us he has shown mental toughness not only within games (phoenix), but between games. Not only has he been mentally tough, but his style of play is very fitting for the NHL; he is in position, a good blocking goalie and can make some athletic saves when needed. Obviously I’m not the only one who sees this as he gets his 4^th straight start tonight!

So what do I think Leafs need to do to win tonight? The answer is simple, or not so simple as the Leafs have struggled doing it this year; they need to score first, and early and often, they need to carry the play for 60 minutes. Now a lot of people will throw out the “they need to play for 60 minutes” im talking more than that, there have been games where it is obvious the Leafs have played 60 minutes yet failed to carry the play or win. Against a really good defensive team like Nashville with a good goalie the Leafs need to get on them early hopefully get a lead and then continue to put the foot to the floor so to speak.

It is important to note that the Leafs will have a different look tonight with Grabovski and Macarthur out of the lineup, hopefully Connolly and Kulemin can fins some chemistry and provide some much needed secondary scoring tonight GO LEAFS GO.

Leafs vs Sens HHOF Night

Tonight is the Third meeting of the season between the Maple Leafs and the Senators, both teams have won a game. This game is also the hockey hall of fame induction ceremony which adds an extra dimension to the game with 3 former leafs being inducted as well as the ceremony before the game which can throw some players off a bit.

There are many questions coming into this game, can Kessel keep his scoring streak going, who will start in net for the Leafs, what Ottawa Senators team will we see tonight? So far the Sens season has been one of 2 teams a slow start followed by a long winning streak now followed by a 5 game losing streak. With the Sens playing last night in Buffalo and Craig Anderson getting pulled early the only fresh player on the ice for the Sens might be their goalie, but if he plays like he did last night he could be leaving early again.

It is imperative that the Leafs come out of the gate with some offense similarly to the game against the Blues, however the Sens despite being a poor team have an explosive offense and the Leafs cannot sit back like they did in the second 2 periods of the Blues game. The Leafs got great goaltending from Ben Scrivens on Thursday night hopefully whoever is in net for the Leafs tonight (I’m hoping for Scrivens) can play just as well.

The Leafs need to get 2 points tonight, they are playing a team who is desperate for a win and is a bitter rival so this game will not be easy. If the Leafs are to make the playoffs however they need to win division games especially against the teams who are supposed to finish below them. GO LEAFS GO