Game 36 - Leafs defeat Panthers 2-1 in OT

Steve says:

Nice Christmas gift from the buds! Thanks boys. It was all we could ask for. Some more spectacular goaltending. Some good looking PP and PK. Some good forechecking. And even some good old hard skating (and not just by Blake for a change).

So now we have a couple of days to eat lots of food, drink rum and nog until we cant keep our eyes open, play street hockey well into the night (thanks to a glow in the dark hockey ball!) and open overpriced gifts and stockings filled with socks and chocolate....sounds great right?

It gets better...

Here's a little gift for you to think about while you are all nestled warm in your PJ's.

In our conference, only 2 teams have a better record over their last 10 games...Ottawa (7-1-2) and Buffalo (7-3-0).

The Leafs have the 3rd best "last 10" in our conference heading into the X-mas break (6-3-1).

Also, even in our losses, we have been right in those games. We haven't looked too bad...so some bounces go our way and we play the full 60 minutes, and I bet the New Year will be a bright one for all of us.

Merry Christmas and I'll be back after the Boxing Day game.

GO LEAFS GO!!!!!!!!

Road Trip!

Steve says:

With that sweet home win, the boys in blue get themselves ready to hit the road on a 7 game road trip. They will not be back at the ACC until Sat. Dec. 29th vs. Rangers (Avery vs. Belak anyone?).

Anyway, here are the teams we are playing on the road, their last 10 game record and their position in relation to us in the standings:

Thrashers 5-4-1 below us
Canadiens 3-6-1 above us*

Hurricanes 4-6-0 above us

Lightning 3-6-1 below us

Panthers 6-4-0 below us

Islanders 3-5-2 below us

Flyers 4-4-2 above us*

(* equal in points, but they have games in hand)

So it looks like we have a good chance of not only winning some more games on the road, but with the race being so close (only 7pts separate us from 1st in the East!) we could really put ourselves in a good position heading into the 2nd half of the season.

Also, with the issues that teams like the Sens have been having lately, and the schedule they have in front of them, there is a chance of a few losses which would be great for the Leafs.

All of theses games are "4 point" games meaning that if we win in regulation, not only do we get 2 points, but we keep the other team, who happens to be in our conference race, from getting 2 points.

Hope we can keep up the winning ways.

As an aside, there is talk of the Leafs talking trade with San Jose...Marleau for Kaberle?...personally I think we should stick with the happy group we have for now...I think adding Marleau would only add to our offense..which isn't really an issue..it's the D we need to secure going forward.

Game 26 - Leafs Win! Leafs Win! 4-2

Steve says:
Sundin with a sweet backhander...how that went in, I'll never know...and Toskala playing a great game especially near the end with a HUGE blocker save!
On the 2nd goal by Notlanta (ha !), Enstrom just walks in from the right point while Stajan is caught watching the puck instead of taking his man out....I hope someone points this out to him because that is how we are letting in most of our goals. Our defensive mode is supposed to take out the man...but we often get caught watching the puck or following the man in to the corner...must be more careful to watch for open players.

It was a great game for the players last night...but there is a problem that the win creates....it allows the OTPP to stay the course just that much longer with JFJ....and if the Leafs manage a win on Saturday, then who knows how much longer JFJ can stretch that into him keeping his job.

I went and reviewed JFJ's actual record of trades etc. and it was pretty depressing. Most of the people we traded our future away for are no longer playing hockey and/or only played 15 or so games for us...woo hoo (/sarcasm) .

I hear reports out of Florida and McLean with regards to management changes...I wonder if that will turn into anything ...do we want it to?

ps. Ottawa lost it's 5th in a row.... :-)

Game 8

Chris says:

So, I really enjoyed watching last night’s game on Leafs TV when…

Wait a minute, I still don’t have LEAFS TV!!!!

That’s right, Steve is still not living up to his end of the bargain from the Great Playoff Bet of 2007, a fact that I became very aware of last night when I wasn’t able to tune into the game. It must be because L-TV is so expensive, I mean at 2.50 a month Steve is gonna have to cut down on his never-ending stream of morning lattés.

So, here’s what the newspaper tells me this morning.

A FanTAStic come from behind win from our boys in blue. Down 2-nil the Leafs come came back to win it by a score of 3-2. The Leafs were rough and aggressive, knocking around the Panthers a bit.

Goal scorers for the night were Jason Blake, Bryan McCabe (insert jaw drop here) and Nik Antropov, with 28 seconds to go in the third. Other notable mentions are Captain Mats Sundin with two assists and some pretty tight puck stopping by Toskala. All in all, it may not have been a pretty win, but one we’ll take nonetheless.

Hey, we’re Leafs fans, we’ve got pride but not THAT much pride.