Der Toronto Maple Leafs Thread

[Lichtgestalt]

Boston Bruins - Toronto Maple Leafs 2:10 (2:1, 0:5, 0:4)

0:1 (4.) Pohl 6 PP (Devereaux, Kubina)

1:1 (9.) Donovan 4 (Primeau, Stastny)

2:1 (12.) Primeau 7 PP (Alberts, Mowers)

2:2 (22.) Battaglia 5 (White, Pohl)

2:3 (29.) Steen 5 (White, Raycroft)

2:4 (36.) Battaglia 6 (Pohl, Devereaux)

2:5 (36.) Steen 6 (O'Neill, Sundin)

2:6 (37.) Newbury 2 (Steen, Stajan)

2:7 (48.) Stajan 7 (Kaberle, Devereaux)

2:8 (48.) Steen 7 (Gill)

2:9 (50.) Stajan 8 SH (Steen, Kaberle)

2:10 (56.) Kilger 7 (Newbury, Stajan)

SOG: Bruins 31, Leafs 39.

PIM: Bruins 19, Leafs 33.

PP: Bruins 1/7, Leafs 1/4.

-> Recap

[Seppo Dramac]

Da kann man echt nur mehr sagen! Verdammt, ich hab noch überlegt aufzubleiben und es mir anzusehen (falls ich es technisch zusammengebracht hätte)

bearbeitet 5. Januar 2007 von Seppo Dramac

[Lichtgestalt]

WINNING HEALS ALL WOUNDS

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had so many wounded bodies the team charter should come with a big, red cross. There have been times when it seemed they were the only team in the NHL whose injury report took longer to dissect than their game film.

But head coach Paul Maurice's worst nightmare may yet turn into a sweet dream. "Around Christmas (during the worst of the injury bug-a-boo), as coaches there's a tendency to wring your hands. Then you walk into the dressing room and realize for some of these guys it's the best Christmas of their lives. They're in the NHL and some of that enthusiasm lifts a team."

When the team departed Boston Thursday after dismantling the Bruins 10-2 there were 10 players on board who spent last season on bus trips to such swanky hockey hotspots as Bridgeport and Peoria. Kris Newbury scored his first NHL goal this week; less than two years ago he was playing in Pensacola where the only ice most locals are familiar with comes with a daquiri.

Ian White has gone from playing 12 NHL games last year to front-line duty on the Leafs' defence.

This is a team that features one line of Bates Battaglia, Boyd Devereux and John Pohl. Then there's Ben Ondrus, Wade Belak and Newbury. This is not the team Maurice, or Leafs' fans, expected. It has not been an easy adjustment as evidenced by a first half that saw the team drop out of a playoff spot, pronounced dead by the public and buried by an increasingly disenchanted media. Mats Sundin was out. Ditto Darcy Tucker, Kyle Wellwood. Ouch!

But, with two wins against the Bruins this week all those new hands are gaining confidence. All those new parts are starting to mesh just a bit better with the older, mended ones and says Maurice it could make this a much deeper, better team in the long haul. "Rarely do guys come up and get chances like this year. You don't usually come up and get 15 minutes (ice time). It's given guys a chance to look good."

And, it's also given them a chance to look bad, learn, and still wake up the next morning in the NHL. So there's Newbury, two goals into an NHL career, playing bigger than he looks. He's listed at 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds but he must've been holding a couple bags of clay at the time. "As a kid I liked Eric Lindros. He's bigger but I admire the tough approach he had to the game. I try to play that way. Sometimes I run my mouth off and get in trouble."

But, hey, Tucker's made a career with an attitude like that.

In other less formal circles Newbury, Odrus and Belak were being dubbed the NOB Line. This is a good thing. Honest! In sports, when they give you a nickname, you've made it. It is a measure of acceptance. Maurice yesterday praised NOB Inc. for "their energy."

Meantime, the influx of fresh faces may be spurring players such as Matt Stajan. "It's true that as a player you don't feel quite as secure in your position when you see a young guy come in and play well in your position," Maurice said. So, there was the third-year Leaf player on Thursday snapping a 17-game drought with two goals. He hadn't scored since Nov. 24. "I was happy for him because I know it was weighing on him," said Maurice.

Stajan has lived the hard times. The experience, as the new Leafs are discovering, either breaks a player and turns them into gym teachers and bar owners -- or it makes them better. "Once you play a couple years you become confident that you are an NHL player but when you go through a drought you still play mind games with yourself," Stajan said. "It's almost refreshing for our team sometimes to go on the road. There's a lot of tension here with the media. On the road, we have a lot of fun. That's just the way it is in Toronto."

And, this season, has been a little of both -- the worst of times, the best of times. "Everyone hits bumps in the road," White said. "Experience helps. The more you play; the more you learn. Fifty, a hundred games down the road, you feel it coming together as a player and as a team."

-> Toronto Star

[AustroLeaf]

So there's Newbury, two goals into an NHL career, playing bigger than he looks. He's listed at 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds but he must've been holding a couple bags of clay at the time.

Ein paar geile Tore waren da dabei. Das 1:0 von Pohl, das 4:2 von Battaglia (sensationelle Shift!) und das 7:2 durch Steen.

[Lichtgestalt]

LEAFS vs SABRES PREVIEW

For one of the few times on the road, everything went right for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their last game. For one of the few times all season, the Buffalo Sabres are trying to snap out of a funk. The two Northeast Division rivals enter their game Saturday at the Air Canada Centre with one team looking to sustain its momentum and the other trying to regain it.

The Maple Leafs (19-17-6) put together their most complete road game of the season with a 10-2 thrashing of the Boston Bruins on Thursday to complete a home-and-home sweep. Alexander Steen, who had just 10 points in his first 41 games, had his first career hat trick and added two assists for a career-high five-point game as the Maple Leafs scored nine unanswered goals in the final two periods.

"There has never been a doubt about his (Steen) talent," Maple Leafs coach Paul Maurice said. "There were questions to other parts of his game, but he has worked hard to improve those." Steen, a first-round pick by the Leafs in 2002, had not had a multipoint game this season and had totaled just two goals in his previous eight games before Thursday's scoring binge. The 22-year-old center scored four goals in his first three games against the Sabres as a rookie last season but has only four assists in his last six against them.

Matthew Stajan added two goals and two assists, ending a six-game stretch without a point, and recorded his first multigoal game since Oct. 12.

Buffalo (29-9-3) is trying to avoid its first three-game losing streak of the season after a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Friday. Derek Roy and Chris Drury scored goals for the Sabres, who failed to bounce back from a 6-3 loss to Ottawa on Wednesday. "What you need to guard against is letting that frustration affect how hard you work on the ice," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

The Sabres also might need to improve their penalty killing. After allowing just one power-play goal in 21 opportunities over a six-game stretch during which they went 5-0-1, the Sabres have allowed five man-advantage goals in nine penalty kills in the two most recent losses. Additionally, Buffalo was without defenseman Henrik Tallinder, who suffered a sprained ankle in Wednesday's defeat and is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks.

Sabres leading scorer Daniel Briere assisted on Drury's goal to give him 47 points for the season, but the center has just two goals in his last 14 games following a hat trick at Tampa Bay on Dec. 5. Briere, though, has a six-game points streak against the Maple Leafs, totaling three goals and five assists in that span.

The teams have split two games - both played in Buffalo - thus far. Briere snapped a 4-all tie with 5:19 to play before Jason Pominville and Drury added empty-net goals in a 7-4 victory Nov. 22. Darcy Tucker scored two goals for the Maple Leafs, who squandered an early 2-0 lead before rallying from two goals down to tie the game at 4 late in the second period.

-> nhl.com

werd jedenfalls in die partie reinhören. forza babyleafs!

[revo]

werd jedenfalls in die partie reinhören. forza babyleafs!

Sop you.

[Lichtgestalt]

Toronto Maple Leafs - Buffalo Sabres 3:4 (1:2, 1:2, 1:0)

0:1 (5.) Kalinin 3 (Pominville, Briere)

0:2 (5.) Drury 22 (Kotalik)

1:2 (18.) Colaiacovo 3 (Newbury, Stajan)

1:3 (24.) Briere 16 (Vanek, Afinogenov)

2:3 (33.) Steen 8 PP (Kaberle, McCabe)

2:4 (39.) Kotalik 12 (Drury, Gaustad)

3:4 (56.) Kubina 1 PP (Pohl, White)

SOG: Leafs 35, Sabres 29.

PIM: Leafs 17, Sabres 23.

PP: Leafs 2/8, Sabres 0/5.

-> Recap

[Lichtgestalt]

GOALTENDING WOES COST LEAFS IN LOSS TO SABRES

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost their next outing after a big blowout in Boston, but it would not be completely accurate to say they suffered a letdown. The Leafs did not play badly in losing, 4-3, to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night but their goaltender, Andrew Raycroft, did. He was outplayed by the Sabres' backup goaltender, Martin Biron, who faced 35 shots, and the Leafs fell two nights after they blitzed the Boston Bruins for 10 goals.

Pavel Kubina, with his first goal of the season, brought the Leafs to within one goal with four minutes and six seconds left in the third period. The Leaf defenceman fired a slapshot that Biron got his glove on, but the puck squirted out of his glove and into the net to cut Buffalo's lead to 4-3.

The goal swung the Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,487 back to the side of their team. There had been a few boos just before that when the Leafs power play failed to capitalize on a couple of chances and Raycroft was subject to some mock cheers for his struggles.

A late penalty to Leafs forward Jeff O'Neill hampered the Leafs' hopes for a comeback with Raycroft on the bench for an extra attacker. They gave it a good try, though, but centre John Pohl missed an open net with about 30 seconds to play and Biron made a couple of good saves to bring the Sabres their 30th win of the National Hockey League season.

That they played fairly well did not satisfy the Leafs. "It doesn't matter how you lose," said Alexander Steen, who scored one of the Leaf goals. "It's always frustrating when you lose."

The difference, as Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff saw it, was that his players managed to get in Raycroft's face a little more than the Leafs did with Biron. "There wasn't anything fancy about it," Ruff said. "We got some pucks to the net, some traffic. I don't think [Raycroft] saw the first two goals. And Marty [biron] was very good for us."

The Maple Leafs spent Friday worrying they would follow their pattern this season. That pattern was to turn in a miserable effort in a game following a blowout. The Leafs embarrassed the Washington Capitals 7-1 on Nov. 24 and then turned in a desultory effort in their next game, losing 3-1 to the Boston Bruins. They went on to lose seven in a row. On Dec. 16, the Leafs whipped the New York Rangers 9-2 and then lost four of their next five games. Their latest blowout came last Thursday, when they bombed the Bruins, 10-2.

All things considered, this should have been a game where the Leafs broke the mould. They had Friday off, while the Sabres were at home losing to the Penguins, their second consecutive loss. Then again, perhaps the fact the Sabres have yet to lose three games in a row this season was an omen.

But both teams came out in the first period looking a tad weary. But it was the Sabres who moved in front quickly, scoring two goals in the same manner from opposite sides of the ice. First, Sabres defenceman Dmitri Kalinin fired a slapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Leafs zone. Raycroft was on his knees and was partially screened and the puck caught the top corner of the net at 4:18 on Raycroft's glove side. Thirty-nine seconds later, Sabres centre Chris Drury took a slapshot from the top of the right faceoff circle. Once again, Raycroft was on his knees and once again he was screened. This one caught the top corner on his stick side.

Raycroft played fairly well over the rest of the period — he robbed Thomas Vanek twice in succession at one point — but the damage was done. "They were going to the net," Raycroft said. "They always had four or five guys around after the shots."

The Leafs did get the Sabres' lead back to one goal late in the period when they scored a similar goal to both of the Sabres'. Leaf defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo pounced on the puck in the high slot and his wrist shot sailed through a crowd to the top corner behind Biron.

In the second period, every time the Leafs looked like they were poised to get back in the game the Sabres pulled away. The first time came at 3:47 when Daniel Briere scored a nice goal. He took a pass from Vanek in the slot, hesitated long enough to get Raycroft to go down, then slid the puck around him for his 16th goal of the season.

A couple of Sabres' penalties gave the Leafs a 5-on-3 power play and Alexander Steen cashed in with his sixth goal in his last six games. Steen knocked in a rebound of Bryan McCabe's shot from the point and the score was 3-2, Sabres. This gave the Leafs some life and the game became much more entertaining for the rest of the period. But Biron was up to the challenge.

The killer came with 1:43 left in the second period when Raycroft let in a softie — yes, he was on his knees again. Buffalo forward Ales Kotalik had the puck inside the Leaf blueline and he fired a high shot toward Raycroft, who went down way too early, a bad habit of his, and the puck hit the top corner to put the Sabres ahead by two again.

Centre Erik Westrum was called up by the Leafs to fill in for the injured Darcy Tucker (foot). Leafs head coach Paul Maurice dressed seven defencemen in the Boston blowout to cover Tucker's absence but decided against it Saturday night at home. But Westrum barely saw the ice in the first two periods, getting two shifts through the first two periods and 36 seconds of ice time, and finished with two minutes and 59 seconds of playing time.

-> globesports

[Lichtgestalt]

Toronto Maple Leafs - Carolina Hurricanes 1:4 (1:0, 0:3, 0:1)

1:0 (16.) McCabe 9 (Steen, O'Neill)

1:1 (22.) Walker 13 (Larose, Tanabe)

1:2 (23.) Belanger 8 PP (Brind'Amour, Whitney)

1:3 (39.) Staal 19 PP (Whitney, Stillman)

1:4 (60.) Williams 21 EN (Stillman, Staal)

SOG: Leafs 30, Canes 29.

PIM: Leafs 12, Canes 4.

PP: Leafs 0/2, Canes 2/6.

-> Recap

[themanwho]

Leaf, ich würd mal sagen du hast gestern aufs falsche Pferd (= auf den falschen Goalie) gesetzt.

[themanwho]

Maple Leafs pick up veteran centre Travis Green off NHL waivers

Canadian Press Jan 10, 2007, 3:07 PM EST

TORONTO (CP) - Travis Green is set for his second go-around with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The veteran centre was plucked off waivers by the injury-riddled Leafs on Wednesday from the Anaheim Ducks. The 36-year-old had one goal and one assist in seven games for the Ducks this season. He's earning US$500,000 this season and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1.

Green had 58 points (23-35) in 157 games with the Leafs in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. He had 10 goals and 12 assists in 82 games with Boston last season. Overall he has 455 career points (193-262) in 946 regular-season games with Anaheim, Boston, Toronto, Phoenix and the New York Islanders, where he started his career.

[Lichtgestalt]

Buffalo Sabres - Toronto Maple Leafs 2:4 (0:0, 1:2, 1:2)

0:1 (21.) O'Neill 14 (Sundin)

1:1 (27.) Vanek 23 PP (Briere, Spacek)

1:2 (36.) Kubina 2 PP (Colaiacovo, Pohl)

2:2 (43.) Drury 23 PP (Roy, Gaustad)

2:3 (46.) Steen 9 (Colaiacovo)

2:4 (51.) O'Neill 15 (Sundin, Steen)

SOG: Sabres 24, Leafs 28.

PIM: Sabres 17, Leafs 21.

PP: Sabres 2/6, Leafs 1/4.

-> Recap

[Lichtgestalt]

Toronto Maple Leafs - Vancouver Canucks 1:6 (1:1, 0:1, 0:4)

0:1 (9.) Ohlund 9 PP (D.Sedin, H.Sedin)

1:1 (14.) Battaglia 7 (Devereaux)

1:2 (21.) D.Sedin 17 PP (H.Sedin, Ohlund)

1:3 (45.) Linden 7 PP (D.Sedin, Naslund)

1:4 (45.) Pyatt 11 PP (Ohlund, Morrison)

1:5 (54.) Salo 7 PP (H.Sedin, D.Sedin)

1:6 (58.) Naslund 14 (Pyatt)

SOG: Leafs 36, Canucks 21.

PIM: Leafs 20, Canucks 16.

PP: Leafs 0/8, Canucks 5/10.

[AustroLeaf]

[Lichtgestalt]

WHAT ARE FERGUSON'S GOALTENDING OPTIONS?

TAMPA — There was much disapprobation — hey, e-mailers, I got the word right this time, so back off — directed at Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson last week for the state of his team's goaltending.

The critics are basking in the warm, fuzzy glow of their correctness this morning. On Saturday, the Leafs lost 6-1 to the Vancouver Canucks after outshooting them 36-21. Special teams aside, the only difference in this game was goaltending. Roberto Luongo was magnificent for the Canucks. At the other end of the ice, Andrew Raycroft was awful. It is becoming clear Raycroft is unlikely to recapture the form that made him the National Hockey League's rookie of the year three years ago.

However, before we pile on Ferguson, too, there are some things to consider. Such as, what were the alternatives last summer when he traded one of his two prize goaltending prospects, Tuukka Rask, to the Boston Bruins for Raycroft? And how are the rest of those alternatives doing this season?

Back in July, the top prize was Luongo, who was a year away from unrestricted free agency. But when the Florida Panthers' GM at the time, Mike Keenan, decided he would not be able to sign Luongo to a new deal, he put him on the trade market. The Maple Leafs looked into the situation, but were never in the running. One factor was that if Ferguson was able to sign Luongo, it would cost $7-million (all figures U.S.) a year, which means he would not have been able to sign at least two of the three free agents he ended up with, defencemen Hal Gill and Pavel Kubina and centre Michael Peca.

Yes, all right, I can hear you. With 20-20 hindsight, no Kubina and no Gill would be well worth Luongo. But there's another major problem — aside from the fact the Leafs had little to offer that interested Keenan, those in the know say he had no intention of trading Luongo to an Eastern Conference team. Keenan did not want Luongo haunting him several times a season and perhaps in the playoffs.

This left names such as free agents Martin Gerber, Dominik Hasek, Manny Legace and Dan Cloutier. Throw in traded goaltenders Alexander Auld and Marc Denis and the list of failed strategies is long. At the time, Gerber was considered the prize by more experienced GMs than Ferguson. To get him, Senators general manager John Muckler had to outbid the Detroit Red Wings and pay Gerber $3-million a year. Gerber, who is 7-9-1, with a 3.15 goals-against average, has been an even bigger disaster than Raycroft. Luckily for Muckler, he had a developing goaltender, Ray Emery, who bailed him out.

It was the same story with Cloutier. The Los Angeles Kings signed him and fell to last place. Legace is playing well now, but was in and out of the lineup before that on a bad team, the St. Louis Blues. As for Denis, ask Tampa Bay GM Jay Feaster whether he'd like a mulligan on that trade. Auld, who went to the Panthers in the Luongo trade, is not standing on his head, nor is his teammate Ed Belfour, who was dumped by the Leafs in the off-season.

Hasek (23-7-3, 2.03 GAA) is clearly the success of the class of 2006, but he did not sign until late summer because no one wanted to take a chance on his age, injury history and quirky personality.

So what should Ferguson and the Leafs do now?

First, do not mess with the remaining top goaltending prospect, Justin Pogge. He is not tearing up the American Hockey League, so let him develop at his own pace. The netminding situation on the Leafs is a separate problem. Raycroft and his $2-million salary will have to be swallowed, probably as a backup unless Ferguson can find a GM who recently suffered a severe head wound.

There are six goaltenders scheduled to become free agents: Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Martin Biron, Legace, David Aebischer, Fredrik Norrena and Niklas Backstrom. All come with question marks. Would Giguère be as good without Anaheim Ducks defencemen Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer in front of him? Could Biron, Norrena or Backstrom handle a promotion to the No. 1 job?

Trade possibilities will be Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks and Chris Mason of the Nashville Predators. Nabokov comes with a $5-million salary, and Mason is hoping to be the next Dwayne Roloson, a late bloomer after years as a backup.

The choice comes down to Nabokov, Giguère or Biron, with Biron the only one who would not command a salary in the $5-million range. That's quite a decision for a Maple Leafs GM who has to make the playoffs to ensure his future.

-> globesports.com

bearbeitet 15. Januar 2007 von Lichtgestalt