Der Toronto Maple Leafs Thread

[AustroLeaf]

Graben wir mal wieder aus...

Montreal Canadiens - Toronto Maple Leafs 3:2 SO (1:1, 1:0, 0:1, 0:0)

1:0 (6.) Kastsitsyn 1 (Higgins, Plekanec)

1:1 (16.) Wellwood 10 (McCabe, Colaiacovo) PP

2:1 (31.) Koivu 19 (Bouillon)

2:2 (49.) Kubina 6 (Wellwood, Tucker)

SO: 2:1 Montreal

SOG: Habs 31, Leafs 39

PP: Habs 0/4, Leafs 1/3

Recap

GO LEAFS GO!!!

[Lichtgestalt]

LEAFS SPINNING THEIR WHEELS

If the Toronto Maple Leafs had taken care of business against the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens over the weekend, they would be sitting pretty in seventh spot in the National Hockey League's Eastern Conference with three weeks left in the regular season. Instead, the Leafs dirtied what should have been a much cleaner path to the playoffs by garnering one measly point against two struggling teams that were behind Toronto in the standings.

The Leafs entered action on Friday one point out of the eighth and final playoff position and emerged Sunday morning with the same disadvantage to overcome. But instead of a dozen regular-season games remaining, the Leafs have only 10 on their docket. To add to the Leafs' anxiety, the competition waiting on the horizon for the next six games will be more severe than the Capitals and Canadiens, whom the Leafs rallied against on Saturday to gain a point in a 3-2 shootout loss.

Toronto will face the second best team in the East, the New Jersey Devils, at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday before playing away-and-home games with the Eastern-leading Buffalo Sabres on Friday and Saturday. The next week will have games against the Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Thrashers and Pittsburgh Penguins. "We have some tough teams to play," said centre Kyle Wellwood, who set up both Toronto goals against the Canadiens. "That will make it all the more exciting and difficult at the same time for us."

Last season, the Leafs tiptoed out of Montreal in late March having dropped two games to the Canadiens which effectively eliminated Toronto from playoff contention. Only a late-season 9-2-1 surge prolonged the inevitable for the Leafs. Ninety-two points was the total the Tampa Bay Lightning reached to secure the final playoff position in the East a year ago, a figure the Leafs fell two points shy of. If 92 points is the carrot this time, the Leafs would have to grab 14 of the remaining 20 available points.

"We're in a better position [than last year]," Toronto captain Mats Sundin said. "[Despite the two losses], we really haven't lost our spot in the standings. But at the same time, we're going to have to be better — especially in the first 10 minutes of games."

Against Washington and Montreal, the Leafs were not sharp early. They struggled to move the puck effectively through the neutral zone and had no fore-checking pressure on the opposition.

To boot, Toronto goaltender Andrew Raycroft allowed soft goals in both matches. Less than two minutes into the game against the Capitals, the Leafs' netminder whiffed on a clearing attempt that resulted in a goal. Only six minutes five seconds had elapsed before he allowed another stinker, to Montreal rookie Andrei Kostitsyn.

This sort of play resulted in the lost weekend and may cause the Leafs to miss the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1997-98. "Maybe we should be looking at the positive rather than the negative," Darcy Tucker said. "We got a point, and we're still in it."

The Leafs will likely get a boost this week with the return of defenceman Tomas Kaberle, who has missed the past seven games after suffering a concussion on March 2. Toronto coach Paul Maurice said over the weekend that there is a chance Kaberle could back in action against the Devils, but that the aim is for the Leafs' best blueliner to be ready for the back-to-back games with the Sabres.

-> globesports.com

[Lichtgestalt]

Toronto Maple Leafs - New Jersey Devils 2:1 (1:0, 0:0, 1:1)

1:0 (19.) Wellwood 11 PP (Sundin, Colaiacovo)

2:0 (47.) Antropov 16 (Sundin, Ponikarovsky)

2:1 (47.) Zajac 16 (Langenbrunner, Greene)

SOG: Leafs 25, Devils 25.

PIM: Leafs 11, Devils 9.

PP: Leafs 1/2, Devils 0/3.

-> Recap

[themanwho]

1:0 (19.) Wellwood 11 PP (Sundin, Colaiacovo)

Viel Glück gehabt bei diesem Tor .. wäre mMn ein PS für die Devils gewesen. Aber gut, den Devils schadet eine Niederlage ohnehin nicht.

Langer fight übrigens:

bearbeitet 21. März 2007 von themanwho

[Lichtgestalt]

Viel Glück gehabt bei diesem Tor ..

nicht nur bei diesem tor. was die devils v.a. im zweiten drittel an sitzern versemmelt haben - respekt!

[Lichtgestalt]

Buffalo Sabres - Toronto Maple Leafs 5:4 (1:1, 0:1, 4:2)

1:0 (6.) Vanek 36 PP (Kalinin, Pominville)

1:1 (19.) McCabe 12 PP (Kaberle, Sundin)

1:2 (25.) Stajan 10 (Steen, Colaiacovo)

1:3 (41.) Devereaux 5 (Stajan)

1:4 (44.) Devereaux 6 (unassisted)

2:4 (46.) Vanek 37 PP (Roy, Pominville)

3:4 (50.) Briere 31 (Campbell, Drury)

4:4 (54.) Pominville 32 (Briere, Hecht)

5:4 (55.) Stafford 12 (Vanek, Roy)

SOG: Sabres 34, Leafs 44.

PIM: Sabres 8, Leafs 10.

PP: Sabres 2/5, Leafs 1/4.

-> Recap

[AustroLeaf]

back breaker

edit: und weiterer Auftrieb für die ASB-Sabres-Bandwagon-Gemeinde.

bearbeitet 24. März 2007 von AustroLeaf

[teampilot]

back breaker

edit: und weiterer Auftrieb für die ASB-Sabres-Bandwagon-Gemeinde.

:keks?:

[Lichtgestalt]

LEAFS REELING AFTER COLLAPSE

BUFFALO – Matt Stajan stood at his locker, moments after he'd perhaps played his best game of the season, his lower lip quivering with emotion, coping instead of celebrating.

This could have been a storybook night for the Stajan. It could have been a heroic return for Tomas Kaberle, who'd been on the shelf three weeks with a concussion but turned in an impressive 22 minutes. It could have been all about the heartwarming effort of Boyd Devereaux, a minor-leaguer to start the year who potted two goals in what looked like one of the Maple Leafs' biggest victories.

But it was about none of those things. Instead it was about trying to find perspective, solace and a little hope after a 4-1 third-period lead suddenly and crushingly turned into a 5-4 defeat.

"It's tough. That was our game. There's no excuses. We're all pro athletes in here, we have to bounce back (tonight) because we don't have any time to waste here. You blow a 4-1 lead, it's not a fun time," said Stajan. "We've got eight games left and we know we've got to win almost all of them to get in (to the playoffs); at least six of them. That's our focus now because there's not much good that came from that third period."

Stajan, playing with energy and driving to the net all night, scored a goal – just his second in 32 games – and made a great play to set up one of Devereaux's. He was having the most impact on a game since his four-point night at Boston in early January but he was almost lost in the mix of an excellent Toronto effort.

Unfortunately, as goaltender Andrew Raycroft unintentionally summarized perfectly, the Leafs played a "half-decent game." It was the second half, or at least the final 15 minutes that killed them. The Leafs have been humiliated and steamrolled in this building countless times over the years.

But likely none of those defeats was ultimately more devastating than this collapse. "There's nothing to be happy about. Obviously my line played well. I thought everyone was kind of going for the first 45 minutes and then, you know, something turned. The only points that matter now are the points in the standings, the individual stuff doesn't matter," said Stajan. "Everyone has to pull together here. It's frustrating."

Two points they desperately needed seemed assured. Then the Sabres unleashed their devastating offence, took advantage of some Toronto mistakes and scored four goals on nine shots in less than nine minutes to grab a 5-4 victory. The Leafs remain mired in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

There was a succession of errors, mistakes a team just can't make against the NHL's highest-scoring team. A Pavel Kubina tripping penalty got ball rolling, when Thomas Vanek scored his second goal of the night on the subsequent power play. An Ian White penalty for hauling down Vanek then put that Buffalo power play on the ice again and Daniel Briere scored just after that minor expired.

The killer on the night, and possibly on the Leafs' playoff hopes, were two goals 20 seconds apart from Jason Pominville, on a breakaway after a White turnover, and from Drew Stafford, that turned a one-goal lead into heartbreak.

Normally glib coach Paul Maurice said he had little to say to his players when it was over. "I didn't say anything, just because there's nothing to say. Let's just get the heck out of here and try to build it back up for tomorrow night," he recounted of the somber post-game dressing room scene. "Hell, there's some guys in there that played just incredible games and they're sitting in there, thinking `I cost us the game with that penalty or that turnover.' We've got to find a way to win (tonight)."

The loss freezes Toronto two points behind the idle Carolina Hurricanes who hold down the eighth and final playoff spot. "We're not in a position to feel sorry for ourselves or start thinking we're not good enough," said captain Mats Sundin. "We got to show it (tonight). We've got to win the next game, that's just the way it is."

-> Toronto Star

[AustroLeaf]

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

1:0 (4.) Tucker 23 (Wellwood, McCabe) PP

1:1 (19.) Hecht 17 (MacArthur, Mair)

2:1 (22.) Tucker 24 (Wellwood, Antropov)

3:1 (24.) Colaiacovo 6 (Devereaux, Stajan)

4:1 (46.) Antropov 17 (McCabe, Ponikarovsky)

SOG: Leafs 35, Sabres 20

PP: Leafs 1/5, Sabres 0/4

Recap gibt's noch nicht.

Habs, Canes, Rangers und Islanders haben auch alle gewonnen.

[Lichtgestalt]

-> Recap

[Lichtgestalt]

LET THE PLAYOFF DANCE BEGIN

How nice of the Tampa Bay Lightning to join the party.

Whereas the scuffle in the bottom portion of the Eastern Conference appeared to involve five teams fighting for two spots just last week, that has changed courtesy of the floundering Bolts. Tampa found itself passed by the soaring New York Rangers yesterday, once again demonstrating that if you don't like the conference standings much today, don't worry.

Tomorrow they'll be different. But they won't change any tonight, with Anaheim and Detroit playing the only game of the evening, but tomorrow night the Islanders, Rangers, Lightning, Hurricanes, Canadiens and, the Maple Leafs will be in action. There are three spots up for grabs, and now these teams are starting to play each other.

Wednesday morning, then, should bring another round of re-evaluation, magic number calculation and schedule examination. There have been those, particularly in Leaf-land, who have sneered at this entire process, figuring that whichever of these teams do manage to qualify for post-season will simply provide cannon fodder for the better Eastern teams. There is an unmistakeable smell of mediocrity in the air. It is indisputably true that making the playoffs as a seventh or eighth seed will rob one of these teams of the superior draft pick they would earn by missing the post-season entirely.

To some, that would be the way to go, the Pittsburgh way, as it were.

Others look at the Washington Capitals and years of losing and drafting high and realize there isn't necessarily an automatic relationship between stinking for a while and then emerging as a diamond from the rough. Also, the belief that it's pointless just to scrape into the Stanley Cup dance rests on the notion that all of these teams hustling to put together a last minute push for a post-season berth aren't in the least bit capable of doing some playoff damage.

Not sure about that one.

The Rangers are as sizzling as any team in hockey right now, while the Leafs themselves just finished a double-bill against Buffalo Sabres in which they dominated the NHL's top team for approximately 100 of 120 minutes played.

Sure the Sabres have injuries, and no, they didn't have as much to play for as the Leafs. But aside from that ugly eight minutes and 45 seconds segment in the third period of Friday's game in which the Sabres turned a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead, it was in fact Paul Maurice's squad that was legitimately the better team. "We proved we can play with them," said defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo after Saturday night's solid 4-1 victory.

With two weeks left in the season, you can split the remainder of the schedule into two segments for the Leafs. This week is keep-it-close week. Next week is go-for-the-jugular week.

This week, you see, the Leafs do have a pretty crucial game against Carolina, but the rest of the week includes a road trip to Atlanta and a home start against Pittsburgh. It is next week with visits to Manhattan and Long Island and a home game against Montreal, however, where the Leafs will be able to leapfrog teams if they get through this week in a position to do so.

There are 14 points still on the table, which leads you to believe 12 will definitely be enough, and 10 might be enough, but not necessarily. It's winning those games against the Canes, Rangers, Islanders and Habs that will decide it.

Here's what the Leafs do know as of this morning. They know they played very, very well against the two top teams in the conference last week, and they know they did so with some of their youngest players – Carlo Colaiacovo, Matt Stajan, Alex Steen and Kyle Wellwood – carrying the mail.

With five consecutive victories at the ACC, they appear to have solved their season-long inability to win at home. So they should be a confident team going into tomorrow night, and a team that should know it has the ability to win every game left on the schedule.

-> Toronto Star

[Lichtgestalt]

Toronto Maple Leafs - Carolina Hurricanes 6:1 (3:1, 2:0, 1:0)

1:0 (1.) Devereaux 7 (Steen, Stajan)

1:1 (3.) Staal 29 (Cole, F.Kaberle)

2:1 (15.) Kubina 7 (unassisted)

3:1 (18.) Kilger 12 (T.Kaberle)

4:1 (28.) Kilger 13 (Pohl, Perreault)

5:1 (32.) Perreault 21 (Gill, White)

6:1 (46.) Ponikarovsky 19 (unassisted)

SOG: Leafs 32, Canes 27.

PIM: Leafs 6, Canes 6.

PP: Leafs 0/3, Canes 0/3.

-> Recap

[themanwho]

Also das war ja mal in beeindruckender Manier. Durch den aktuellen Downswing von Tampa und den Isles rücken die Playoffs in greifbare Nähe, v.a. weil die Form zu stimmen scheint.

Wenn Carolina, Tampa und Isles das ausständige Spiel gewinnen, dann könnte sich folgende Situation nach 77 Spielen ergeben:

Rangers 87

Tampa 86

Montreal 86

Carolina 86

Leafs 86

Isles 86

(Nach Anzahl der Siege gereiht)

Geht's noch spannender?

[Lichtgestalt]

Wenn Carolina, Tampa und Isles das ausständige Spiel gewinnen, dann könnte sich folgende Situation nach 77 Spielen ergeben:

Rangers 87

Tampa 86

Montreal 86

Carolina 86

Leafs 86

Isles 86

unglaublich eigentlich.

ich hab vor zwei wochen ehrlich gestanden nicht mehr dran geglaubt, dass die leafs das heuer vielleicht doch noch packen. umso beeindruckender ist die aktuelle formkurve. sind ja nicht grad die schlechtesten, die wir da in den letzten spielen vorgesetzt bekommen haben.

go leafs go!