Well, what do you know? The Leafs lost again - this time in a shootout - blowing an opportunity to beat the worst team in the league. It looked as if the Leafs had the upper hand going into overtime, as they tied the game with less than 10 seconds to play. But, 'twas not to be - the game went to a shootout and Atlanta put the Leafs away. When a team can put out Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Slava Kozlov - who is now an amazing 13 for 19 in shootouts - as their three shooters, you're in real trouble.
The last two minutes of the game were insane!. The Leafs easily had their best forecheck of the season, and their best that I remember in a long, long time. The result was the game tying goal by Alexei Ponikarovsky.
Random Game Notes:
- Boyd Devereaux blew a 2 on 1 rush in the first period when he tried to saucer pass over the defenseman to Chad Kilger. Hey Boyd, why not earn a full-time spot on the team before you try the Gretzky passes?
- Paul Maurice had Nik Antropov playing with the abovementioned Devereaux and Kilger for most of the game. Way to reward Antropov's strong play, Paul...stick him with 4th liners.
- Ponikarovski's 2nd period high-sticking penalty was a blown call. He had his stick lifted by an Atlanta player and it then hit another Thrasher in the face. Both the officials and the broadcasting team missed it.
- Simon Gamache took Poni's spot on the top line for a couple of shifts while Maurice him after the penalty. On Gamache's very first shift with Mats and Jason, he looked good, injecting energy and drawing a penalty.
- Antropov's powerplay goal was all thanks to Jason Blake driving hard to the net with the puck. We haven't seen a winger with that ability on the Leafs in quite some time.
So much for that experiment: Tony "Alphabet Soup" Salmelainen has left the Toronto Marlies for personal reasons and will aparently not return. As a result, he's been suspended by the organization. Salmelainen left the team for Finland 11 days ago, which, by my count, is the day after the Leafs recalled Simon Gamache. For those of you not paying attention to the Marlies, Salmelainen and Gamache were both reasonable choices to be called up from the Marlies after strong training camps. It seems Tony was bitter about not being the choice. Oh, and the 'personal reasons' that Tony cited? You guessed it: a sore vagina.
The last two minutes of the game were insane!. The Leafs easily had their best forecheck of the season, and their best that I remember in a long, long time. The result was the game tying goal by Alexei Ponikarovsky.
Random Game Notes:
- Boyd Devereaux blew a 2 on 1 rush in the first period when he tried to saucer pass over the defenseman to Chad Kilger. Hey Boyd, why not earn a full-time spot on the team before you try the Gretzky passes?
- Paul Maurice had Nik Antropov playing with the abovementioned Devereaux and Kilger for most of the game. Way to reward Antropov's strong play, Paul...stick him with 4th liners.
- Ponikarovski's 2nd period high-sticking penalty was a blown call. He had his stick lifted by an Atlanta player and it then hit another Thrasher in the face. Both the officials and the broadcasting team missed it.
- Simon Gamache took Poni's spot on the top line for a couple of shifts while Maurice him after the penalty. On Gamache's very first shift with Mats and Jason, he looked good, injecting energy and drawing a penalty.
- Antropov's powerplay goal was all thanks to Jason Blake driving hard to the net with the puck. We haven't seen a winger with that ability on the Leafs in quite some time.
So much for that experiment: Tony "Alphabet Soup" Salmelainen has left the Toronto Marlies for personal reasons and will aparently not return. As a result, he's been suspended by the organization. Salmelainen left the team for Finland 11 days ago, which, by my count, is the day after the Leafs recalled Simon Gamache. For those of you not paying attention to the Marlies, Salmelainen and Gamache were both reasonable choices to be called up from the Marlies after strong training camps. It seems Tony was bitter about not being the choice. Oh, and the 'personal reasons' that Tony cited? You guessed it: a sore vagina.
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