Son Of The Bitch!

The Blue & White's First Bold Statement of the Season:
Paul Maurice's decision to start Andrew Raycroft against the Ottawa Senators tonight for game 1 of the regular season cost the team the game.

Now, I realize how easy it is to make comments such as that in hindsight, but let's not forget that I called his decision to start Raycroft a mistake in the first place..in foresight. Why the fuck do you bench Vesa Toskala, when Raycroft (as the incumbent) has shown a complete inability to compete against the Senators? It made no fucking sense when he made the decision, and looking back, it makes less sense now.

Three of the four goals that Raycroft allowed tonight were extremely weak goals. Extremely. Fucking. Weak. The exception was the first goal by Dany Heatley. A real #1 goaltender saves each of the other Ottawa goals. A goalie letting in soft goals when you are competing against the best team in the conference is a backbreaker, flat out.

In fairness, I'll note that Raycroft made a few very solid saves. But his inability to stop anything when the game is on the line meant [a] the necessity to bring in another goaltender over the summer, and [b] a loss for the Leafs tonight. In fairness part 2, the team in front of Raycroft was not perfect tonight - mistakes were made. Tomas Kaberle, for instance, had his worst game since the lockout.

Paul Maurice will undoubtedly stand in front of the (ridiculous circus of) microphones and tell anyone who is willing to listen that he went with the goaltender that gave his team the best chance to win. I am calling shenanigans on that. He's an intelligent man, this I'll never challenge, but pre-season aside, Raycroft has shown nothing in the way of stellar goaltending for any length of time, whereas Toskala's only hindrance was a lack of playing time behind a top 5 goaltender. Paul Maurice should be smart enough to know that [a] the pre-season means nothing, and [b] Vesa Toskala is the better goaltender every day of the week, and twice on Sundays. What gives, Paul? You should look at the game tape from tonight and flick yourself in the nuts with a spoon for every weak goal that Raycroft let in. If I see you limping tomorrow, I'll know you took my advice.

On the plus side, the Leafs' top line of Sundin, Blake, and Antropov looked as good as the Sens' top line. Yeah, I said it. I really think that Antropov's strong start (did you see that subtle but unstoppable move on Gerber for his second goal??) is the best thing that could have happened to him tonight. He has all the tools to be a really fucking good NHL player. The average Leafs fan loves to pick on Antropov because his skating is...well, it's ugly. He is a very tall man that skates with long powerful strides, so he looks like a sloth out there, but the fact is that every other part of his game is far above average. It can't be a bad thing to give him some confidence going forward.

Next game for the Leafs is tomorrow night against the same Ottawa Senators. If Vesa Toskala doesn't start I am setting the Air Canada Centre on fire. Go write it on the side of a cow.