Another Loss To A Back-Up Goaltender

It's unbelievable how many points the Leafs have squandered against back-up or third string goaltenders this season. Last night they were beaten 2-1 by rookie Karri Ramo and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Leafs didn't shit the bed as they've done the majority of their blown leads. Last night was just a bit of shitty luck. Late in the game, Pavel Kubina broke his stick trying to one-time a puck in the Lightning zone, creating a 2-on-1 for Tampa. The problem for the Leafs was that it was Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier attacking. Tomas Kaberle made a Lidstrom-esque defensive play (i.e. fucking amazing) and the Leafs looked to be out of trouble. But, the Lightning kept the puck in the Leafs' zone, and with Kubina stickless, St. Louis' pass to Lecavalier for the game-winning goal made it through. If Kubina has his stick there, he intercepts the pass.

I guess there is a positive to take from the game: it took a combination of a fluky play and the best player in the league to steal the game from the Leafs. In reality, they played well and - for whatever it's worth - probably deserved to win.

Vesa Toskala
I am going to say it right up front: I never, ever gave up on this guy. When seemingly every Leafs writer and/or fan in the country was calling for his head - due in large part to an almost 4 GAA - I stuck by him. When JFJ was called incompetent because he traded for a 'previously unproven goaltender', I stood up for him.

Now things have changed. Anyone that's seen a Leafs game since the beginning of November has a semi-permanent Toskala boner. He is consistently making ridiculous saves not seen in Toronto since CuJo. His numbers since he officially took over the #1 job have been in Luongo territory, and the amount of highlight reel saves on his resume this year is astounding.

The Leafs have lost three straight and I couldn't be higher on their goaltending. Bones it!

Synergy
I always find it really, really fucking lame when people say "If you look in the dictionary under the word _____, you'll see a picture of _____." Some examples are impotent/Damien Cox, superhuman/Wendel Clark, and fail/this guy.

The thing about that statement is there aren't any fucking pictures in dictionaries. I have no idea why people believe it to be a clever comment, other than the fact that most people are inherently stupid.

With all that said, if you look in the dictionary under synergy, you'll see a picture of the Steen/Stajan/Devereaux line. Holy fuck aren't these gents playing well? Take the sum of their individual talents and you have the equivalent of one NHL player. Put them together and they have been unstoppable. Their forecheck has been at par with the #1 line's forecheck - although they have nowhere near the scoring prowess - and they are more defensively responsible. They have taken over the #2 line status at the expense of the underachieving Wellwood/Blake/Tucker line. Translation: This line needs to stay together.