The Leafs were given every opportunity to win tonight; Glen Murray alone took four poor penalties in the second half of the game. The Leafs scored on none. It was as if the team became bored of winning and chose to half ass it tonight against Boston.
Boston started Alex Auld. You've heard of him: he's the goaltender that filled in adequately for Dan Cloutier in Vancouver a couple of seasons ago, then was traded to Florida in the Roberto Luongo deal, then shit the bed, then lost the starting job to a 40+ year old Ed Belfour, then was let go by Florida, then signed with Phoenix, then shit the bed again, then was traded to Boston this week for a mediocre minor league player. Yep, that Alex Auld...he beat the Leafs tonight. Son of a slut.
The Toronto powerplay again looked as impotent as a 90 year old alcoholic watching a Bea Arthur goatse. This is where the team is supposed to excel. They have invested big money on powerplay specialist defensemen, and their return on investment is lower than Enron stock.
Nearly every team in the league would give up a significant amount for Tomas Kaberle, and I really think that trading him is a great idea. This isn't a sour statement because the Leafs lost. Tomas Kaberle is the Leafs' most prized asset; Mats Sundin is the better player, but Kaberle is younger, is locked up long-term, and is signed below market value. There is no player on the Leafs that would fetch higher trade value than Kaberle. And, since the Leafs have zero chance of winning the Cup this year (or any year for the duration of Kaberle's contract) why not stock up on young talent or prospects or draft picks...or all of the above?
I'm not going to take the piss out of Ian White again tonight. He is what he is. I do think, however, that Paul Maurice agrees with me about White's play of late. Pavel Kubina's return to the lineup has meant decreased playing time for Ian White. In other words, as soon as there was an option other than Andy Wozniewski, White sat on the bench. Enough said, I reckon.
Chuck Kobasew's goal was of the type that we haven't seen from Toskala much this year, if at all. A shot that wasn't screened, tipped, or tricky in any way. It simply beat him. Vesa has been extremely solid on shots of that type. It sorta sucks that he let one in tonight (that ended up being the game winner), but I am pretty damn thankful that he routinely makes those shots look routine. Why am I saying routine so much? I dunno, its part of my routine, I guess. Routine.
Post Script: Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara could pass for identical twins...the ugliest goddam twins you'll ever see. If they were born 100 years before they were, they'd have been sold to the circus. And circus patrons the world over would have cringed at the sight of the two dog-faced giants...after seeing the lobster boy and the FeeJee Mermaid.
Post Post Script: I am pretty sure that the giant from Big Fish was molded after Chara. Mug shots below.
1 comment:
Jesus christ can the Leafs get a win off Boston this whole season? You are exactly right when you say they just decided to half ass it tonight. It seemed they really DIDN'T care about the outcome of the game, and it was like a scrimmage in practice. They made Alex Auld look like a legitimate NHL goaltender.
I guess it was an exciting game though, especially in the last minute or so when the Leafs couldn't score even if Raycroft still played for Boston.
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