Leafs Hot In Hotlanta

The Leafs handed the Altlanta Thrashers their asses last night, with a 4-0 win. The image below is Kari Lehtonen after he shit the bed on Boyd Devereaux's short-handed goal. Every goalie mishandles the puck sometimes, Kari, but fer fucksakes the least you could do is give half an effort to get back into the net to bail yourself out. Why the fuck didn't you dive there? If I am a Thrashers fan, I let Lehtonen have it after that display. That is, after I am done fondling my friends' junk. You know, cause I'd be gay if I liked the Thrashers. Meuh!


The Leafs sustained significant offensive pressure for much of the night. The #1 line of Sundin, Antropov, and Poni had 8 points last night. Atlanta's defense was simply not up to the task of handing their size or strength. Moreover, when the #2 line (Wellwood, Blake, Tucker) came over the boards, Atlanta's D was ill-equipped to handle their speed. I'd love to call Paul Maurice a genius for assembling his lines this way - two top lines that can control the attack in two very different ways - but I think last night was an extreme example of his line combinations working. Atlanta's defense looked piss poor; it was like watching Toronto's D earlier in the season.

Toronto's powerplay again looked as strong as an adolescent vegetarian. In the first period, the Leafs were up for 4 minutes, and managed zero shots. Not only that, they sustained no pressure in Atlanta's zone and generally made the Thrashers look like penalty killing specialists. Great even-strength forechecking and solid goaltending again bailed out a supremely shitty powerplay. Had the Leafs lost last night, every writer in the city would be citing the powerplay as the main issue.

Random Gamed Notes:
- Marian Hossa: did you play last night? Jesus fucking christ, you were invisible!

- Every single time that I watch Ilya Kovalchuk play, I say to myself something along these lines, "Wow, this guy is really, really fucking good". He didn't mark up the scoresheet, was team worst -3, and I'd still call him Atlanta's best player last night. He is that good. His skill set is unparalleled in the world - nobody can do what he does with the puck. He gives me a boner.

- When Vesa Toskala stopped Kovalchuk on a partial breakaway in the second period, I about shit. Did you about shit? Toskala summoned some awkward Curtis Joseph acrobatics to make the save, and it looked fantastic. When I see Kovalchuk in high percentage attacks such as that, I assume a goal is automatic. Small birds saw Toskala's save, and immediately fell from the sky, dead.

- Two players surprised me with their play. Darcy Tucker, who has been getting the piss taken out of him recently for poor play - including here at The Blue & White - looked energized last night. He was finishing checks, going hard for the puck, and playing with tenacity that we haven't seen for a month or so.

- On the other hand, Alexei Zhitnik appears to think he's playing old-timers hockey. Wow, has this guy ever fallen from grace. Picked up last year for top-level prospect Braydon Coburn, Zhitnik hasn't scored a point in nearly two months, and often plays less than 10 minutes per game thanks to his shitty play. Seeing as Don Waddell is now coaching the team as well as acting as general manager (he was the one who traded for Zhitnik last year), I imagine he is feeling a little terrible for trading away Coburn for a guy that looks finished...and is taking his frustration out on Zhitnik's icetime.