Leafs Win, Chara Still Ugly

After a four-day weekend, I'm back in the groove today. No posts this weekend were due to no internet.

Danno and I took in the Leafs / Bruins game at the ACC on Saturday night, and boy was it boring at times. Fuck the Boston Bruins. Half of the game was a total snooze due to their bullshit overly-defensive style of play. At their most basic level, sports are entertainment. The Boston Bruins organization evidently tries to turn what could be an exciting sporting event into a chore to watch. Blehhh. Anyway, the last half of the third period and overtime made it all worthwhile.

The Leafs won 4-3 on the strength of Darcy Tucker's second goal of the game. No, really.

Darcy Tucker after his OT game-winning goal.
Charles Manson called; he wants his batshit crazy, chemically imbalanced stare back.

The game was a few days ago now, so rather than a recap, the following is what I noticed about the game that I would have missed had I watched it on the tele:

- Bryan McCabe's hand is definitely not 100%. Watching him in the pre-game warm-up, his shot is nothing like what it used to be. He was able to wind up and blast it, but his shot looked average at best - nothing like what it was. During the game, McCabe had perfect chances to unleash the one-timer (on the PP, for instance), but decided to pass it off instead. His hand isn't ready; and without the ability to use his best weapon, should he really be in the lineup?

- The Leafs' best line was Devereaux / Moore /Kilger. They applied the most forechecking pressure and mostly kept the Bruins in their zone. They even came away with the first Leafs goal. I heard meatheads in the stands talk up the line and how good they are, but the reality is that they look so good because the other 3 Leafs lines look so bad. This line is a typical 3rd line. They grind, they hit, and they create energy. But there really is nothing special about the Leafs third line, other than that they outplay the scoring lines on the team more than they should. Leafs Nation needs to watch good teams play hockey, and see how good scoring lines operate. On many NHL teams, their #1 line is the one that creates the energy and gets the crowd buzzing- you know, the way it should be.

- Leafs fans suck. Every time the Leafs carry the puck inside the blueline, they scream. Every mediocre scoring chance leads to most people in the stands absolutely losing their minds. I don't get it. Judging by the noise levels in the ACC, it's fairly evident that Leafs fans have no idea what is happening on the ice, about 90% of the time. Fuck!