March 24, 2003
Toronto 2 at Boston 3

Forwards
Renberg – Sundin – Hoglund
Mogilny – Reichel – Nolan
Tucker – Green – Corson
Domi – Fitzgerald – Belak

Mogilny – Reichel – Nolan (pp)
Renberg – Sundin – Hoglund (pp)

Nolan – Reichel (pk)

Defense
Svehla – Wesley
McCabe – Kaberle
Berg – Lumme

Goal
Belfour

Mats Sundin dresses for his 1000th game tonight. Tonight’s game is a big one for the Bruins because they are still in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Rejigged lines up and down the whole team tonight, going with the offensive lines that ended the last game and coming up with two new defensive pairings.

1st period
On the first shift, Hal Gill ropes Renberg in the crease and the Leafs get an early PP. Shields seemed to get hurt as Renberg fell in front of him. Perhaps cut by a skate, he’s okay though. PP ends with not much out of the Sundin’s unit.

Right afterwards, Tucker scores. Tucker picks up a partial deflection from a Green pass along the left wing boards. Somehow he catches up with it and one times the rolling puck through Shields legs. Shields looks a bit shaky since that collision. 1-0

Belfour makes a svae and the fourth line for the Bruins, including Stock and Oliwa, starts some pushing and shoving. This might develop over the course of the game.

McCabe gives up a brutal turnover. Oh my god. He tries to make a pass up to Kaberle, and Axelsson picks it up,. Shoots and Zamuner pockets the rebound. Brutal. 1-1

This came at the end of a pretty spirited little push from the Bruins. As play resumes, the pressure stays on. Leaf need to get their heads clear, play carefully but generate some offense. Now they do, as the Green line gets cycling and Corson has a shot on goal.

Mogilny gets sprung by Nolan, has some room and gets a good shot off. Belfour is playing well at the moment, keeping the Leafs in the game as the Bruins continue to press.

Boston PP, as Sundin sits. Wesley making some nice responsible plays.

Out of the penalty box, Sundin almost gets a chance and the Leafs nearly get a four on one. Mogilny couldn’t control it and the Bruins have a four on one the other way. Glenn Murray gets the shot off, but Belfour stops and then gets buried under Joe Thornton.

Bruins are still pressuring. The Leafs look like they are trying to get a chance to generate offense from a quick transition. The outlet passes aren’t getting through and Boston is owning the neutral zone at the moment.

Oh my. The have really atoned for the errors here. Leafs broke out finally and Mogilny works it through the neutral zone, and takes a big hit. Nolan picks it up, quickly relays it to Reichel and from the side of the net he finds Kaberle sneaking in who dekes Shields and scores. 2-1

Bruins waste no time getting back with a two on one that goes wide. Grosek busts through, gets away from Welsey but Belfour stops him. Eddie is the reason why the Leafs are in the absurd position of leading at this point. It’s really been all Boston.

2nd Period
Ralston hits the post on the delayed penalty call. Reichel grabs Zamuner and gets a PP

Belfour makes a good save off a point shot, and follows that up with another save off Axelsson. McCabe and Kaberle acquit themselves well here and the PK is over.

Out of the penalty box, Reichel gets a chance to slap one in from the blue line. Shields save sit but the puck bounces up in the air and he loses site of it. Luckily for him, it lands at his feet and he covers up.

Now the Bruins get a penalty. Tucker is hooked and Lapointe goes for two.

Zamuner gets a chance shorthanded and he hits the outside of the post. Sundin Mogs and Nolan look good out there. Nolan misses a pass. Renberg is out there too as the line change finishes. Not much real pressure though. Hoglund gets a chance and then Sundin, as the penalty expires Renberg buries one in on Shields.

Corson gets called for diving now. Oh man. This call is so dumb. This whole penalty is so dumb. Why does there need to be a call for diving? If you see it, let it go.

There is lots of falling around now and flopping on the ice. Feh.

Domi loses his stick and plays the puck for about a dozen seconds with his skates, keeping the puck away from guys digging at him. Great work from Tie.

Stumpel feeds Lapointe and he gets his seventh goal of the season. Another defensive gaff. Lapointe is allowed to walk in all alone from the top of the slot. Svehla tried to block but screened instead. 2-2

Back and forth now as the period winds down and Sundin has the best chance with a great save from Shields. Sundin gets flattened after that. Both teams are getting a little loose in their defensive zone coverage.

3rd Period
Knuble picks up a stray Svehla pass and brings it out from behind the net to score 15 seconds into the period 2-3

Sundin now has the best chance off a rush and gets his stick lifted at the last minute by Thronton. Neither team wants to commit it seems. We have a case of “chicken” on our hands. Score too early and you give the other guys a chance to get back in the game. Wait too long, and you might run out of time. Anyway, Boston just picked up a penalty, so we’ll see what happens.

Sheilds steals off a Hoglund-Renberg devastating one-time pass and shoot play. Now Nolan is on the ice and he gets a wrist shot off. Quickly cycling now and Kaberle sneaks in for a chance. Svehla and Kabby are together here. Kabby has another chance but creaks his stick. PP is over. Reichel and Nolan are flattened and Nolan and Gill start in to each other. Boynton comes off the bench to get involved. Hmm.

Sorting all this out, Gill and Nolan get called. In the end the Leafs are down a man.

Bruins have the feel of the hungrier team now. Belfour makes some good saves. Welsey takes a shot off the inside of the left foot. Seems hurt.

Domi gets to the front of the net and screens and deflects a Mogilny shot making for hard work for Shields.

Nolan and Renberg bang away and lots of follow up pressure from Sundin who gets frustrated and punches Dan McGillis and the Leafs go on the PK. Bad penalty. Very undisciplined and not the kind of penalty that the Leafs can continue to take. Too bad, as it ruined some great pressure.

Now an even up call is made for weakly slashing on Nolan. Leafs will have a 1:24 powerplay when Sundin gets out.

With Mogilny trying to get out of the net, Sundin sets up Mogilny and he is robbed by Shields who drops to his knees and throws up the glove hand to pluck the puck from the top corner. Jeez.

Belfour is out now. Sundin Nolan Svehla Reichle Mogilny and Kaberle. Bruins ice the puck with 8.4 seconds left. That’s it.
Philly won 6-2 tonight, so it’s going to be hard to catch the Flyers now.

Posted 12:37 AM by Chris |

WayMoreSports.com/Pilar's season ended by virus

Good luck to Karel.

"Defenceman Karel Pilar, who has played just 17 games for the Leafs and seven for the St. John's Maple Leafs this season, will miss the rest of the year due to a virus that was so severe that it weakened his heart."

Posted 1:42 PM by Chris |

Tough week coming up for a team with some road fragility to iron out. The schedule gives us a couple of items for the "to do" list.

Tonight we're in Boston, followed by Tuesday night in Carolina. Then another back to back series Friday and Saturday starting on Long Island and then home for a game against Washington.

That's almost it. The next week a trip to New Jersey is followed by a home game against Minnesota and the the final game of the year against Ottawa.

So next week will be a chance to get some confidence back and practice playing disciplined hockey against the like of the Islanders. Then the final week puts us solid in the lap of three pretty good hockey teams. A good last week will be a nice boost heading into the playoffs.

And it's almost certain to be the Flyers, unless we throw the Capitals game and let them and Tampa Bay pass us. A crappy couple of weeks might actually gives us either the Caps or Tampa Bay to play in the first round. That wouldn't be too bad.

Posted 11:48 AM by Chris |

March 22, 2003
Buffalo 2 at Toronto 3 (ot)

Forwards
Renberg – Sundin – Mogilny
Tucker – Corson – Nolan
Fitzgerald – Reichel – Domi
Hoglund – Green – Belak

Belak – Fitzgerald – Domi
Mogilny – Reichel - Nolan
Renberg – Sundin – Hoglund
Corson – Green - Tucker

Renberg – Sundin – Mogilny (pp)
Tucker – Reichel – Mogilny (pp)
Renberg – Reichel – Nolan (pp)

Nolan – Fitzgerald (pk)
Corson – Nolan (pk)

Defense
Svehla – Kaberle
McCabe – Wesley
Berg – Lumme

Goal
Belfour

1st period
Should be an easy two points here, and in fact the Leafs really need to shape up in this game. They are running out of time to gel the team coming into the playoffs, and if the recent results against Columbus and the Islanders weren’t damaging, they do produce a bit of a psychological drag on a team needing to lift its spirits and become really confident as the month comes to an end.

Buffalo is coming in with a physical profile, and with nothing on the line but pride, there might be some physical play and fisticuffs tonight.

Early PK as Nolan gets called. Leafs keep the play outside and restrict the shots. Satan has a couple of wild ones fly wide. Good kill. Nolan on a five game points streak.

And now Patrick interferes with Corson and gets called. Leafs on the PP.

Sundin gets around the defense on the right side, cuts in front and goes on the backhand. Goalies makes a big pad save but Sundin gets his own rebound and gets his 33rd goal, his 13th on the PP. 1-0

Leafs get some good pressure out there, especially from Corson’s line.

Sundin gets set up by McCabe, but Chris Taylor sprawls out to rob him of the empty net.

Leaf PP. Tip play down low and Renberg can’t convert. Svehla set that one up nicely. Lots of pressure here from the Sundin line creates a scramble in front with several cross ice chances. Now in shades of last year, Kaberle drives a slap shot in that hits Sundin on the arm. Reichel and Tucker come out.

Sabres some back out and get a chance. Satan seems like the only guy with any threat.

Sundin is back. Seems fine.

Game sort of smoothes out now. Leafs not mounting much attack and the Sabres seem just incapable of being creative. What a fall from grace this team has undergone. Only two years ago I used to anticipate these games with a lot of excitement. There was bound to be fireworks and the Sabres always showed up against the Leafs. But now…

Dying minutes of the period and Mogilny springs Sundin who has a brilliant chance, and coming back the Sabres have a couple of chances and Belfour makes a big save. Mogs now gives it away dangerously, and this creates a few seconds of desperate defensive play without much success. Luckily the period comes to an end.

2nd Period
Two big chances by Tim Connoly. First went wide of the empty net and then Belfour makes a big save, his third big one of the period. If the Leafs want to sit on a slim lead like this they’ll have to play a little tighter.

Belfour is getting testy. He gives Daniel Gruyere a shot at the side of the net and drops him and picks up a minor penalty in the process. Leafs on the PK.

Leafs are really backed up here. Corson blocks a shot on the PP but the rebound comes back to Patrick and he slams it home 1-1.

Leafs need to get their offensive jones back on now. That was a dumb penalty to take, but – sigh – what can you do?

Green line makes some ground but an elegant drop pass from Green is skated over by Belak, Hoglund and Svehla.

Sundin’s ine is back out now and will need to restart from a close offside call. Maybe they can ramp it up. Not really.

Leafs are in a trough and can’t seem to generate those waves of pressure they were in the first. All four lines seem to be playing at about 60%.

Sabres pick up another PP as Hecht is pulled down by Sundin.

Joe Bowen is really bad at calling the line combos on the PK, I have no idea who is out there. Oh wait, Nolan and Fitzgerald.

Nolan has a good chance with McCabe trailing shorthanded. Nolan is Mr. Everywhere.

Afinigenov is stepping it up now. Wesley is hit in the inside of his left foot with a shot and he’s a little tender there.

Nolan gets a good chance with a wrist shot just wide. PK over.

Sundin and Lumme can’t trap the puck at the line and the Sabres break out 2 on 1. Hecht gets a nice feed to JP Dumont and he scores. 1-2

Leafs have written off this period and seem to want this game less than the Sabres do. At this point Nolan is the sole Leaf with a will to create opportunities. Lumme getting caught pinching is nearly inexcusable.

3rd Period
Connolly gets undresses Green, and then Green retaliates. Tucker and Warriner exchange hearty shoves after the whistle and the upshot is another Sabres powerplay. Green gone for the cross check.

Nolan has a good chance shorthanded.

Botterall gets called now and the Leafs will get a fractional PP

Reichel is centering Nolan and Renberg now. Quinn obviously shaking up the lines to get things happening.

PP over. Mogilny Tucker flanking Green now. The leafs inability to covert chances in the first period is coming back to haunt them. Corson on for Mogs now. Afinigenov gets a shot on and Belfour makes the save but gets up slowly. Leafs turn it back and Tucker gets the chance but no dice.

Here’s a great goal. Nice work in behind the Sabres net. Puck comes out to Svehla from Renberg and he rips it. 2-2

Mogilny now feeds Nolan and he has a great chance. Takes it behind the net and Buffalo clears it. On the transition, Dumont shoots and Belfour makes a good save to deflect the puck high.

Belak with Fitz and Domi out now. These line changes have shaken things up a lot. Buffalo is doing an admirable job trying to keep up.

Tre Kroner line out there now.

Now a crucial call. Satan called for a borderline goalie interference call and the Leafs have the chance they need to put the game away.

Wesley sets up Nolan who puts a great pass onto to Reichel’s stick but he can’t corral it and another empty net goes wanting.

PP over and 5:27 left to play, barring overtime.

Green now drops the puck to Corson and this shot is held by Noronnen.

Renberg centres and Sundin can’t handle it but it skips off a skate and proves challenging for Noronnen to handle. Tre Kroner line cycling dangerously and getting some shots on, but mno conversions yet. They seemed to have found “danger” which is good.

Weird call as a scramble in the crease is whistled down with the puck still loose. Leafs have certainly recovered the momentum now. All that is left is the winning goal.

Dumont and Bruyere combining for some dangerous chances, but the Green line moves it up. End to end at the moment. Renberg now steals and gets a chance, but the Sabres clear.

One minute to go and all the right guys are out. Svehla’s shot is on. Sundin comes out from behind the net and Renberg gets one shot and Svehla gets another but Noronnen holds on. With six second left Reichel has one last chance and we go to overtime.

Overtime
Right out of the gate, McCabe gets the winner. Sundin picks up his third point, finding McCabe all alone in the left circle. McCabe absolutely rips it home. Wesley picks up his 500th career point on the other assist. 3-2

Great stuff, although perhaps the Leafs shouldn’t have fallen behind like they did. Those lackadaisical period like the second are killers.

Anyway, it’s another come from behind win, and another two points in the books and, if it was a little harder than expected, the result was what was needed.

Posted 10:30 PM by Chris |

SportingNews.com - NHL : Leafs' McCabe furious over diving fine

You're fined Bryan.

"I am? For what? For Bertuzzi pushing me? You can quote me on this. Did I dive when he speared me in the (groin) and they didn't call a penalty? They had a picture of it in the paper," said a steaming McCabe, a player who does not have a reputation for diving.

"They didn't call a penalty and now I'm a (expletive) diver because he punched me in the head and I went down?"

Before the exchange with Bertuzzi, in a graphic exchange caught by a Canadian Press photographer, the Canuck was clearly testing the strength of McCabe's protective cup.

[rhetoricalquestion] Can the NHL do anything right? [/rhetoricalquestion]

Posted 9:50 AM by Chris |

Leafs fall 4-3 in OT to Columbus

I have to think that the Leafs are pulling one of those moves that Dtroit pulled at the end of last year, when they dropped their last 10 game or something.

Yeah that's it.

They're resting up for the playoffs.

It's a LITTLE nervewracking though. I don't know how long I can hold on to to THAT story.

Posted 9:46 AM by Chris |

March 15, 2003
Toronto at Vancouver

Forwards
Renberg – Sundin – Hoglund
Healy – Antropov – Nolan
Belak – Green – Corson
Fitzgerald – Reichel – Domi

Healy – Sundin (pk)
Nolan – Fitzgerald (pk)

Defense
Svehla – Kaberle
Berg – Lumme
Wesley – McCabe

Goal
Belfour

1st period
Auld in goal for the Canucks.

Sundin has the first good chance and Hoglund can’t follow up. McCabe gets a shot away and the return effort produces some good forechecking. Auld pushes the net off to relieve the pressure.

The Sundin line gets another chance and Hoglund’s shot goes off the knob of Auld’s stick. Sundin gets another chance, and Renberg then centres and Svehla misses it. This line is so threatening.

Sedin’s pressure and two good stops by Belfour. Linden draws a penalty

Leafs fighting through some power play deficits. Belfour makes some great saves, but there’s not much poetry to the game at the moment.

Healy seems to be stepping into the role vacated by Amac. He could turn out to tbe the same kind of player.

The Leafs finish the period conceding four penalities to the Canusk one, and there is some doubt about a few calls NOT made, but not much resulted, as Belfour kept the Leafs in against the Sedin and Naslund lines.

Sundin line was the pick of the first period. They had some glorius chances which were foiled only by the knob of Auld’s stick and some timely interference with the net.

2nd Period

Langdon and Belak get tangled up and Belak is throwing some punches near the bench. They both go to the box, but Belak picks up the extra minor. Leafs hanging on and survive the onslaught from the Canucks top unit. Naslund has 22 power play goals this year.

Nolan and Antropov doing a great job of penalty killing. Game is becoming a little more physical as Belak’s penalty expires.

Getting pretty physical and Bertuzzi castrates McCabe with a viscious spear. Bert gets no call. This is pretty weird. There are a few calls going missed, but this willful sterilization of McCabe is pretty bad.

May flattens Svehla. Sundin bowls over May right afterwards Sundin nails him right on the switch with a high shoulder and knocks him out cold. This is not good for May. But this looks a lot like the hit on Tkachuk, except Sundin didn’t stride into him. May is moving and he looks like he’ll be all right. He leaves on the stretcher.

Leafs get another penalty for tipping Letowski. Sorry, but this isn’t that exciting. It’s a 0-0 tie in the second period and there should be more intensity than this. But the power play thing is distracting, and, not to let the Leafs off, Toronto hasn’t been able to convert on the momentum from the great kills.

Fitz gets a nice breakaway chance shorthanded and Belfour gets some good saves off. Now Bertuzzi goes a little over the top against McCabe and Bert picks up a call. And it’s a bad call too.

Belfour comes up huge against Sopel. Leafs powerplay is getting ready to go.

Sundin has a great chance from around the net and then gets another couple of chances. Letowski feeds Bertuzzi out of the box and Belfour makes a huge save. Out of the net he gets knocked down and gets back in time to break up the play. Now we’re getting going. This is great.

Play back and forth and now the Leafs get their first full power play as Cooke goes for charging Hoglund.

Goal! Nolan (Antropov, McCabe) 1-0 (pp)

Great little surprise goal. Antro holds the puck and finally spost Noal to the Left of Auld and he one times it. Nolan has his third goal as a Leaf and has scored in every game he has appeared in for us.

3rd Period

The question now is how will the Leafs protect the lead. The Sedin line and the Naslund line have been dangerous and if the penalty trouble keeps up, the game could break wide open. Twenty minutes to go and an eternity to a win.

Well it starts with a big pad save off Linden.

Green makes some key defensive moves, and Wesley is forming a nice last line of defense especially under pressure from Naslund and Morrison.

Tre Kroner line seems to have the green light to try for another.

Antropov gets called for highsticking and on the PK Bertuzzi gets in WAAAAY offside. Funny. Not very crisp officiating tonight.

Nolan makes a great play lifting Bert’s stick before he can get a shot off. Svehla sprawls to block a shot, and gets dug at by Matt Cooke.

Penalty is over and there are some big thundering hits. Belak knocks Allen in the biggest and play stops while the earth finishes shaking.

Sundin makes a great defensive play off Klatt.

Antro line puts on some pressure, with Healy getting a shot off.

Canucks putting the top line into serious rotation to try to get the equalizer.

This is a weird game, notable for it’s low scoring. Usually these games in Vancouver are pretty offensive minded.

Green line plays well against Naslund pressure. Lots of fishing about for chances, and desperation time, but they ice the puck and get relief.

Sedins out with Naslund, and one of them rolls one to Mats who misses an empty net. That’ ll hurt.

Refs have put their whistles away, but the players are getting blatant. Leafs still pressure, and Hoglund has the best chance from a pass by Renberg. This line has found it’s form of last year. Looking like a good top line given all the injuries at the moment.

Antropov is playing like Sundin, lots of chances from behind the net. Pressure late means that Auld can’t leave the goal. Finally with about 49 seconds left, the Nucks clear but they draw and offside call.

Sundin line nails it down and withstand the final pressure and Belfour gets shutout number 65, his seventh this year.

Posted 10:57 PM by Chris |

March 13, 2003

Toronto 2 at Calgary 3 (ot)

Fuck.

Posted 2:27 AM by Chris |

Some Habs fan must have hacked my template.

Ahem...

In our last episode, the team was entering a four game winless streak which they would break in lovely fashion against Edmonton. In the meantime with the trade deadline come and gone, suddenly the Leafs have Housley and Wesley to add to the back line, and Owen and Gilmour up front. All for the cost of Alyn McCauley (so long son, thanks for the thrills last season), Brad Boyes (good luck) and a bunch of low draft picks over the next few years. With the prospect pipeline nicely stuffed, young guys like Antropov and Kaberle coming into their own, and a mix of veterans and journeymen, this team is looking pretty nicely set for a serious run again this year, and a a future of being threatening.

Before the blog template was hacked we were humming right along. Now it's like a different team, and there is the air of, oh I don't know, that old familiar and eternal hope springing.

Posted 11:32 PM by Chris |

This blog on hiatus for a couple of weeks

Great pickup on Nolan eh? And Wesley...

Be back real soon...

Posted 1:45 AM by Chris |