February 24, 2012

Leafs Gobbled Up By The Sharks


Do you think Brian Burke has a lot questions to ask his team before the trade deadline?

I would sure hope so, as the Toronto Maple Leafs showed up for only the 3rd period last night and that wasn't enough to beat the SJ Sharks. It is getting to be a broken record here but what the Leafs seem to be doing is forgetting that the game is a 6o minute venture and that it is always better to start off fast and get things going then waiting till the last period.

Trailing by 2-0 going into the 3rd after a scoreless, unemotional 1st period and then watching the Sharks take over the 2nd; it took Mike Brown of the Leafs to shake things up by coming out of the gate and taking on Jim Vandermeer with a entertaining bout. Surprisingly shortly thereafter finally the Leafs woke up as Jake Gardiner from the point blasted a shot home to narrow the lead to 2-1 at 3:53.

But this Leaf team doesn't seem to be to desperate for some reason and it doesn't look like there is any sense of urgency going on. There isn't any feel of a playoff atmosphere with this team especially at this time of year and that has to worry the Leafs brass.

The Sharks did a good job of shutting down the Leafs top 2 lines and goaltender Neimi played well to boot it off. Tonight wasn't a case of bad goaltending from the Leafs, actually James Reimer played well stopping several Sharks on good chances. It really looked like the scorers of the Leafs went AWOL this time and that isn't going to sit well with the coaching staff nor GM Burke.

The Leafs have the Capitals in town on Saturday and then have to sit through the trade deadline on Monday in Florida for a  Tuesday night tilt with the Panthers. Should be a interesting next few days in Leaf Nation as Brian Burke will be working the phones trying to figure out who should go and who should stay.


Notes:

Dominic Moore didn't dress last night for the Sharks as he has a lower-body injury.

Mike Komisarek sat out again making that the 9th time in 11 games...something should be happening with that in the next day or two.

Jake Gardiner didn't seem to leave the ice in the third period as he logged the most ice by a defenceman for the Leafs. Gardiner is also getting some notice from around the league for the Rookie of the Year, let's keep a watch out for this shall we.

Until next time.

See you after the game,

Coach Nye

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