Hawks Take Out The Leafs

Well the Toronto Maple Leafs are sure glad to see the 'Leap' month of February go away as they ended it on a losing note once again, falling to the Chicago Black Hawks 5-4.

It is a shame to see what we all thought was going to be a good team in the young Leafs fall from a playoff spot in January and then going 1-8-1 in the last 10 games to drop out of the race for the playoffs and even having the possibility of finishing in 12th or 13th place in their conference..... man does that hurt!

I guess we could say it is a 'growing pain' for a young team or we could blame management or coaching for not directing these young players in the right direction. We even could declare that the management hasn't brought in the right mix of players to be a top 8 place team but all this does is show that we are pointing fingers at each other. And my Head Coach (MY DAD!) always said" be careful of pointing fingers as you point one at someone, you have 4 pointing back at you!" Meaning it is time for the players, coaches and management to stop, look into the mirror and re-exam what they have and maybe admit that they have gone off course and start getting back to the problem on hand!

Well I digress (as sometimes I do).

I was worried about the way this game was going to start off as I watch warm ups. Leafs goalie, Gustavsson skated out from the corner to take his turn in net for some shots and actually tripped over the goal post as he entered the crease. I thought to myself, boy this is going to be a long night...again.

But the game last night looked to be a barn burner as both teams came out flying, hitting and getting scoring chances. The Leafs had talked about their slow starts and they came out with a start that every team wants to have. By the end of the first period the Leafs were up 3-1 with goals coming from Tyler Bozak, Joffery Lupul and Clark MacArthur who had built the 3-1 lead but only to see it slip half way through the 2nd period.

With goals for the Hawks coming in bunches ( Shaw, Kruger, Kane, Hossa) by the end of the second period the Hawks were up 4-3 and looking to close the door on the Leafs with help from Ray Emery who had come into the 1st period taking over from starting goalie Crawford.

The third was a entertaining period as the Leafs out shot the Hawks 17-12 and threw everything at Emery but Ray 'Sugar' Emery stoned the Leafs with save after save.


Marian Hossa picked up his second of the evening at 19:44 of the third to keep the Leafs at bay and with the  Leafs net empty, an extra attacker, the Leafs put one more in from Mike Brown, but as the say a little to late for that.

Game Notes.

Chicago was also on a little skid of their own dropping the last 3 games and not getting production from Kane and Hossa. Thanks for the Leafs coming to the 'Windy City' and looking after that!

Gustavsson had 30 shots and allowed 5 goals and looked shaky at times. Maybe it is time the Leafs look at the Goalie Coach and see where a change can happen there?

Matthew Lombardi was a healthy scratch for the 1st time this year, he is a -13 the teams worst on that category.

Best Hockey Player name right now? BlackHawks Johnny Oduya (O-do-ya)

Leafs stay on the road and are in Montreal for this Sat 3rd taking on the Canadians at 7pm. Should be a entertaining game as it is always between this two clubs.

Until next time,

Se You After the Game,

Coach Nye

The $50,000 dollar question? 'What are the Leafs Sellers or Buyers'?

Send in your comments to Coach Nye and explain what you would do with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

As a coach, well I will tell you one thing BB and Ron 'not my fault' Wilson will need to do is stay calm and not let the emotions take over for the next 24 hours. Because they have alot of decisions to make that will either tell their fans in Leaf Nation they are sellers or buyers.

Taking a look at last nights contest and this is only the Coach's opinion I think the masterminds behind the Leafs will be looking at all possibilities and not over reacting. I do not think blowing up what they have created is the answer but I do think there is some bodies to move and to replace with the younger core coming up from the Marlies.

The Leafs for some reason again came out flatter then a 'pancake'  with no zip or any intensity which you would think these players would be doing. But know they didn't, they allowed the Capitals to out work them, out chance them and to add insult to injury the Caps did it front of the 1962 Toronto ML Stanley Cup Winners, who the present club honoured before the game.

Just 4 minutes into the game the Capitals were up 2-0 which resulted in give aways by the Leafs defence and a bad attempt of goal tending by Reimer. Both goals need to be stopped but you can't blame Reimer entirely as his own team mates left him out to dry a few times all evening.

All game the Leafs looked disorganized in their own end and then when the did mustered up some offence it was from the outside as the Capitals kept the Leafs from entering the scoring zone (front of the net) as much as possible.

Going into the 2nd period was really no better as the Capitals scored another two making the score 4-0 and a hole way to big for the Leafs to climb out of. Though Reimer did show a bit of a spark but the rest of his team mates didn't get the same 'memo' from the coach in between the 2nd and 3rd periods. There was no going hard to the net, not getting into open spots on the ice or even any real back checking done. It almost looked like and I hate to say because I'm not one who believes in this but it looked like the team has given up on Wilson and his coaching tactics (there I said it!)

Finally in the 3rd the Leafs got on the score board with a goal from Colby Armstrong and then another at the 15:03 mark scored by Tim Connolly, a little to late to develop any type of come back for sure and believe me any type of salvation to this season as the Leafs are falling and falling fast!


Game Notes

Alex Ovechkin picked up his pace last night and collected a couple of assists to have a good evening. He seems to love playing the Leafs as he has picked up 42 points in 26 games against them.

Count them....3 defensive turnovers by the Leafs in 32 seconds....not good hockey for sure.

Not sure how long the players and Brian Burke can handle  this but getting booed off the ice continually for the past 3 games is going to take it's toll.

Leafs are up again after the trade deadline on Tuesday 28th vs the Panthers,game time at 7pm

Until Next Time.

See you after the game.

Coach Nye

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

Devils Win Game but Leave Leafs Wondering

A game that they should of won, the Toronto Maple Leafs came away with one point but will it be enough in the long run?

On a overtime goal scored by Mark Fayne of NJ, an unknown to most hockey fans, shot a 'flutter ball' towards the net at Gustavsson and as everyone watched it float on by the Leaf goalie, the NJ Devils skated away with the win that should of gone the other way.

Don't get the coach wrong here, the Devils played their ususal game of 'get up by a couple' then shut it all down the rest of the way. Boring hockey but effective as the Devils are ahead of the Leafs in the standings and have been playing that way forever, so it must work (it does help that you have a future Hall of Famer in net!)

As nothing changed in the standings last night, the Leafs still tied with the Jets (also lost in OT vs the Flyers) and with 2 games up on them it is going to make a fun playoff race for sure. But with uncertainty in the nets (see Feb 16th blog with my question, Who is #1 in net? ), some poor defensive decisions and not all lines going at once the Leafs will be looking over their shoulders right till the final buzzer of the final game.

In last night's match the Devils had goaltending when it counted and they played the tight defensive game when called upon and by who I saw score their goals, received timely goals when needed too. Maybe something the Leafs could look at and develop into or maybe not?

After the Devils went 2-0, goals by P.Sykora and D.Clarkson about the 16 minute mark saw the Devils Clarkson and Leafs Doin Phaneuf go head to head in a lively fist a cuffs. You see the Devils don't like to be hit especially one of their goal scorers as in Z.Parise. Captain Dion laid Parise out with a beauty of a hit which Clarkson took exception to and challenged Phaneuf which he gladly accepted. My opinion here is, this wouldn't of happen if the instigator penalty rule was in forced but that's another subject for another day! In between that little mix up the Leafs did bring the score back to 2-1 with a nice tip in by Tim Connolly.

In the 2nd the two teams traded off goals which put the Devils up by one heading to the third. Please Note: There is a lack of print writing here as the Devils went into the defensive mode play and boarded the heck out of everyone!

But come the final minute of the third after a quick time out the Leafs tied it up just the way the coach had drawn it up on the board.  Phil "The Thrill' Kessel put in a beautiful wrist shot pass the glove of Brodeur that sent this game into overtime.

With that momentum the Leafs should of put the game away and they did have their chances (Gardiner rang one off the post) but with 1:18 left that 'flutter ball' shot from the defenseman Fayne floated by the  Monster for the loss. As Coach Wilson mentioned after the game ' We can't let those get away on us, it's simple as that. We have to be focused all through the game and don't dwell on the pass bad bounces.'

I think that sums up the way the whole season for the Leafs has been this year!

Game Notes.

Shots were even up at 32 a piece.

Another strong showing from rookie defenseman Jake Gardiner.

C.Gunnarsson was back on the Leafs blueline and logged 19:27 of ice time right behind Phaneuf who had 21:16

Hard to trade MacArthur in my opinion, some good hands there and starting to get his rhythm back but we will wait and see.

Leafs back at it on Thursday with the Sharks in town. Game time at 7pm.

Until Next Time.

See You After the Game

Coach Nye

Canucks Teach Leafs A Lesson In Hockey

Ok, ok let's be perfectly honest here...that hurt!!!

The Vancouver Canucks just laid a good 'ole licking' on the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight out at the Rogers Arena, showing us all that the Leafs have some work to do, to be with the upper bracket teams.

You might be thinking, gee da!!  Coach no kidding!  but the Leafs really thought they were getting closer than they actually are.

The final score, which was 6-2 for the Canucks didn't really show us the true outcome of this game. Unless you were watching it you might think, well that game wasn't so bad but wow, if you were actually watching, man that really did hurt!

The Vancouver team showed all of us Easterner's that the West can play some kind of good hockey out there! They passed the puck like magician's and then with pin point accuracy the puck was in the net before poor Reimer and Gustavsson (they should of kept them both in at the same time!) could blink a eye. It actually was a thing of beauty to watch those Canucks as they basically made the Leafs look like a minor pro team.

Now don't get me wrong and don't start sending the hate mail to the Coach but you must admit the Canucks are going to be hard to beat come playoff time.

Vancouver opened up the scoring in the first with a nice passing play between D. Sedin feeding the puck to A. Burrows who sent a wrist shot pass Reimer. About 2 minutes later Manny Malhotra made a outstanding individual effort to score his 6th of the season.

Going into the 2nd period the Leafs needed to either try and slow the Canucks down or have themselves put it in over drive, well neither happened and at the 3:18 mark, Burrows and D.Sedin joined forces again to put them up 3-0. At 6:02 finally the Leafs got on the board with a boomer of a shot from Captain Dion, with assists going to Kessel and J.Liles. As Leafs fans were hoping that maybe, just maybe if we could get the next goal and make a game of this. Well the VC team had their own thoughts on that and as any good team will do, they turned up the heat and started taking even more control of the game. At the 11:14 mark the brother Sedin's came together with a pretty play to make the score 4-1 and then with another minute or so later Sammy Salo came in from the point and slapped home a power play goal with assists to the Sedins.

The 3rd period saw both teams trade goals with the Leafs actually getting the final goal at 19:40 by Kulemin who might be starting to get out of his long season slump ( insert sarcasm here.)

Tonight was a lesson in how to play hockey as a elite team in the NHL and why the Toronto Maple Leafs will need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how they will get to that level.

Notes From The Game.

Leafs were outshot 36 -26 with only 2 penalties call on both teams.

Jake Gardiner was one of the best Leafs tonight, played a strong game against a very good team.

Still seeing the Connolly, Lombardi, Armstrong line staying together,...WHY?

Also still seeing Coach Wilson staying with the same game plan as if he was playing the Oilers, again...WHY?

Last Point: The Canucks mean business this year and why you say. After every goal they scored there was no yelling or hollering or 'hi-5' down along the bench to celebrate. It was a 'way-to-go' to the scorer and then onto the bench. That my hockey fans is a sign of a team who means business and also a team with some class! This Coach wishes more teams would get back to that!

Leafs next game is at home against the New Jersey Devils on February 21st at 7pm. Catch in on SNET Ontario.

Until Next Time.

See You After The Game,

Coach Nye

Brian Burke's Toughest Trade Deadline

As fans of this great game we call hockey, it is this time of the year that we all get excited just like we did when it was Christmas morning at the age of 5, we just can't wait til the Big Day. Well my fans, with all the non-trade talk going on these past few days I feel this might be the slowest of all the trade deadlines we have ever seen.

I have had one blogger friend of mine mention that he can't put down his smartphone as his tweeter is going off every other second, as he might miss a trade mention or a block buster move or even better yet, a player missing practice (Oh know he has been traded!!, send out the hounds!).

You see I don't get into all that stuff and I can tell you right now most of the good reporters in the media line of work don't either. Oh for sure they have their cells on and the computer rigged up to the Sports shows but that's about it. They will be notified in due time if anyone is going anywhere anytime soon, you see all you are reading and listening to is speculation, dreams, fantasy trades that are developed by, ya you guessed it, the media.

We really can't blame them as this is their livelihood and they have to keep busy but come on, some of these 'make believe trades' that have surfaced are a joke, period.

Let's take today for instance. I heard the rumour (about the 5000 time now) that Columbus Blue Jacket player Rick Nash was heading to Toronto for (get this..) Schenn, Kulemin, Lupul and a 2nd pick. You have to be kidding right. If BB (Brian Burke twitter name) could pull that off without smirking in the background I would declare February 16th as Brian Burke Day from now on. But reality is that it will take a lot more to get Mr. Nash away from CB Jackets, I mean a lot more.

I have been following the Leafs and Burke for a while now and I really believe he wants to make the Big Trade but he knows it and we all should know it, that it won't happen. The reason why is they Leafs don't have enough in the 'kiddie' to make that splash. They don't have enough good players to make it work. Yes they would have enough cash and could work around the cap level but I'm telling you right now, they don't have enough steak to go with them potatoes, simple.

If they were just looking for a second or third line forward then yes they have it but for what Burke has put together these past few years I would be very surprised if he would 'blow' it up in one move. You have to remember to, Nash is a winger not a centre and that is what the Leafs need (and some other parts to but I digress).

What the Leafs fans really need to focus on is what this team really needs and that's secondary help. What I mean by this is secondary scoring, secondary defensive help and please someone stand up and tell me who the heck is suppose to me the number 1 goaltender for the Leafs, please anyone? because right now they don't have one.

The Leafs tendency is to gather up points in bunches, loose 3 go and win 4. Loose 2 go and win 3 and so on. Then they go into a tail spin where they can't do anything right, worry the heck out of their fans then get back on a winning streak and all things nice again in Leaf Land, it's true.

All this talk of making the trade now might never happen or it might happen more so closer to the draft or even in the summer, who really knows, we just have to sit and wait. In my humble opinion this is the area that Brian Burke must work on and work on it continuously so the Leafs can move up to the next level and join the Bruins, Red Wings, Rangers and Vancouver and really start focusing on the trip to the Stanley Cup finals or all Leaf fans will be waiting for another forty odd years to be at the dance!

Wait, wait a minute, this just in... Jeff Carter and a 3rd pick for Schenn, Kulemin and a 2nd rounder. Hey that might be just right!

Until Next Time,

See you after the Game.

Coach Nye

Leafs Slip By The Oilers In OT

If you wanted to watch some old run 'n gun type of hockey lately then you should of focused on last night's game between the Leafs and Oilers. Nothing like stepping back in time and seeing two young teams who can skate like the wind and aren't afraid of making some mistakes along the way and play a fun game to watch.

With just 98 seconds into the game the Toronto Maple Leafs were up 2-0, more goals scored by them in the past two games (sorry Coach Wilson, just saying....). These beauties were scored by Jeffery Lupul, a nice snapper off the wing, and the second by Matthew Lombardi, who received a nice feed from Franson to break in on Oilers net minder Khabibulin and blow a shot by him at the 1:38 minute mark.

But only a minute or so later the Oilers Ben Eager snapped a shot past Reimer to narrow the lead to 2-1. Mr. Eager was a busy guy, for just 2 minutes later he was into some fisticuffs with the Leafs Mike Brown and by my view point he pulled that one off to for a winning TKO.

Going into the second wasn't much different than the second as both teams traded chances and came close to blowing the game wide open but with some stiller goal tending at both ends it remained 2-1 until roughly the half way mark when Taylor Hall blew by the Leafs who seemed to be standing watching this young gun take control as he shot his 20th of the year past a sprawling Reimer.

The Third period again wasn't much different as the first two periods, very entertaining to watch for the fans but for the coaches it was a nightmare filled with give aways thus causing any coach to throw in the towel and head for the nearest watering hole to sooth his sorrow. But the coaches remain behind their benches and watched the two teams battle and each score one a piece to keep it tied at 3-3. Jake Gardiner with a hard slapper from the point that blew through everyone including the K-wall. Then Jordon Eberle's snap shot tied it all up at the 15 minute mark to have the teams head into overtime.

The fast play didn't stop in overtime either and I felt it even picked up a bit more as both teams went end to end with their chances when finally at the 1:39 mark of OT after the Leafs Captain broke up a 3 on 1 by the Oilers, the Leafs turned it around and went back down the ice with their own 3 on 1 with Lupul leading the rush. As all the fans were standing and cheering the end to end action, Tim Connolly (remember him?) broke hard to the net and tipped in a perfect pass from Lupul to put the OT win away for your beloved Leafs.

Notes from the Game.

Oilers outshot the Leafs 32 to 26 while the Leafs went 1 for 4 on the power play. Mired in a 4 game losing streak and being outscored 10-1 the Leafs break out with 4 goals from 4 different players. With this victory for the Leafs it puts them in eighth three points ahead of ninth-place Washington.

Tim Connolly's dry spell of not scoring ended at the 17 game mark.

Jake Gardiner has played in 52 games so far this season the most in any of his career. Since John-Michael Liles has been back from injury he hasn't scored in 8 games and really hasn't helped on the power play for the Leafs either.

Final Note.

Past Leaf defenseman Bryan McCabe has decided to hang the blades up for good. Number 24 for the Leafs played 523 games for the Blue and White (most time spent with one club) mentioned the paperwork just needs to be filled out and will be doing some scouting for Florida.

Leafs are off to Vancouver to play the Canucks on Saturday 18th, game time 7pm eastern.

Until next time,

See you after the game

Coach Nye