A Lost Cause for the Leafs in the 'Peg

Nothing like home ice advantage for some teams such as the Winnipeg Jets this season. It has been a up and down time for the Jets but being home has had their benefits.

The home town Jets took down the winning ways of the Leafs last night with a score of 2-1 in front of a energetic crowd, splashed with Maple Leaf jerseys as much as the Jets.

The Leafs opened the scoring in the 1st with a beauty goal from Phil Kessel, his 30th of the year and his fourth year completing that goal mark. At the 14 minute mark the Jets tied it up from Chris Thorburn who slid in a nice backhand pass the sprawling Gustavsson.

Going into the second period the Leafs seem to be waiting for their opportunity to break the game open but Jets goalie Pavelec kept shutting the door on them. Then at 9:47 of the second Bryan Little slammed home a rebound from a great rush from Wheeler to have the Jets go up 2-1.

The third period was a fast pace back and forth play interrupted by a unenthusiastic fight between the Jets Johnny Oduya and the Leafs Joey Crabb. No scoring was a result of the relative clean third period as it looked like the Leafs just could not mustard anything of a good scoring attack. The Jets played a tight checking third and were satisfied with the 2-1 score.

Just a couple of notes on this game, the Leafs finally drew a penalty in the 2nd period by Kessel. This was one of the few times where the Leafs went back to a old way, retaliating from a play, as Kessel got hooked up and slashed the Jets player.

Also both teams failed to score on their PP chances.

The Toronto Maple Leafs head off to Philadelphia to play the Flyers on Thursday night, game time is at 7pm on TSN. The Leafs will need to bring their 'A' game for this one to get back to the winning ways.

Until Next Time,

See you after the Game!

Coach Nye

Leafs Slip by the Oliers

I thought I was watching a little bit of the Oilers from the 80's tonight but then as the game went on between the 'New' Leafs and the 'Very Young' Edmonton Oilers I realized, no we are in the year 2012.

What was shaping up to be a barn burner at the ACC in Toronto tonight really turned out to be a team (insert Leafs here) that is on the move upwards and another team (insert...ya you know who...) who is trying really hard to stay a float.

The Oilers are going to be a real good team eventually in time. Young hockey studs they have but what is missing is the vets to lead them to the next level and that is what the Leafs have now.

Before the fans in the platinum's at the ACC could settle in for the start of the game the score was tied at 1-1. With a goal from Eberle of the Oilers and a bullet of a snap shot from Clark MacArthur of the Leafs we could tell this was going to be a fast pace game with some good scoring chances. At 13:45 of the 1st Toronto went up by one on a goal from young Jake Gardiner and then less then four minutes later Edmonton's Jordan Eberle recorded his second of the evening and weren't even done the first period yet.

Going into the second period all evened up I think this is when the Leafs decided we better get it going or these young bucks will be going at us hard. Quickly into the second period Phil Kessel jumped on a loose puck and fired home his 28th. Following him was Bozak counting on his 10th of year. At the 13 minute mark Jeff Petry brought the Oilers back to one but the rejuvenated Jeffery Lupul, his 21st made the score 5-3 for the home team Leafs.

The third period was exciting with full of chances from both teams but James Riemer shut the door for his club and with less then 2 minutes remaining in the game Kessel fired one into the empty net from just inside the red to end the game 6-3 for your home town hero's.

The fans in T.O were shown what a up and coming team can be looking like as the Oilers fired 30 shots at the Leafs. While Leafs countered back with the same amount but truly had the better scoring chances through out the evenings match.

So the Leafs hop on a jet plane and are off to Winnipeg to do battle with the Jets. You can catch it on Sportsnet with game time at 8:30pm. This will be a good time for the Leafs to keep on winning and to put a little breathing room between them and the Jets.

See you all after the game!

Coach Nye

Maple Leafs Dominate Senators

It was evening that James Reimer didn't want to stop but who really could blame him.

The Leafs handily beat the Ottawa Senators 5-0 in the Canadian Capital on Saturday evening in front of a robust crowd of Leaf fans and Sens fans who even though about duking it out themselves!

Reimer made 49 saves while his counterpart, Anderson faced 40 shots who had very little help from his teammates this evening.

Phil Kessel who had a three point night, including a game winning goal. Along with Kessel getting the job done a few of his teammates chipped in as well. Dion Phaneuf, Tyler Bozak, Luke Schenn and Cody Franson also scored.

With this win the Leafs sit in eighth only one point back of the Sens who remain in seventh.

One aspect of the game for the Leafs that seems to be improving as we go deeper into the final stretch is the Leafs penalty killing. They have not allowed a goal against in the last 14 games, again last night it was really big!

As every hockey fan will tell you, going into the playoffs you need special teams firing on all cylinders to make a dent. As it looks now the Leafs are going strong and if the stars can stay aligned then this could be the year at least the Leafs may see some post season action.

Next Leafs game is Feb 6th 2012 vs Edmonton.

Written: Warren 'Coach' Nye
http://ultimatehockeysource.com