Thrashers down Maple Leafs in shoot out
Ilya Kovalchuk
The Canadian Press
10/24/2007 2:47:25 AM
TORONTO - If there was ever a game the Toronto Maple Leafs could turn their season around with, this was it.
But they simply couldn't make it happen.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored the winner in a shootout on Tuesday night to lift the last-place Atlanta Thrashers to a 5-4 victory over the Maple Leafs.
Toronto did well just to earn a point after Alex Ponikarovsky tied the game with 10 seconds left in regulation, but it was of little consolation to a team that is now 3-4-3 despite playing eight of the first 10 games on home ice.
Related Info
Highlights: ATL 5, TOR 4 (SO)
A Tale Of Two Teams
Another Loss
"It's all about the wins right now and we didn't win today," said Leafs forward Alex Steen. "One point is not good enough for us."
Not only did the Thrashers enter the game with the NHL's worst record, they were also playing without injured starting goalie Kari Lehtonen and were only a couple games removed from the firing of coach Bob Hartley.
But Toronto played tentatively in front of 19,210 jittery fans at Air Canada Centre and was again victimized by a few defensive lapses. A neutral-zone turnover in the third period allowed Todd White to score the goal that put Atlanta ahead 4-3.
Even though the Maple Leafs managed to tie it, they were in tough in the shootout against an Atlanta team that had Slava Kozlov, Marian Hossa and Kovalchuk waiting to take a turn.
"That's the team you don't want to get in a shootout with," said Leafs coach Paul Maurice.
Tobias Enstrom, with his first NHL goal, Kovalchuk, Eric Perrin and Todd White scored in regulation for the Thrashers (2-7-0).
They are now 2-1 since GM Don Waddell took over an interim basis for Hartley. The Thrashers were just happy to get out of Toronto with a victory in the second game of a seven-game road trip. They next play at Nashville on Thursday.
"It's just nice to get a win and help ourselves get over the hump," said defenceman Ken Klee, a former Maple Leaf. "We really needed this. It wasn't pretty by any means, but we'll take this and try to build on it on this road trip."
Mats Sundin, Hal Gill, Nik Antropov and Ponikarovsky scored in regulation for Toronto, which plays in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
It would be hard to imagine where the Leafs might be without Sundin, their 36-year-old captain. He added two assists to move into a tie for first in league scoring with Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg at 17 points.
"He is just losing years every game," said Maurice. "He's fantastic. You've just got to marvel at him."
The Leafs started the game strong and Sundin opened the scoring just 13 seconds into the first period. Moments after Atlanta had botched a breakout chance, Sundin came out from behind the goal and squeezed a wraparound by the pad of Johan Hedberg.
Kovalchuk displayed his speed a little over four minutes later to help the Thrashers tie it 1-1. He drew a Maple Leafs defender into the corner on a rush before flipping the puck to Enstrom, who beat Toskala under the arm.
Toronto looked fragile as the period wore on, seemingly afraid to make a mistake. It's been a reoccurring theme this season.
"We're (only) playing great in spurts," said Leafs forward Jason Blake. "I don't know why that is. I don't know how we fix it."
Kovalchuk made it 2-1 with 33 seconds to play in the first period when he skated right into the middle of the offensive zone and beat Toskala with a nice wrist shot. The Maple Leafs goalie could hardly be faulted as he was screened by both Antropov and defenceman Pavel Kubina.
Gill drew the Maple Leafs even with his first goal of the season early in the second period. The lumbering defenceman intercepted the pass in the neutral zone and skated over the blue-line before wiring a shot by Hedberg at 1:12.
The Maple Leafs had a glorious chance to take the lead later in the period, but Ponikarovsky missed a wide empty net with a backhand shot. He then promptly took a high-sticking penalty on Darren Haydar. The Thrashers capitalized at 14:12 when Perrin one-timed a shot over the shoulder of a screened Toskala as Ponikarovsky's penalty expired.
But Toronto again climbed back as Antropov followed Blake on a rush and flipped a rebound over Hedberg at 16:19 on a Leafs power play. After exchanging goals in the third, Atlanta pulled it out in the shootout and sent Maple Leafs fans home unhappy.
Toronto plays six of its next seven games away from Air Canada Centre and is going to need to be much better if it hopes to make good on Maurice's pre-season promise that the team will make the playoffs.
"We've got to be darn good on the road now," said the Leafs coach. ". but it doesn't matter where you're successful - you've just got to be successful somewhere."
Notes: Shots were tied 36-36 . Atlanta won three of the four meetings between the teams a year ago . Leafs defenceman Anton Stralman made his NHL debut and wore No. 36. He replaced healthy scratch Andy Wozniewski . Tony Salmelainen has left Toronto's AHL team and returned to Finland. The forward isn't expected to return and has been suspended.
Well u tell me the game reviews on http://www.mapleleafs.com are more leafs biased, so i went to a different source, but it's either not as bad as it seems or it's an out right disaster depending were the info is coming from lol.
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Well u tell me the game reviews on http://www.mapleleafs.com are more leafs biased, so i went to a different source, but it's either not as bad as it seems or it's an out right disaster depending were the info is coming from lol.
It is ALWAYS the best or worst case scenario with the Leafs, never the middle of the road..
Toronto sun: "The pressure of the Leafs' staggering 3-4-3 start continues to snowball..." ...that is staggering? Why the heck didn't they mention Atlanta's 1-7 (as of pre-game time last night) record. THAT is staggering.
"Despite Maurice's constant pleas to stay out of the penalty box, the message is falling on deaf ears. In the past two games, opponents have had 12 power plays to Toronto's four."
Yes, 6 penalties a game is outrageous, fire them all.
I guess bias in favor of the team is less annoying than the opposite. Although I'm sure even the favorable sites will rip them a new one when the losses double the wins.
..............and besides another shitty year is a small price to pay to seal the fate of JFJ!
Van 92.07.21 / Van 98.07.19 / Sea 98.07.22 / Tor 98.08.22 / Sea 00.11.06 / Van 03.05.30/ Van 05.09.02/ Gorge 06.07.22 & 23 / EV Van 08.04.02 / Tor 09.08.21 / Sea 09.09.21 & 22 / Van 09.09.25 / Van 11.09.25 / Van 13.12.04 / Pem 16.07.17 / Sea 18.08.10
With 10 seconds left, against the worst team in the league, the Laughs gave the home crowd something to get excited about as they tied the game. Well this reporter says, if that is something to get excited about, then it is going to be a long season.
Hitting the road for six games will give the Laughs a chance to play some loose hockey and not have to worry about reading the home press.
I don't know why Sundin stays around. This reporter says he could be on a Stanley Cup contender by the time the Laughs are out of the playoff run with about 15 to 20 games left in the season.
Tucker didn't play last night and it looked like the previous games with him in the lineup. Nobody noticed!
Nothing like being a die hard (and fast) fan, eh Kenny?
With 10 seconds left, against the worst team in the league, the Laughs gave the home crowd something to get excited about as they tied the game. Well this reporter says, if that is something to get excited about, then it is going to be a long season.
Hitting the road for six games will give the Laughs a chance to play some loose hockey and not have to worry about reading the home press.
I don't know why Sundin stays around. This reporter says he could be on a Stanley Cup contender by the time the Laughs are out of the playoff run with about 15 to 20 games left in the season.
Tucker didn't play last night and it looked like the previous games with him in the lineup. Nobody noticed!
Nothing like being a die hard (and fast) fan, eh Kenny?
PITTSBURGH - During a confusing season in which neither the Maple Leafs nor the Penguins know what they will get from night to night, Jiri Tlusty gave Toronto far more than possibly could be expected in his first NHL game.
Tlusty, called up the day before, scored two goals 35 seconds apart during a four-goal flurry in the third period and the Maple Leafs shook off an early season slump for a 5-2 victory Thursday night that ended Pittsburgh's three-game winning streak.
"The NHL was my dream, now I've played in my first game and in my first game I scored my first two goals," said the 19-year-old Tlusty, a native of the Czech Republic and the No. 13 overall pick in 2006. "It's great."
Alexander Steen scored Toronto's first goal and had two assists and Mats Sundin added an assist while being largely responsible for shifting the momentum the Maple Leafs' way after the Penguins kept a 1-0 lead for half the game.
"We made some mistakes, and every mistake we made was in our net," Crosby said.
The Maple Leafs, the league's worst defensive team after giving up 42 goals in eight games, tied it 1-1 midway through the second when Steen scored his second goal. Not long before, the Maple Leafs survived nearly four continuous minutes of Penguins power-play time.
Tlusty, who was playing for Toronto's Marlies farm club, made it 2-1 by setting up in front of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and deflecting Steen's 35-footer over Fleury's left shoulder 1:45 into the third. Steen was initially credited with the goal.
As a result, Tlusty thought he had scored his first career goal 35 seconds later with a strong wrist shot from the left faceoff circle. Pavel Kubina assisted on both of Tlusty's goals.
"I closed my eyes and took the shot and said, `We'll see,' and it went in," Tlusty said of his second goal, which he thought was his first.
The Maple Leafs kept the puck from that goal, thinking it was his first, but apparently did not retrieve the puck from what became his first goal. Tlusty had one goal in five Marlies games.
"Jiri had a great game for us," Steen said. "He used his speed, got to the puck quickly and as soon as we got open it felt like he would find us. He played a great hockey game defensively as well. He'll be flying after this."
He already was.
Tlusty was so excited when general manager John Ferguson called at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to tell him to report to the Maple Leafs' practice that day, he never went back to sleep. The third player called up by the Leafs this week, Tlusty made an immediate impact on a team that had allowed 22 goals in its four most recent losses.
"I was nervous before the game, but after the first period my nerves calmed down," Tlusty said. "After the second period, I felt real good."
Toronto, previously 0-4-1 against Pittsburgh the last two seasons, again scored twice barely 30 seconds apart later in the third with Tomas Kaberle and Boyd Devereaux getting goals. Previously, Toronto had been outscored 17-9 in the third period.
"We had some fun, they were talking to each other and there was no tension," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. "I was happy for them. They've been tight for a while and that was a great breakthrough."
Fleury had turned aside 66 of 67 shots in winning his last two starts, only to give up five goals on 27 shots during a ragged performance. Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala made 23 saves.
"We weren't concentrating when we came out (in the third) and we gave them chances pretty much and they capitalized on it," Gonchar said.
Penguins coach Michel Therrien was perplexed with a team that was coming off three consecutive one-goal victories.
"I was really surprised," he said. "We didn't compete. We didn't execute. When you don't executive, you create turnovers."
Notes: Penguins C Maxime Talbot left with a neck injury after being rammed face-first into the boards in the Toronto end while trying to deliver a check on Ian White late in the first. The Penguins disclosed no other details. .. Pittsburgh was 1-for-6 on the power play. .. Therrien switched up his lines, with last season's rookie of the year, Evgeni Malkin, playing with Crosby for the first time. .. Toronto won for the first time in three road games (1-1-1). The Maple Leafs began a stretch of six of seven on the road.
Price against Pittsburgh again. They're going to be playing well after getting stomped though...
Hockey Night In Canada(Saturday)but there in the Big Apple tomorrow, well u know im watching Price closely cause the Leafs wanted him in that draft and ended up with Rask who later got traded for Raycroft:(
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Hockey Night In Canada(Saturday)but there in the Big Apple tomorrow, well u know im watching Price closely cause the Leafs wanted him in that draft and ended up with Rask who later got traded for Raycroft:(
Something doesn't seem quite right about this John Tavares-Toronto Maple Leaf story.
Two published reports today suggested the Maple Leafs have contacted Tavares' representatives to offer a contract or at least pitch the idea of the 17-year-old Oshawa General superstar signing with the Leafs' American Hockey League farm team in Toronto and play for the Marlies next season instead of playing a fourth and, quite possibly, final year in the OHL before he's finally drafted into the NHL in the summer of 2009.
Here's what doesn't seem right about it:
Tavares' reps said this story came at them out of left field and the first they heard about it was when the website reports surfaced today.
"I have no idea where this is coming from,” Tavares agent Bryan Deasley said when asked if contract negotiations with the Leafs took place. “We have had no (contract) discussions with the Maple Leafs organization, or any other member club in the NHL."
Sources close to the Maple Leafs, though, vigorously insist contact was indeed made with the Tavares camp.
When contacted again and pushed on the issue, Deasley acknowledged there was a discussion with the Leafs regarding Tavares but it never got to the stage of an offer or a negotiation.
Sounds like semantics to me.
But the other thing that doesn't make sense is the timing.
Why now?
Tavares is in the midst of his third OHL season. He's not going anywhere this season, other than to a likely OHL scoring championship, and whether he might go somewhere next season is something that won't become a front-burner issue for anyone until the summer of 2008.
Some more head-scratchers from the Tavares' stories of today:
It's said the Leafs' plan was to sign Tavares to a three-year AHL contract, suggesting he could play a year in the AHL, get drafted into the NHL, play two more years in the AHL and then become an unrestricted free agent in the NHL and sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of 2011.
If I'm not mistaken, Tavares wouldn't be a free agent in 2011. If he didn't sign with an NHL team, he would go back into the draft as a re-entry. At least that is my understanding.
Besides, this three-year contract scenario would clearly be considered an attempt to circumvent the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement and the league has by-laws to deal with such things. And the notion of Tavares waiting until 2011 to play in the NHL? C'mon, now, Earth to McFly, the kid would prefer to get there a year early, in 2008, instead of having to wait until his draft in 09. Does it make any sense he would wait another two years, to 2011, just for the right to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs?
(Insert Leaf joke here).
And finally, the AHL has some age restrictions that currently would prevent a player of Tavares' age from playing there next season. Those would have to be changed, or challenged, to permit the possibility of the more sensible notion of a one-year AHL contract being offered by the Leafs.
All in all, there's not much in the stories published today that lends much credence or authenticity to this notion of the Leafs' signing Tavares to a three-year AHL contract. Not saying it isn't something the Leafs haven't thought about or perhaps discussed but I am saying it doesn't appear feasible. Not right now, anyway.
Weird, very weird.
Meanwhile, Tavares' agent Deasley, thankfully, has dismissed the notion, publicly anyway, that Tavares would like to get an exemption to be eligible for the 2008 NHL draft. Deasley had gone to the NHL and NHL Players' Association this past summer to explore those possibilities, but the party line now is that J.T. will finish out his junior career in Oshawa and patiently wait for his name to be called in the 2009 NHL draft.
That's a good approach.
But depending upon how Tavares does this season in the OHL – he currently has 15 goals and 28 points in 12 games – it shouldn't surprise anyone if this talk of Tavares playing somewhere other than the OHL next season is revived in the summer months.
Tavares' situation is unique. Because he was, on the eve of the OHL draft, declared “exceptional” and brought into the fold a year earlier than scheduled, Tavares is scheduled to play four full major junior seasons before being drafted into the NHL. In the modern-day hockey world, that is unprecedented.
He is likely a player who might benefit from stepping up a level in the 2008-09 season. No one should begrudge him that, if indeed it's what is best for him. The OHL and the Oshawa Generals will have reaped the benefits of having him for three full years in the league, which for most players is a junior career in itself.
If I represented Tavares, depending upon how this season unfolds (i.e. if he rips the league apart) and where his game is at, I might be inclined go to the OHL and the Generals and see about negotiating to leave the league a year early.
It would have to make sense from a hockey development point of view, just as it had to make sense when the OHL deigned to have Tavares enter the league a year early. That was the right call. It's possible letting him go a year early might, and I say might, be the right call, too.
That judgment couldn't possibly be made until after this season is concluded.
But if it did happen, the Generals could be compensated (financially) by whichever team signs Tavares for the 2008-09 season. The OHL would prefer not to lose a marquee talent like Tavares, but they saw fit to deem him exceptional to get him into the league a year early, the door should not be closed to deeming him exceptional in allowing him to leave a year early. What is it they say, easy come, easy go?
There would still be the AHL's age eligibility issue to deal with, which might open the door for a year in Europe. And Tavares is virtually guaranteed to get offers from Europe and elsewhere. In fact, there is every reason to believe he already has them.
But the point is, none of this can even be legitimately discussed or considered until we see how Tavares fares this season in the OHL and where everyone is at this summer.
That is one of many things which makes today's wild-fire story regarding Tavares and the Leafs so strange.
It's not so much bizarre as perhaps premature.
Stay tuned, chances are we haven't heard the last of this.
Coming off a big shut out the Swede who has been very hot but unlucky in the pipes for the Rangers should chalk up another easy victory on Saturday. If the inflated wages ever start playing the hockey they are paid to do, the Rangers should never lose another game. But that is big league money for ya.
On the other hand there is the Leafs. Still trying to figure out who is the number one in the net. Should be a long sixty minutes for whoever is the starter on Saturday.
Coming off a big shut out the Swede who has been very hot but unlucky in the pipes for the Rangers should chalk up another easy victory on Saturday. If the inflated wages ever start playing the hockey they are paid to do, the Rangers should never lose another game. But that is big league money for ya.
On the other hand there is the Leafs. Still trying to figure out who is the number one in the net. Should be a long sixty minutes for whoever is the starter on Saturday.
Coming off a big shut out the Swede who has been very hot but unlucky in the pipes for the Rangers should chalk up another easy victory on Saturday. If the inflated wages ever start playing the hockey they are paid to do, the Rangers should never lose another game. But that is big league money for ya.
On the other hand there is the Leafs. Still trying to figure out who is the number one in the net. Should be a long sixty minutes for whoever is the starter on Saturday.
Nik & the Leafs Wrangle Rangers
Scoresheet | Stats | LTV Pre and Post-Game | Game in 6 Minutes
NEW YORK (AP) -Pavel Kubina's first of the season woke up the Maple Leafs in the second period and started a three-goal binge against the stingy Rangers that carried Toronto to a 4-1 victory over New York on Saturday night.
The defenceman lifted the Leafs into a 1-1 tie at 8:35, just 2:51 after Jaromir Jagr gave the Rangers the lead. Until then, New York held the advantage on the scoreboard and shot clock with a 20-7 edge.
The Rangers entered as the lowest-scoring NHL team (15 goals), but on the strength of goalie Henrik Lundqvist, had allowed a league-low 17.
Kubina's shot from the right point struck something and changed direction on Lundqvist 29 seconds after the Toronto defenceman left the penalty box. It was the first even-strength goal yielded by the Rangers in 230 minutes, 37 seconds, dating to an Oct. 18 loss at Atlanta.
After giving up only two regulation goals in three games, including a pair of shutouts for Lundqvist, the Rangers surrendered two to the Leafs 1:20 apart.
Toronto, which entered with the most goals in the NHL (42) and most allowed (44), grabbed a 2-1 edge on John Pohl's first with 4:14 left. Nik Antropov pushed the lead to two goals, sweeping a shot past Lundqvist as he stood untouched in front.
Chad Kilger added an empty-netter with 15.8 seconds left.
Despite being strong defensively and thwarting both power plays to give them 44 kills in 50 chances this season, New York has only three wins in 10 games (3-6-1). The Rangers snapped a four-game losing streak Thursday with a 2-0 win over New Jersey.
The offence, which generated 33 shots Saturday, has been mostly to blame.
Jagr was the only one to get a puck by Vesa Toskala, who earned his fourth win in eight games since joining the Leafs in an off-season trade with San Jose.
Taking a crafty bank pass of the right wing boards from Michal Rozsival, Jagr carried into the right circle and used six-foot-seven defenceman Hal Gill to set a screen. Jagr reached out and whipped a shot past Toskala at 5:44 for his second of the season.
Less than 12 minutes later, the Maple Leafs had turned a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead _ scoring three times in the period on only 12 shots.
Lundqvist had himself to blame on the go-ahead goal after he turned over the puck to Boyd Devereaux as he played a wraparound behind the net. Devereaux found Pohl in the slot for a quick shot.
Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle earned his second assist when he spotted the unmarked Antropov at 17:06.
Notes: Maple Leafs D Bryan McCabe, who played all 82 games last season, missed his second straight (groin). ... New York outshot Toronto 11-5 in the first period and held the Maple Leafs without a shot for 16:05 until Devereaux's short-handed breakaway shortly before Kubina's goal. ... Lundqvist's shutout streak was snapped at 127:33. ... Toronto got its first two shots of the third with under four minutes left. http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=2&gnum=149
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How much money did the Rangers spend? Looked like disorganized peewee hockey for the first two periods the other night. A slightly better team won in a game that my buds and I tried not to fall asleep watching.
A couple of posts back, who said that the road trip would help the Laughs?
Comments
Haha, you beat me too it.
You (and they) spelled his name wrong too. It's 'F', not 'T'.
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Good fuckin' riddance!
Ilya Kovalchuk
The Canadian Press
10/24/2007 2:47:25 AM
TORONTO - If there was ever a game the Toronto Maple Leafs could turn their season around with, this was it.
But they simply couldn't make it happen.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored the winner in a shootout on Tuesday night to lift the last-place Atlanta Thrashers to a 5-4 victory over the Maple Leafs.
Toronto did well just to earn a point after Alex Ponikarovsky tied the game with 10 seconds left in regulation, but it was of little consolation to a team that is now 3-4-3 despite playing eight of the first 10 games on home ice.
Related Info
Highlights: ATL 5, TOR 4 (SO)
A Tale Of Two Teams
Another Loss
"It's all about the wins right now and we didn't win today," said Leafs forward Alex Steen. "One point is not good enough for us."
Not only did the Thrashers enter the game with the NHL's worst record, they were also playing without injured starting goalie Kari Lehtonen and were only a couple games removed from the firing of coach Bob Hartley.
But Toronto played tentatively in front of 19,210 jittery fans at Air Canada Centre and was again victimized by a few defensive lapses. A neutral-zone turnover in the third period allowed Todd White to score the goal that put Atlanta ahead 4-3.
Even though the Maple Leafs managed to tie it, they were in tough in the shootout against an Atlanta team that had Slava Kozlov, Marian Hossa and Kovalchuk waiting to take a turn.
"That's the team you don't want to get in a shootout with," said Leafs coach Paul Maurice.
Tobias Enstrom, with his first NHL goal, Kovalchuk, Eric Perrin and Todd White scored in regulation for the Thrashers (2-7-0).
They are now 2-1 since GM Don Waddell took over an interim basis for Hartley. The Thrashers were just happy to get out of Toronto with a victory in the second game of a seven-game road trip. They next play at Nashville on Thursday.
"It's just nice to get a win and help ourselves get over the hump," said defenceman Ken Klee, a former Maple Leaf. "We really needed this. It wasn't pretty by any means, but we'll take this and try to build on it on this road trip."
Mats Sundin, Hal Gill, Nik Antropov and Ponikarovsky scored in regulation for Toronto, which plays in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
It would be hard to imagine where the Leafs might be without Sundin, their 36-year-old captain. He added two assists to move into a tie for first in league scoring with Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg at 17 points.
"He is just losing years every game," said Maurice. "He's fantastic. You've just got to marvel at him."
The Leafs started the game strong and Sundin opened the scoring just 13 seconds into the first period. Moments after Atlanta had botched a breakout chance, Sundin came out from behind the goal and squeezed a wraparound by the pad of Johan Hedberg.
Kovalchuk displayed his speed a little over four minutes later to help the Thrashers tie it 1-1. He drew a Maple Leafs defender into the corner on a rush before flipping the puck to Enstrom, who beat Toskala under the arm.
Toronto looked fragile as the period wore on, seemingly afraid to make a mistake. It's been a reoccurring theme this season.
"We're (only) playing great in spurts," said Leafs forward Jason Blake. "I don't know why that is. I don't know how we fix it."
Kovalchuk made it 2-1 with 33 seconds to play in the first period when he skated right into the middle of the offensive zone and beat Toskala with a nice wrist shot. The Maple Leafs goalie could hardly be faulted as he was screened by both Antropov and defenceman Pavel Kubina.
Gill drew the Maple Leafs even with his first goal of the season early in the second period. The lumbering defenceman intercepted the pass in the neutral zone and skated over the blue-line before wiring a shot by Hedberg at 1:12.
The Maple Leafs had a glorious chance to take the lead later in the period, but Ponikarovsky missed a wide empty net with a backhand shot. He then promptly took a high-sticking penalty on Darren Haydar. The Thrashers capitalized at 14:12 when Perrin one-timed a shot over the shoulder of a screened Toskala as Ponikarovsky's penalty expired.
But Toronto again climbed back as Antropov followed Blake on a rush and flipped a rebound over Hedberg at 16:19 on a Leafs power play. After exchanging goals in the third, Atlanta pulled it out in the shootout and sent Maple Leafs fans home unhappy.
Toronto plays six of its next seven games away from Air Canada Centre and is going to need to be much better if it hopes to make good on Maurice's pre-season promise that the team will make the playoffs.
"We've got to be darn good on the road now," said the Leafs coach. ". but it doesn't matter where you're successful - you've just got to be successful somewhere."
Notes: Shots were tied 36-36 . Atlanta won three of the four meetings between the teams a year ago . Leafs defenceman Anton Stralman made his NHL debut and wore No. 36. He replaced healthy scratch Andy Wozniewski . Tony Salmelainen has left Toronto's AHL team and returned to Finland. The forward isn't expected to return and has been suspended.
http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=221274&hubname=
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10 games in and the season is doomed?
Bahahaha, I wish the Canadian press, CBC, and sometimes TSN would follow Fucker and tuck off.
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It is ALWAYS the best or worst case scenario with the Leafs, never the middle of the road..
Toronto sun: "The pressure of the Leafs' staggering 3-4-3 start continues to snowball..." ...that is staggering? Why the heck didn't they mention Atlanta's 1-7 (as of pre-game time last night) record. THAT is staggering.
"Despite Maurice's constant pleas to stay out of the penalty box, the message is falling on deaf ears. In the past two games, opponents have had 12 power plays to Toronto's four."
Yes, 6 penalties a game is outrageous, fire them all.
I guess bias in favor of the team is less annoying than the opposite. Although I'm sure even the favorable sites will rip them a new one when the losses double the wins.
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Ken it looks like we agree on a hockey matter!!!
Hence, "On the other hand..." :P
I obviously cannot root for your team Ken, so I hope he stays.
Hitting the road for six games will give the Laughs a chance to play some loose hockey and not have to worry about reading the home press.
I don't know why Sundin stays around. This reporter says he could be on a Stanley Cup contender by the time the Laughs are out of the playoff run with about 15 to 20 games left in the season.
Tucker didn't play last night and it looked like the previous games with him in the lineup. Nobody noticed!
Nothing like being a die hard (and fast) fan, eh Kenny?
Zing!
I'm sure there's an article in Toronto, Onterrible reviewing the win last night that suggests the above sentiment.
I don't know about playoff bound, but, it is good to see young guys who get a chance and who don't have a big contract come out and play hockey.
Playoff bound, obviously, was meant in sarcasm directed a particular way (we all know how much I love Toronto-based media).
Good call on the rookie though, 1 NHL game, 2 NHL goals.
The Canadian Press
10/25/2007 11:27:04 PM
PITTSBURGH - During a confusing season in which neither the Maple Leafs nor the Penguins know what they will get from night to night, Jiri Tlusty gave Toronto far more than possibly could be expected in his first NHL game.
Tlusty, called up the day before, scored two goals 35 seconds apart during a four-goal flurry in the third period and the Maple Leafs shook off an early season slump for a 5-2 victory Thursday night that ended Pittsburgh's three-game winning streak.
"The NHL was my dream, now I've played in my first game and in my first game I scored my first two goals," said the 19-year-old Tlusty, a native of the Czech Republic and the No. 13 overall pick in 2006. "It's great."
Alexander Steen scored Toronto's first goal and had two assists and Mats Sundin added an assist while being largely responsible for shifting the momentum the Maple Leafs' way after the Penguins kept a 1-0 lead for half the game.
"We made some mistakes, and every mistake we made was in our net," Crosby said.
The Maple Leafs, the league's worst defensive team after giving up 42 goals in eight games, tied it 1-1 midway through the second when Steen scored his second goal. Not long before, the Maple Leafs survived nearly four continuous minutes of Penguins power-play time.
Tlusty, who was playing for Toronto's Marlies farm club, made it 2-1 by setting up in front of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and deflecting Steen's 35-footer over Fleury's left shoulder 1:45 into the third. Steen was initially credited with the goal.
As a result, Tlusty thought he had scored his first career goal 35 seconds later with a strong wrist shot from the left faceoff circle. Pavel Kubina assisted on both of Tlusty's goals.
"I closed my eyes and took the shot and said, `We'll see,' and it went in," Tlusty said of his second goal, which he thought was his first.
The Maple Leafs kept the puck from that goal, thinking it was his first, but apparently did not retrieve the puck from what became his first goal. Tlusty had one goal in five Marlies games.
"Jiri had a great game for us," Steen said. "He used his speed, got to the puck quickly and as soon as we got open it felt like he would find us. He played a great hockey game defensively as well. He'll be flying after this."
He already was.
Tlusty was so excited when general manager John Ferguson called at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to tell him to report to the Maple Leafs' practice that day, he never went back to sleep. The third player called up by the Leafs this week, Tlusty made an immediate impact on a team that had allowed 22 goals in its four most recent losses.
"I was nervous before the game, but after the first period my nerves calmed down," Tlusty said. "After the second period, I felt real good."
Toronto, previously 0-4-1 against Pittsburgh the last two seasons, again scored twice barely 30 seconds apart later in the third with Tomas Kaberle and Boyd Devereaux getting goals. Previously, Toronto had been outscored 17-9 in the third period.
"We had some fun, they were talking to each other and there was no tension," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. "I was happy for them. They've been tight for a while and that was a great breakthrough."
Fleury had turned aside 66 of 67 shots in winning his last two starts, only to give up five goals on 27 shots during a ragged performance. Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala made 23 saves.
"We weren't concentrating when we came out (in the third) and we gave them chances pretty much and they capitalized on it," Gonchar said.
Penguins coach Michel Therrien was perplexed with a team that was coming off three consecutive one-goal victories.
"I was really surprised," he said. "We didn't compete. We didn't execute. When you don't executive, you create turnovers."
Notes: Penguins C Maxime Talbot left with a neck injury after being rammed face-first into the boards in the Toronto end while trying to deliver a check on Ian White late in the first. The Penguins disclosed no other details. .. Pittsburgh was 1-for-6 on the power play. .. Therrien switched up his lines, with last season's rookie of the year, Evgeni Malkin, playing with Crosby for the first time. .. Toronto won for the first time in three road games (1-1-1). The Maple Leafs began a stretch of six of seven on the road.
http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=221423&hubname=
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
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Toronto 2011 night 2
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Tonight, or tomorrow?
Did you like my joke?
Price against Pittsburgh again. They're going to be playing well after getting stomped though...
Hockey Night In Canada(Saturday)but there in the Big Apple tomorrow, well u know im watching Price closely cause the Leafs wanted him in that draft and ended up with Rask who later got traded for Raycroft:(
Toronto 2011 night 2
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Well I got my fingers crossed again!
Toronto 2011 night 2
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Tavares-Leafs story doesn't make sense10/25/2007
Something doesn't seem quite right about this John Tavares-Toronto Maple Leaf story.
Two published reports today suggested the Maple Leafs have contacted Tavares' representatives to offer a contract or at least pitch the idea of the 17-year-old Oshawa General superstar signing with the Leafs' American Hockey League farm team in Toronto and play for the Marlies next season instead of playing a fourth and, quite possibly, final year in the OHL before he's finally drafted into the NHL in the summer of 2009.
Here's what doesn't seem right about it:
Tavares' reps said this story came at them out of left field and the first they heard about it was when the website reports surfaced today.
"I have no idea where this is coming from,” Tavares agent Bryan Deasley said when asked if contract negotiations with the Leafs took place. “We have had no (contract) discussions with the Maple Leafs organization, or any other member club in the NHL."
Sources close to the Maple Leafs, though, vigorously insist contact was indeed made with the Tavares camp.
When contacted again and pushed on the issue, Deasley acknowledged there was a discussion with the Leafs regarding Tavares but it never got to the stage of an offer or a negotiation.
Sounds like semantics to me.
But the other thing that doesn't make sense is the timing.
Why now?
Tavares is in the midst of his third OHL season. He's not going anywhere this season, other than to a likely OHL scoring championship, and whether he might go somewhere next season is something that won't become a front-burner issue for anyone until the summer of 2008.
Some more head-scratchers from the Tavares' stories of today:
It's said the Leafs' plan was to sign Tavares to a three-year AHL contract, suggesting he could play a year in the AHL, get drafted into the NHL, play two more years in the AHL and then become an unrestricted free agent in the NHL and sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of 2011.
If I'm not mistaken, Tavares wouldn't be a free agent in 2011. If he didn't sign with an NHL team, he would go back into the draft as a re-entry. At least that is my understanding.
Besides, this three-year contract scenario would clearly be considered an attempt to circumvent the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement and the league has by-laws to deal with such things. And the notion of Tavares waiting until 2011 to play in the NHL? C'mon, now, Earth to McFly, the kid would prefer to get there a year early, in 2008, instead of having to wait until his draft in 09. Does it make any sense he would wait another two years, to 2011, just for the right to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs?
(Insert Leaf joke here).
And finally, the AHL has some age restrictions that currently would prevent a player of Tavares' age from playing there next season. Those would have to be changed, or challenged, to permit the possibility of the more sensible notion of a one-year AHL contract being offered by the Leafs.
All in all, there's not much in the stories published today that lends much credence or authenticity to this notion of the Leafs' signing Tavares to a three-year AHL contract. Not saying it isn't something the Leafs haven't thought about or perhaps discussed but I am saying it doesn't appear feasible. Not right now, anyway.
Weird, very weird.
Meanwhile, Tavares' agent Deasley, thankfully, has dismissed the notion, publicly anyway, that Tavares would like to get an exemption to be eligible for the 2008 NHL draft. Deasley had gone to the NHL and NHL Players' Association this past summer to explore those possibilities, but the party line now is that J.T. will finish out his junior career in Oshawa and patiently wait for his name to be called in the 2009 NHL draft.
That's a good approach.
But depending upon how Tavares does this season in the OHL – he currently has 15 goals and 28 points in 12 games – it shouldn't surprise anyone if this talk of Tavares playing somewhere other than the OHL next season is revived in the summer months.
Tavares' situation is unique. Because he was, on the eve of the OHL draft, declared “exceptional” and brought into the fold a year earlier than scheduled, Tavares is scheduled to play four full major junior seasons before being drafted into the NHL. In the modern-day hockey world, that is unprecedented.
He is likely a player who might benefit from stepping up a level in the 2008-09 season. No one should begrudge him that, if indeed it's what is best for him. The OHL and the Oshawa Generals will have reaped the benefits of having him for three full years in the league, which for most players is a junior career in itself.
If I represented Tavares, depending upon how this season unfolds (i.e. if he rips the league apart) and where his game is at, I might be inclined go to the OHL and the Generals and see about negotiating to leave the league a year early.
It would have to make sense from a hockey development point of view, just as it had to make sense when the OHL deigned to have Tavares enter the league a year early. That was the right call. It's possible letting him go a year early might, and I say might, be the right call, too.
That judgment couldn't possibly be made until after this season is concluded.
But if it did happen, the Generals could be compensated (financially) by whichever team signs Tavares for the 2008-09 season. The OHL would prefer not to lose a marquee talent like Tavares, but they saw fit to deem him exceptional to get him into the league a year early, the door should not be closed to deeming him exceptional in allowing him to leave a year early. What is it they say, easy come, easy go?
There would still be the AHL's age eligibility issue to deal with, which might open the door for a year in Europe. And Tavares is virtually guaranteed to get offers from Europe and elsewhere. In fact, there is every reason to believe he already has them.
But the point is, none of this can even be legitimately discussed or considered until we see how Tavares fares this season in the OHL and where everyone is at this summer.
That is one of many things which makes today's wild-fire story regarding Tavares and the Leafs so strange.
It's not so much bizarre as perhaps premature.
Stay tuned, chances are we haven't heard the last of this.
Posted: 5:45 PM by Bob McKenzie - Comments?
http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/mckenzie/?id=221399
Toronto 2011 night 2
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On the other hand there is the Leafs. Still trying to figure out who is the number one in the net. Should be a long sixty minutes for whoever is the starter on Saturday.
Rangers in a cake walk.....5 to 2.
http://www.anotherlongseason.com
Vesa Toskala should get a few starts in a row now.
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Looks like Leafs in a cake walk
Nik & the Leafs Wrangle Rangers
Scoresheet | Stats | LTV Pre and Post-Game | Game in 6 Minutes
NEW YORK (AP) -Pavel Kubina's first of the season woke up the Maple Leafs in the second period and started a three-goal binge against the stingy Rangers that carried Toronto to a 4-1 victory over New York on Saturday night.
The defenceman lifted the Leafs into a 1-1 tie at 8:35, just 2:51 after Jaromir Jagr gave the Rangers the lead. Until then, New York held the advantage on the scoreboard and shot clock with a 20-7 edge.
The Rangers entered as the lowest-scoring NHL team (15 goals), but on the strength of goalie Henrik Lundqvist, had allowed a league-low 17.
Kubina's shot from the right point struck something and changed direction on Lundqvist 29 seconds after the Toronto defenceman left the penalty box. It was the first even-strength goal yielded by the Rangers in 230 minutes, 37 seconds, dating to an Oct. 18 loss at Atlanta.
After giving up only two regulation goals in three games, including a pair of shutouts for Lundqvist, the Rangers surrendered two to the Leafs 1:20 apart.
Toronto, which entered with the most goals in the NHL (42) and most allowed (44), grabbed a 2-1 edge on John Pohl's first with 4:14 left. Nik Antropov pushed the lead to two goals, sweeping a shot past Lundqvist as he stood untouched in front.
Chad Kilger added an empty-netter with 15.8 seconds left.
Despite being strong defensively and thwarting both power plays to give them 44 kills in 50 chances this season, New York has only three wins in 10 games (3-6-1). The Rangers snapped a four-game losing streak Thursday with a 2-0 win over New Jersey.
The offence, which generated 33 shots Saturday, has been mostly to blame.
Jagr was the only one to get a puck by Vesa Toskala, who earned his fourth win in eight games since joining the Leafs in an off-season trade with San Jose.
Taking a crafty bank pass of the right wing boards from Michal Rozsival, Jagr carried into the right circle and used six-foot-seven defenceman Hal Gill to set a screen. Jagr reached out and whipped a shot past Toskala at 5:44 for his second of the season.
Less than 12 minutes later, the Maple Leafs had turned a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead _ scoring three times in the period on only 12 shots.
Lundqvist had himself to blame on the go-ahead goal after he turned over the puck to Boyd Devereaux as he played a wraparound behind the net. Devereaux found Pohl in the slot for a quick shot.
Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle earned his second assist when he spotted the unmarked Antropov at 17:06.
Notes: Maple Leafs D Bryan McCabe, who played all 82 games last season, missed his second straight (groin). ... New York outshot Toronto 11-5 in the first period and held the Maple Leafs without a shot for 16:05 until Devereaux's short-handed breakaway shortly before Kubina's goal. ... Lundqvist's shutout streak was snapped at 127:33. ... Toronto got its first two shots of the third with under four minutes left.
http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=2&gnum=149
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How much money did the Rangers spend? Looked like disorganized peewee hockey for the first two periods the other night. A slightly better team won in a game that my buds and I tried not to fall asleep watching.
A couple of posts back, who said that the road trip would help the Laughs?
Too bad this game wasn't in Washington, I like their cop siren when they score goals.
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
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