Toronto Maple Leafs 2011/12

[Ironhead]

Where was that good young Sens team I saw earlier in the season ?
Leafs defeat the Senators 5-0. Now the Leafs are just a point behind with two games in hand.

Reimer was on his game in his second shutout in a row. He let a few rebounds out but, it did not hurt him because the D were there to clear everything away.
Kessel scored, had a three point night. Lupul had two assists.
PK was on again, even the PP worked. Leafs getting goals from other sources and it is about time.

The Oil and white hot Gagner are up next on Monday.

 

[shack]

Where was that good young Sens team I saw earlier in the season ?

They got older pretty fast. They are now playing down to their true potential.

Leafs defeat the Senators 5-0. Now the Leafs are just a point behind with two games in hand.

If the Leafs can beat the Attawa PissKats tonight, they will be 1 point behind with 3 games in hand. Not bad.

Still having trouble with the math, I see.

55 minus 52=3.

 

[Ironhead]

Still having trouble with the math, I see.

54 minus 51=3.

I was looking at yesterday's standings and only added a game to the Sens totals. lol
So three games in hand, even better. :thumb:

 

[Ironhead]

The Leafs are healthy going into tonight's game. Well according to the Star they have no one on IR. Is Boyce back ?
Although I do not expect another shutout tonight, nor do I think Gagner will continue to be so hot ... here is hoping.
Gagner has 11 in two games for the Oilers, unofficially 12 if you count the shootout winner on Saturday night. The Leafs should not go overboard in the attention Gagner gets. He had a freak weekend, it will pass. The Leafs cannot lose focus on the true big guns on Edmonton, Hall, Eberle, Hopkins, et al. Pay too much attention to Gagner and those other guys will burn you. I want the Leafs to just go out and play their game.

I have not heard anything about the starting goalies.

 

[Ironhead]

So I am looking at the standings ... the Leafs have played 52, which means they have exactly 30 remaining. Taking that into account, the Leafs need one point out of every game in the remaining schedule to get to 90. I point this out because a lot of people put some importance on that 90 point threshold.


Here is the remaining Leaf schedule for 2012.

Edmonton
@ Winnipeg
@ Philadelphia
Montreal
@ Calgary

@ Edmonton
@ Vancouver
New Jersey
San Jose
Washington

Florida
@ Chicago(Feb 29)
@ Montreal(Mar 3)
Boston
@ Pittsburgh

Philadelphia
@ Washington
@ Florida
@ Tampa
@ Ottawa

@ Boston
New York Isles
@ New Jersey
New York R
Carolina

Philadelphia
Buffalo(Mar 31)
@ Buffalo(Apr 3)
Tampa
@ Montreal


Go Blue !

 

[shack]

@ Chicago(Feb 29)
@ Montreal(Mar 3)
Boston
@ Pittsburgh

Philadelphia
@ Washington
@ Florida
@ Tampa
@ Ottawa

@ Boston
New York Isles
@ New Jersey

That looks like the tough stretch. 9 out of 12 on the road and 5 games vs. elite teams plus Jersey and Washington.

 

[pencilneckgeek2]

The Maple Leafs chances of making the playoffs:

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Eastern/Northeast/Toronto.html

 

[blackrock13]

Tonight should be agood test against Edmonton, oner of the hottest teams right now, speed against speed.

 

[maurice93]

The Maple Leafs chances of making the playoffs:

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Eastern/Northeast/Toronto.html

I certainly think the Leafs have a really good shot at making the playoffs -- but 90.1%? I would take those 9 to 1 odds.

 

[shack]

Tonight should be agood test against Edmonton, oner of the hottest teams right now, speed against speed.

The difference is that the Leafs know better than the Oil how to throw in a bit of defense with that speed.

 

[shack]

I certainly think the Leafs have a really good shot at making the playoffs -- but 90.1%? I would take those 9 to 1 odds.

I wasn't sure if I was reading it right. That seems high to me as well.

 

[Ironhead]

Leafs a 90.1% chance of making the playoffs ?

There is something amiss there. Even I do not agree, even though I believe they will make the playoffs. There is no way it is that close to a lock with 30 game to go.

 

[Ironhead]

Leafs win 6-3 !

Blue is now in seventh ... officially.
Kessel nets two and an assist, Lupul scores. MacArthur was 1 and 1, Grabovski had two assists and the D chipped in three points. Reimer was great when he had to be. The shutout streak ends early, but he shut the door in the third and that is what you want from your goaltending.
Oilers have a lot of young talent. They will be good if they can hold onto all those young guns.

In Winnipeg tomorrow night.

 

[Polaris]

The Leafs are playing well. They're playing like the first place team they were earlier in the season in November. No one expected that to last, not even Ron Wilson who tends to be optimistic. He has to be, given what he had to work with the past four seasons.

The Leafs are still an incomplete team it seems, but they are getting there.

The Leafs were in first place because they were scoring with Kessel and Lupal, and their defense held up. Plus that Gustavsson provided solid goal-tending when Riemer was injuried.

The worst slump of the season happened when Riemer returned from his injury, and was bad. The penalty kill was bad too. Around that time in December the defense started to struggle somewhat. The Leafs defense always seemed to give up a breakaway or 2 on 1 in every game all season.

What has changed in January is that they put Gustavsson back in goal, and now Riemer has found his game again. He's not a reflex goalie, he needs to come out and cover the angles.

Amazingly, the penalty kill has done a 180° turn. It all started with that practice where the coaching staff brought out ropes to map out the lanes in the zone during PP kill. Like the players had no clue on where to stand.

The defense, has not been giving the other team the breakaway or 2 on 1. Although it did happen tonight, with the youngest Scheen and Gardiner. I thought I saw a 2 on nothing, but the Oilers did not score. The Leafs defense is good in front of the net, in the corners and on the boards, they are strong there.

The team is scoring, getting solid goal-tending, the PK is actually working, and the defense is doing their job and getting points too. Play like this, and this Maple Leaf team can beat anybody in the league. This team won't sneak into the playoffs in the last week of the season.

Tomorrow night, they have a chance to bury the Winnipeg Jets in the playoff race. Go Leafs Go!

:deadhorse:

 

[Ironhead]

I do not like what I am hearing from the media(so called experts). 'The Leafs may be OK.' 'Burke may stand pat, not wanting to tinker with this roster.'

This team still does not have that true number one center it so desperately needs. Considering where they will finish(assuming a playoff spot) they will have to take on the number one or two seed. It would be ideal to get to sixth to play the third seed(division winner), Washington or Florida.
I can see standing pat because Burke does not want to pay the asking price for a number one center/top six forward, but not because he(or whoever) thinks this team can have playoff success as it is.

There are guys like Getzlaf who is the ultimate prize, and guys like Brassard(Columbus) who would be acceptable.

 

[great bear]

Remember just before Burke arrived on the scene the number 1 centre in Toronto was Stajan? Burke and staff have done quite a decent job improving this team. GB

 

[Polaris]

What a disappointment tonight in Winnipeg. The Leafs, gave a big effort even though they weren't sharp playing back to back games.

But, the harder they try, the more obvious what this team lacks. Winnipeg tonight exposed again the Leafs as the exact same team that got whipped by a big Boston Bruins team earlier in the season. You would think, that after 50 games, this team would learn a little on how to beat a determined opponent with size. As we saw again, the Leafs had no answer at all.

The other thing I did not like about this game is the penalty Kessel took for slashing when the other guy took a swing at him. Next time, don't tap him, use a full two hander baseball type swing. Kessel has to protect himself. If he is going to take a penalty like that, he should have got his money worth.

Nice hit by Phaneuf later in the period.

:frusty:

 

[Ironhead]

The other thing I did not like about this game is the penalty Kessel took for slashing when the other guy took a swing at him. Next time, don't tap him, use a full two hander baseball type swing. Kessel has to protect himself. If he is going to take a penalty like that, he should have got his money worth.

The only thing about a 'baseball style' swing is we may lose Kessel to suspension for a couple. That said I agree we your basic idea.

 

[Bargnani_]

Remember just before Burke arrived on the scene the number 1 centre in Toronto was Stajan? Burke and staff have done quite a decent job improving this team. GB

I don't follow hockey much cause too busy eating Pasta and playing for the Raptors but I am pretty sure Nik Antropov was the number one centre when Burke arrived . By the way who is the Leafs number 1 centre now ?

 

[Ironhead]

This was a winnable game. The Leafs were not sharp, played OK, but not as well as they have been going. The Jets were not exactly world beater last night either. That first Jets goal was SOFT.
The Leafs passed up so many shots in order to make a pass when the shot was the wwwwaaaaaaaay better option.
After Gustavsson played on January 24 vs the Isles, last game before the All-Star break, he had six days off. He then started the first game back, the Pens come back win. Reimer then had the back to back shut outs, plus the Oiler game. Gustavsson had the Isles game, six days off, the Pens game, another six days off, then last night. The rust was evident in my opinion.