Post-game Leafs - Sabres

I missed the winning goal because an Elvis impersonator was in our section. Clearly this was the highlight of the night, if not week, for everyone within 20 feet of me as they all decided to stand up, turn their backs to the game, and yell at Elvis in hopes of getting a t-shirt of some sort. The good news (bad news?) is, I only had to wait all of a minute for a chance to see the Sabres score another goal. Great.

In addition to the love for Elvis, the row I was in also featured a portly teen who felt the need to imitate Larry the Cable Guy while yelling a the Leafs. Other high lights from this young Chunker included him stealing sips of his dad's beer and calling the Leafs "Ladies" most of the night. And here I was worried that the awful music would be the low-point of the in-game entertainment.

Christian Hanson didn't look out of place. There was one occassion where he didn't chip the puck out on his wing, which led to a bit of a scramble, but on another Sabres rush he picked up the third man and did some nice work down low. I have all the scouting accumen of a dead squirrel, so I'm not sure where this kid fits on the talent spectrum but he didn't stand out as being a liability. It was also nice to see him get a shot to get the Leafs back into it late in the game.

A tip of the hat to the ACC A/V crew. It's amazing that they can get a replay up and onto the scoreboard in mere seconds. One of my biggest complaints when watching the game at home is how long it takes TSN/Sportsnet/CBC to roll the tape so we can get a closer look at what happened - it's like the TV folks are slower than Jason Allison skating in sand.

The big sponsorship push tonight was President's Choice green products. To show us just how much President's Choice treasures the environment, all 20,000 fans in attendance were given coupons printed on non-recycled high-gloss stock that soon filled the hallways and garbage cans between the ACC and Union Station. Nice work Loblaw Corp. Next time, to demonstrate your commitment to the environment, perhaps you could hand out low-efficiency incandescent light bulbs or leave a bunch of PC delivery trucks covered in pro-environment signs idling in the parking lot for the duration of the game.

Those who took the over in the Tragically Hip song count were wise folks. We counted at least four selections from the Hip and I'm sure I tuned out at least one or two others.

Leafs are idle until Saturday. It's a good thing they were scheduled to play back-to-back games and then given a three day break.

It's always great to see the Leafs live. My very first Leaf game was a 3-3 tie between the Sabres and Leafs back in 1975 or '76 at MLG (I still have the ticket stub somewhere in the basement).

I wonder if the ACC has the same aura of wonder for little kids that MLG held for me growing up. I was thinking it would be cool to skate on the ACC ice, but it would have been an out and out magical thrill to skate down at MLG...maybe it's just a matter of time. The ACC is only ten years old, perhaps in another thirty or forty years it will have created enough memories and special moments to give it the historical presence that was associated with going to a game at MLG.

I also posted live from the game, which you can read here: pre-game; the start of period 2; and thoughts after 40 minutes.

Live from the ACC: After 40 Minutes

Some thoughts after 40 minutes down at the ACC...

It always struck me that the best thing for the Leafs this year was to play hard, develop their kids and lose a lot of one goal games. Leafs still have a chance to go three for three tonight, although I'd be most impressed if they came out flying in the third. Been a bit of a "meh" game so far. As much as I want a higher draft pick, I'd love to see Cujo and the Leafs get the win.

No Leaf wants to go to the front of the net tonight and it's killing their PP. Be nice to see the Leafs acquire a big body that will create some traffic in front.

Stajan is softer than a roomfull of those little white kittens that shill toilet paper.

To err is human, to make a big save is canine. Cujo looked awful - way too deep in his net - on the sabres first goal but has made a couple of beautiful stops tonight.

I've always hated those "make noise" and "Clap hands" interstitials on the scoreboard but they work. The fans sit on their hands until one of these digital prompts come up and then we all clap and cheer on cue. Sad.

Over under on Tragically Hip songs at the ACC has to be three if not four. They get played a lot. Sadly, no music from Chixdiggit yet.

Live from the ACC: Start of period 2

8:09 - biggest cheer of the game so far was a trivia contest that resulted in a big mac give-away for everyone in attendance.

Further sign of the economic downturn: during the first intermission they held a race with remote control cars on the ice, there was a coloured car to represent each section of the stands. The gold car didn't even get off the starting line.

Bad jersey alert: there's a couple near us wearing Afinogenov jerseys. Her's is an old-school blue and gold, his is the slug white.

Another guy nearby is in a royal blue corduroy 1994 New York Rangers Stanley Cup Champ jacket. Guaranteed to repel all single women within 100 feet.

Leafs just hit the ice, time for period #2...

Live blog from the ACC

I'm going to see if I can post some thoughts live from the game at the ACC. Not sure if the technology will work here...


It's officially a recession if not a depression as I'm watching this game from comped seats in the purples, not the lower bowl of sushi and suits...the McDonalds pre-game skater was a goalie and it was off the unintentional comedy scale seeing a kid in goalie pads trying to skate laps carrying a flag.

Leafs have an all-North American starting line-up with 5 of 6 guys hailing from Canada (Hanson is the only non-Canadian).

The ceremony for May was great, classy move to have Red Kelly on hand, as well as Kris King and Rob Ray. Funny to see May giving everyone big hugs. May's mum mouthed a big, "Oh wow!" when Michael Burgess was announced and sang her lungs out to both National anthems.

ACC is quiet as a morgue so far...isn't Stajan and roughing an oxymoron? Crowd really wanted a penalty shot on the Vanek penalty...

Don't Call it a Comeback

Leafs 4, Philly 3 (OT)

It's games like this that make me realize why I follow sports.

For weeks, everything about the Leafs has focused on magic numbers, tragic numbers, the post-season point-gap and a never ending list of must-win games. In short - everything but what really matters: the game on the ice.

And then a game like this comes along. Big hits, nice goals, lots of tension. That third period may be the most fun I've had watching a game since the lock-out (sadly three years without your team in the post-season will do that, I suppose). I stood up and yelled when Poni missed the empty net with about 40 seconds to go.

The Leafs may stink. The post-season dream may have died months ago. The organization still needs to undergo a massive re-build and the game reports may be full of negativity, but I can't wait to see what happens at the re-match in Philly.

Battle of Who Could Care Less

Is the Battle of Ontario currently the worst named rivalry in hockey?

It’s gone from a sea of heat and hatred to a whole pile of meh.

With the Leafs currently residing in the where-are-they-now-file, a Leafs Sens game has all the tension and energy of going to the old age home to play your crazy old aunt at Candy Land. Sure, it's hard to get up for a game like that and every once in a while you stop paying attention, the crazy aunt has a moment of lucidity, maybe some luck with the dice and you end up on the losing end of thing, but even though your aunt may have won a game it's not like she's on pace to crack the remaining unsolved list of Hilbert's problems.

I'm happy the Leafs won (and Ray Emery played nets like a little old lady) but I can't help but wonder how long it will be before these games actually mean something again.

You Say You Want a Revolution?

Went to the Leafs - Blues game last night, we were lucky enough to get my wife's corporate seats. Yup, corporate seats. I've been to four games this year and three of those were as the guest of large corporations on expense accounts. Which brings me back to this crazy concept that somehow Leaf fans are to blame for the current teams' woes.

Last night, I asked the people around me how they got their tickets ($160 reds). All of them are season tickets held by corporations - the guys to my right got their seats from a car dealership (the ticket holder apparently owns four dealerships); the foursome in front of me were from an ad agency; the two to their left were part of a restaurant chain; and the two to my wife's left were held by a big food multinational (who also have a box at the ACC).

This is something that Dave Feschuk picked up on over at the Star today; clearly it's not the average joe that's filling the coffers for MLSE and padding that oh so comfortable bottom line.

Malibu Stacy may tell us that "math is hard" but let's do a little rudimentary accounting.

The ACC has 1020 platinum seats at $400 each, which generates $400K per game (not including the margins from sushi and wine sales).

In the upper bowl there are approximately 3330 Purple Seats at $37 a pop, generating approximately $120K per game. Fold-in the 300 standing room places at $24 each and you've got an extra $7200 - call it $130K.

Time to compare and contrast: the purple dwelling Leafs Nation lunch box crowd is being outspent by the corporations in the platinums by about $3 to $1.

Put another way: one row of platinum seats generates more income for MLSE than all of the standing room tickets combined.

Now factor in 300 luxury suites. I don't know what the original purchase price or seat licensing costs were, but a 42 person suite rents out for $10K per game and a 57 person suite is $13K. The "cheaper" rental is the equivalent of selling 270 tickets up in the purples, more than 10 rows worth of seats.

So if you think refusing to buy the car flag, canceling Leafs TV and declining those $37 purples will make a difference, go for it. I honestly encourage Leaf fans to vote with their wallets. Seriously. After all, maybe Mike Babcock is right, - it is the common fan that's propping this organization up and keeping them from a re-build.

Looking at the numbers I find it very hard to believe it's so.

###

As for the game itself, Tlusty got banged around like it was the first time he played contact hockey, but I'll give him credit for getting up and staying in the thick of things all night. If he could find a second gear or any type of explosive speed he'd be a far more dangerous player. Tlutsy seemed to play the whole game at half-speed (or else his top speed is really poor). He could find the openings, but his lack of secondary speed kept him from been truly dangerous.

The Tucker, Blake, Stajan line really surprised me. Tucker was great on the forecheck (this from a guy who has pushed to trade #16 for years) but he's an absolute pylon defensively. Blake's through the legs back pass happened right in front of us and was amazing.

As I watched Legace stymie the Leafs time after time, I started undergoing serious cognitive dissonance - had JFJ signed Legace as a UFA, the Leafs would still have Rask plus their 2007 1,2,4 picks and likely would have made the playoffs last year. Of course, that would mean JFJ would still be GM giving me chronic heartburn by screwing this team over in new and inventive ways...

Do the Collapse

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and a great New Year.

The only thing I managed to do over the holidays was grow a beard. (Well, it might not constitute a beard - I just haven’t shaved since Christmas Eve). Somewhat shockingly my newly hirsute chin hasn’t brought the Leafs the expected luck. Perhaps this facial hair thing only works in the playoffs…

This Leafs team and organization still leaves me cold; such a culture of losing that seems to be getting more and more ingrained...since this team loves to cough up the last minute goal and throw away points, I thought I’d have a look at who Coach Mo has been tapping for ice time in critical late-game situations – specifically those tied /close games versus Carolina, Tampa, the Islanders and Tampa again.

The Leafs picked up four points from this series of games when they should have easily walked away with at least six if not more. Looking at line combinations, I would suggest in at least two of those games it was the Leafs poor line changes/match-ups that cost them the game and the points. Keep that in mind come March when the Leafs are desperately in need of points and chasing that last playoff spot.

After looking at who's on the ice with the game on the line, the critical question I'd like to ask (or better yet, have answered is): Is the inability to get the right guys on the ice at the right time a failure of the coaching staff or do the Leafs simply not have enough depth to hide certain weak ES guys (Tucker, Wellwood, Blake) in late game situations?

I’ll let you read on and then decide…

December 18 Leafs v. Hurricanes

With just under 2 minutes to go in a 2-0 game, Maurice ices what has arguably been the Leafs best forward line, while Gill has been strong on D this year…

White
Gill
Steen
Stajan
Devereaux

Unfortunately, Caroline cashes one in to make it 2-1.

Maurice comes back with arguably his top 5 man unit:

Kaberle
Kubina
Ponikarovski
Sundin
Antropov

And the Canes score off the bad turnover/cough-up by Poni who was staring down an open net…if I were behind the bench (and lord help Leaf fans if that were the case) I’d likely roll the lines the exact same way…

December 20 Leafs v. Tampa

Two nights later, the Leafs and Bolts are tied 1-1 on the road late in the game and Maurice rolls out:

Kubina
Kaberle
Blake
Wellwood
Tucker

You can blame Kubina’s broken stick all you want (and hey, the Leafs and all of their spokespeople sure did) but the fact is Kaberle covered for Kubina and broke up the ensuing rush. It was Blake’s soft turnover at the Leafs’ blue line (remember that) coupled with Tucker’s failure to cover his man that gave Lecavalier the chance to put the puck in the back of the net.

If I were coach, that forward line wouldn’t see the ice at ES or PK when there’s less than five minutes remaining in the game. Tucker is murder at ES, Wellwood is a creative playmaker, but couldn’t go into a corner if he lived in a square and Blake leads the league in turnovers. I really don’t see how this is a winning combination. I would love to know what Maurice was thinking here…

December 26 Leafs v. Islanders

It’s overtime, four on four, tie game. Leafs have just come off a PP that generated lots of chances so Kubina and Kaberle aren’t available to Maurice. The Leafs change on the fly, sending out:

White
Strahlman
Wellwood
Blake

Gill isn’t the fastest skater, but I’m still very surprised Maurice would go with a rookie and little-man White at that point in the game. What makes this line change especially questionable is the forward paring – the Leafs smallest/greenest D with the two softest and smallest forwards in Wellwood and Blake. I don’t understand this pairing at all, especially given the forward's presence on the ice for the winning (losing goal) in the final minute against Tampa in just the previous game.

So what happens? Blake turns the puck over at the Isles’ blue line (quelle surpise!) the Leafs have a soft back-check and Comrie pots the winner off a rebound.

Of note - the Stajan, Steen, Devereaux line doesn’t see a single second of ice during OT…once more, would love to know if any of the media horde questioned the coach on his decision to play small in the extra frame.

The Leafs go on to sleep through a game in Philly and get positively smoked by the Rangers before going up against the cellar-dwelling Lightning on January 1, 2008.

With the Leafs up by one going into the third, Maurice shortens his bench. Belak, Bell, Tlusty get a single shift at the three minute mark and that’s it for them. (Good thing Bell was part of that Toskala trade and is under contract for one more year at $2M+…).

With a minute to go, Maurice reunites the Steen, Stajan, Devereaux line, which had been broken up for this game (Steen played with Blake and Sundin; Stajan played with Tucker and Kilger). Tampa pots an odd one off a deflected long-shot and the game goes to OT and the shoot-out.

I think this was a good call by Maurice, as that line has been very dependable and it was a bit of an odd goal that tied it up…thankfully he kept Wellwood in the press box and Tucker and Blake didn’t see the ice in the final three minutes of the game.

To sum up: by my estimation, that makes Maurice 2 for 4 in terms of managing his bench during critical moments of these four games, which isn’t good enough.

Admittedly, these odd coaching decisions are nothing new. In game one, Maurice sent Tucker out in OT against the Heatley line when the Leafs had the last change at home. But by now, you’d think the coaching staff would have seen enough of Tucker, Blake and Wellwood to know that they shouldn’t be on the ice at ES at critical points in the game. While I’m hopeful the club has learned from those games in Tampa and Carolina (though I really doubt it).

Perhaps we'll get another chance to see the Leafs try to match lines against the Pens tonight...hopefully Tucker and Blake can avoid lining up against Sid and Malkin.

Faith, you're driving me away (almost)

Leafs 3, Flyers 2 - Did anyone else suffer a heart attack this evening?

I was seriously ready to write this team off when Mike York made it 2-2. My faith in the Leafs a little more shaken...

I have a fabulous cold at the moment: a wet hacking cough that would make Zoolander's daddy happy, a nose more plugged up then the neutral zone at the Meadowlands and the odd fever and chills just to keep it interesting.

I watched tonight's game all hopped up on neo citron and other assorted cold meds and my lungs sounding like I'd inhaled a bag of pop-rocks every time I took a deep breath. And there were a lot of deep breaths to take.

What's the deal with Raycroft? The guy goes down faster than an insecure teen at a rainbow party and his glove hand is slower than Jason Allison on a shoot-out. Somebody tie him to the freakin' cross-bar and tell him to stand up. He made some beauty saves along the way, but man, I don't know how much more of this I can take.

If the Leafs make the playoffs and I still have this cold I'm going to have to figure out the best booze to mix with my lemon and honey neo citron. It's the only way I'll survive nights like this (and as I sip another warm mug of this delightful medicinal concoction, my guess would be either vodka or lemoncello right in the mug or a well chilled glass of whiskey with plenty of ice that I can hold to my forehead whenever a player breaks down the right wing on Raycroft. Maybe both. If anyone else has suggestions, I'm all ears...)

At least the Isles won, making things a bit more interesting on Thursday night. By that time I may be watching the game from an iron lung.

Go Leafs Go.

A Series of Compounding Errors

When the Leafs played Nashville a week or so ago, Joe Bowen (or one of the Leaf play by play guys) paraphrased Barry Trotz as saying "When teams, like the Leafs, are battling for their playoff lives little things tend to get magnified."

Think missed calls, bad penalties, weak goals - you know all the hallmarks of a typical Leaf game, streak, season, decade, forty-year drought (take your pick).

And so it comes to this...Sundin, inexplicably, gets a goal called back (nice work NHL. I know I ranted about this once before but would a timely explanation or some accountability be too much to ask? And wouldn't it have been the right call for Sportsnet to cite the Fraser call as the turning point of the game?); McCabe (after a horrible pinch) gets called for a very marginal hooking penalty (his stick was on and off that player faster than you could say "bad contract JFJ") and the Isles tie it up on the powerplay.

In OT, Sundin gets taken down like Steve Simmons on a Leaf fan discussion board and there's no call (hey NHL - it's a dive, a trip, or both - even the culprit Satan thought he was headed to the box).

And so it goes into the books as a shoot-out loss.

Oh, and here's more good news: the Isles now own the tie-breaker should they finish the season tied with the Leafs for 8th PPP has correctly pointed out that the Leafs still own the tiebreaker, so we've got that going for us.

My point isn't to bemoan the bad calls in one game (although that's always fun).

My point is this: it's time MLSE iced a team where non-calls and marginal penalties weren't the difference between life and death.

It's time MLSE set about icing a team where one blown call in February didn't loom over this club like some airborne toxic event.

I firmly believe that unless JFJ dramatically changes the composition of this team, I will spend all of next year with the Leafs stuck at .500, anxiously watching this same tightrope walk. Another season wasted on a team that's perpetually one stupid call away from being outside the playoffs once again.

I said weeks ago that I doubted this team has the stuff to make the post-season, never mind make it out of the first round.

But for those Leaf fans who are holding out hope for the playoffs, thinking this year's version of the Leafs might do some damage if they make the post-season dance, consider this: if the Leafs were in a four game series against the Isles, they'd be down 2-0.

Factor in: the recent 3-0 loss against the Bruins, the fact that this team holds a lead about as well as Ashley Simpson holds her liquor, that scintillating sub .500 home record and the fact that no team seeded lower than fifth has ever won the cup and I can't say I'm with you delusional Leaf fans optimists on this one.

And how bad is it that "making the playoffs" remains a stretch for this organization? Over half the freakin' league qualifies and yet the Leafs struggle to even attain that mediocre level of "success"

Sell.

Trade all the UFAs.

Play the kids and any prospects we get back.

Scout the hell out of all the pending UFAs and spend accordingly in the off-season.

From here on out, it shouldn't be about trying to hit that 8th spot, trying to get 2 more home dates for the pension fund, hoping Kerry Fraser isn't going to stick-it to the Leafs again.

Winning one round of the playoffs isn't what I'm after either.

Two rounds won't cut it.

A successful season for Leaf Nation should be winning the Cup. Nothing less.

Isn't it time MLSE started to think the same way?


Oh, and for the record: I hate the shoot-out. Even had the Leafs won, I still think it's an absolutely preposterous way to finish a game. If Bettman and his suits want to entertain the fans, get some TV coverage and have everyone talking at the water coolers he should have Raycroft fight DiPietro at Centre Ice, winner take all...I'm guessing that the Emery tilt will get more coverage than any of the shootout results that went down on the same night. ***UPDATE*** Deadspin, which I love even though they never post about hockey, has already posted highlights of the Emery fight, quickly generating 80+ comments...

Leafs v. Oil

The Oil
For a long time, the Oil were team 1B for me. As a teenager, they were a team I could root for in the post-season while my leafs golfed.

When they won the Cup in '90, a buddy of mine phoned me from his home in the North East corner of Edmonton and I could hear the car horns blaring in the background throughout the call.

Sadly, that's the closest I've ever been to celebrating a Cup win.

Both of these teams have more in common than any Oiler fan would willingly admit: from terrible ownership (bordering on corrupt and criminal in both cases) to their formidable history; from bringing in players on the wrong side of their careers (Nedved; Nolan; Nilson; Oates; Gingras; Laraque) to patches of horrific drafting. And, for both of these organizations, their best years are well behind them.

Yeah, the Oil had a tremendous run in the 80s that will likely never be seen again - and their fans will be the first to remind you about that - but I have to ask what's the statute of limitations on nostalgia? It's been 40 years for the Leafs and 18 for the Oil...Sure, I'd rather be on the side that only has to count to 18, but when you start measuring in decades it's a bit like bragging about being the world's tallest midget.

Keon
My dad's favourite player. I remember him playing with the Whalers and burying the Leafs one night when I was seven or eight years old. My dad was thrilled. I was right pissed off - at Keon, at my Dad and at Ballard.

Nice work by JFJ to get him back. Lowetide has a nice post on Keon as well.

The 1967 Reunion
Glad they did something for the team on this anniversary but I'm not so sure that centre ice before the game was the right time and place.

I certainly can't recall any other professional sports team recognizing a (rather embarrassing) milestone like this. At least Anne Murray wasn't brought out to mark the occasion...

I'd love to know the Leafs record following ceremonies like this one.

They lost when the Gardens closed, they lost the night they honoured Kelly, Day and Salming, they won when Sittler's 27 went up...I just have a feeling that, more often than not, these opening ceremonies end up in the L column for the Leafs.

The Penalty Shot
Likely the right call, but why the delay? That ref took his sweet time to point to centre ice...Anyone know Raycroft's stats on penalty shots? Given his stats in the shootout (23rd overall, .600 save percentage) I'd guess he's right near the bottom among active goalies. Maybe they should have stuck Aubin between the pipes for that one.

Trade Nonsense
With the Oil falling further and further from the post-season I'm extremely doubtful that they're going to be buyers in the next two weeks. This road trip (pasted by Boston?!?) has tilted the scales from buyer to seller. Moreover, the Oilers strike me as a team more in need of a puck moving D than a scrappy PP specialist like Tucker (and I'm pretty sure Craig Simpson could figure out how to make Tucker ineffective on the Oiler powerplay anyways.)

All of that to say, did anyone notice Lupul tonight? Did the guy even dress? This is who Leaf Nation is talking up? Over 14 minutes, 21 shifts, -1, 1 shot on net. Meh. The Leafs might as well spend $2.5M on the invisible man. This is not a guy I want on the Blue and White.

The Meaningless Projected Standings as of Saturday Night

Team	Win %	GR	Record to 92 Pts	Record to 95 Pts
1. BUFFALO	0.703	23	4-18-1	6-17-0
2. NEW JERSEY	0.667	25	7-18-0	8-14-1
3. PITTSBURGH	0.616	26	11-14-1	13-13-0
4. OTTAWA	0.602	23	10-12-1	12-11-0
5. ATLANTA	0.575	23	11-11-1	13-10-0
6. TAMPA BAY	0.575	22	11-10-1	13-9-0
7. TORONTO	0.559	23	13-10-0	14-8-1
8. CAROLINA	0.549	21	12-8-1	14-7-0
-----------	---	--	---	---
9. NY ISLANDERS	0.542	23	14-9-0	15-7-1
10. MONTREAL	0.533	22	14-8-0	15-6-1
11. NY RANGERS	0.526	24	15-8-1	17-7-0
12. BOSTON	0.509	25	17-8-0	18-7-0
13. WASHINGTON	0.474	24	18-6-1	19-4-0
14. FLORIDA	0.475	22	17-4-1	19-3-0

Teams are sorted by winning percentage, not points. Teams have not been re-seeded by division standings. Philadelphia cannot make 92 or 95 points.

Math was done by hand - let me know if there are any errors...

In the Reds

I don't normally do the game notes/blog thing but I got a call around 5PM tonight from a friend asking if I was interested in going to the Leaf game, like he had to ask.

Here are some notes from the ACC:

When Andy Frost announced the game’s scratches, Antropov’s name got a big cheer.

The music selection at the ACC is worse than you might think. I don’t know that Cotton Eyed Joe made an appearance, but the majority of the music played was recorded before the births of Steen, Stajan and Ponikarovsky. I didn’t know that people still listened to Quiet Riot…I bet the guy next to me we’d hear Twisted Sister before the night was over. I lost. But it seemed like a safe bet at the time.

Both teams came out sluggish. The Leafs didn’t get their first shot on goal until the 13th minute mark and that was off a dump in.

Ponikarovsky’s goal was a thing of beauty. Too bad he couldn’t repeat in the shoot-out.

The Leafs looked absolutely dreadful in the second period. They were totally contained for whole shifts at a time, unable to contain the Rangers low-cycle and unable to clear the zone. The Rangers very successfully dumped the puck into the Leafs right corner and then flooded the right wing wall. The Leafs coughed up the puck time after time after time. It was ugly.

Raycroft did not look sharp. Pucks were bouncing off him like superballs dropped from the top of the CN Tower. He was fighting the puck all night and if it weren’t for a few lucky bounces the Rangers could have buried the Leafs in the second, especially as Raycroft struggled to contain the puck and limit second chances.

Stajan can dangle. Made a great move up the middle in the 3rd. Who knew?

Maurice did his best to pair Belak with Kaberle, but the Rangers did a great job of isolating Belak and working the puck into his corner whenever big #3 took to the ice.

Brendan Bell did not look out of place - had a really nice solo rush in the third that he nearly converted.

The Leafs seemed reticent to shoot the puck tonight and were guilty of over-passing on a few occasions. I’m amazed they managed 38 shots on Lundqvist. It’s either a friendly finger keeping count or the Leafs should have had 50.

PruchaTyutin crushed Tucker. Tucker crushed Jagr. Nice stuff.

Whenever Raycroft left the crease to play the puck, a woman in my section would make a noise like she was going into labour (either that or she secretly using the call of the dying giraffe). Thank you miss, whoever you are, for giving voice to the anxiety that I thought was mine alone.

Marcel Hossa really low-bridged Poniarovsky with a very dangerous looking hit in the neutral zone. If Quinn was still coach (or if Lindy Ruff were behind the bench) this would be the lead news item until at least Tuesday.

The Leafs looked better as the game went on, dominating most of the third. With the exception of one shift in OT, the Rangers looked as though they were just waiting for the shoot-out.

The guy sitting behind me very loudly predicted what each player would do as they came in on the shoot-out. He fared a little worse than the leafs going 0 for six on his predictions. My favourite: his call that Shanahan would go “High cheese over the glove” on Raycroft. High cheese indeed.

I’ve never enjoyed the shoot-out on TV and I hate to admit it was a pretty thrilling thing to see live. That said, I still think it’s a lousy way to decide a game.

Opening Night

I’m not going to offer up a blow by blow of the game or a recap. It's likely that most of Leafs nation tuned in and saw it for themselves. Let’s face it, small forests have been decimated and towns from Espanola to Kamploops are basking in that lovely smell of eggs-gone-bad in order to provide way too much coverage of what was ostensibly a pretty boring game.

Herewith, some initial thoughts on the game and the mindless chattering folks that covered it:

Has anyone thought about testing the broadcasters' urine? Someone needs to tell these guys that they don't need to yammer on and on like a certain drummer I know.

During one of the interstitials, Glen Healy said Lindros will score 32 goals for Dallas. Last time Big E played 81 games he notched 19 goals. Ok, I’m being a bit disingenuous here. Lindros potted 37 for the 2000-2001 Rangers. That same year, Healy went 4-7-3 for the Leafs (with a scintillating .885 save percentage). I’ll put it this way: Lindros has about the same odds of potting 32 for Dallas as Healy does in winning 4 games this year for an NHL club.

When will TSN recognize their error in signing Domi and will the buy-out have to be spread over 2 years?

Almost every Leaf breakout seemed to go up the left side - are the Leafs stronger up their left side, are the Sens weaker on their right side or is that just the easiest way for a leaf dman to blindly throw the puck around and minimize the odds of a horrible turnover?

Did McCabe hold-out? Did he miss pre-season? He does know that the regular season has started right?

Over under on the fans and media turning on Hal Gill (a la Larry Murphy)? I'd say Game 3 and take the under.

How many times am I going to hear "who's going to score on this team?" before I start clenching my jaw and talking back to the little voices in my head. I get it. We all get it. Is there any one on the planet with a remote interest in hockey that hasn’t heard this trope? Can we somehow form a goon squad to make announcers and analysts put a loonie in a jar every time they offer this up? We could raise the GDP of a small country for a worthwhile cause by the 10 game mark. Let's figure out how to make this happen.

Gerber looked solid, but then again it's the regular season. Other than that third goal, Raycroft was competent too - outstanding on the multiple breakaways.

Cognitive dissonance re-defined: the non-call on Chris Neil’s flying elbow on Jeff O’Neill. As a Leafs fan I wanted to see off-setting penalties. As a Leafs fan it’s a blow I imagine many of us have wanted to deliver.