In forty one shots against Montreal tonight, Blake only registered one.
Seriously.
Perhaps tonight can be a learning experience for the grizzled veteran. He was effective and played a decent game tonight despite the fact he didn't fire that many shots. He was a bulldog crashing the net and creating ruckus all around. His speed and tenacity is what makes him an effective player. If he can forget about trying to score a goal on every possession, we could see him become the player he is designed to be. He took a few penalties tonight, at least one of which is directly attributable to a crash the net style of play.
Poni seemed to cuddle right up to Antropov after the brilliant goal. Perhaps there's more to their friendship than meets the eye....
Very fun game to watch.
Vesa has got to start stopping some more pucks. After the 3rd goal, it was only 12 shots against. A .750 save percentage. Terrible. Granted he stopped the last 8 when they mattered, but he has to get that percentage higher overall.
The west coast swing should be fun. It's always a good time to head into Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. We'll get to see Kyle Wellwood up close and personal again. Can I still call him fatty? He's on a tear. It looks like we could have another Steve Sullivan/Freddy Modin in the making.
Not that it matters much when Grabs, Hagman and Kulemin are playing some absolutely dominant hockey right now.
Until next time...
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Fatigue and Joseph
Antropov's bonehead tripping penalty in the dying minutes of the 3rd when Carolina was on their heels can only be explained by one word: Fatigue. It was physical and mental laziness. With 4 games in 6 nights, you can easily understand how a team as feisty as the Leafs could be tired.
While the penalties taken in the second stanza certainly were troubling, it wasn't nearly as troubling as the play of Cujo.
Once a premier goalie in the league, Cujo has looked merely a shell of his former self. He's been out of position, appears reactive rather than proactive and cost the Leafs 2 points tonight. While the Toronto defense certainly isn't without blame, the stabling force of solid goaltending props up your defensive core. Joseph has looked shaky and had Toskala been between the pipes, this likely would have been a win.
The Ruutu goal was a direct result of Joseph being out of position. As Ruutu came out from behind the net, Joseph was down to cover the wrap around nicely. When Ruutu didn't complete the move and instead headed out towards the faceoff dot, a goalie is supposed to go upright again then step out and cut down the angle. Joseph remained in the wrap around prevent position which totally exposed the short side high portion of the net. Not surprisingly, Ruutu buried it in this exact spot. Even Tommy Salo would have made that save... Ok.. maybe not.
The Larose goal was also a result of Joseph being out of position. Joseph has lost some agility that he has been trying to compensate for by going down early as he tries to make cross crease plays. Unfortunately, that lack of agility makes it hard for him to recover. Larose made it count by going high on the resulting scrambling.
While these 2 were glaring errors, it was a common theme all night. Joseph went down early time after time and on many of those, look awkward trying to get back into position. He didn't come out and challenge shooters leaving many corners open and seemed to be lacking a lot of confidence.
He needs to get a win soon to get his confidence back, or this could be a very trying season whenever Toskala is given the backup role. There is of course, the possibility that the NHL has finally passed him by. I love Cujo, however, if this trend continues as the season goes on, it will be his last.
Leafs get a day to recoup and will have a chance to redeem themselves on Tuesday against these same Hurricanes.
I suspect they will.
While the penalties taken in the second stanza certainly were troubling, it wasn't nearly as troubling as the play of Cujo.
Once a premier goalie in the league, Cujo has looked merely a shell of his former self. He's been out of position, appears reactive rather than proactive and cost the Leafs 2 points tonight. While the Toronto defense certainly isn't without blame, the stabling force of solid goaltending props up your defensive core. Joseph has looked shaky and had Toskala been between the pipes, this likely would have been a win.
The Ruutu goal was a direct result of Joseph being out of position. As Ruutu came out from behind the net, Joseph was down to cover the wrap around nicely. When Ruutu didn't complete the move and instead headed out towards the faceoff dot, a goalie is supposed to go upright again then step out and cut down the angle. Joseph remained in the wrap around prevent position which totally exposed the short side high portion of the net. Not surprisingly, Ruutu buried it in this exact spot. Even Tommy Salo would have made that save... Ok.. maybe not.
The Larose goal was also a result of Joseph being out of position. Joseph has lost some agility that he has been trying to compensate for by going down early as he tries to make cross crease plays. Unfortunately, that lack of agility makes it hard for him to recover. Larose made it count by going high on the resulting scrambling.
While these 2 were glaring errors, it was a common theme all night. Joseph went down early time after time and on many of those, look awkward trying to get back into position. He didn't come out and challenge shooters leaving many corners open and seemed to be lacking a lot of confidence.
He needs to get a win soon to get his confidence back, or this could be a very trying season whenever Toskala is given the backup role. There is of course, the possibility that the NHL has finally passed him by. I love Cujo, however, if this trend continues as the season goes on, it will be his last.
Leafs get a day to recoup and will have a chance to redeem themselves on Tuesday against these same Hurricanes.
I suspect they will.
Currently One of the Best in the League
This Leaf team is really starting to impress me.
In back to back games, they managed to play their best game in many years, then surpass it in the following game.
What more can you say about a team that fired more shots at Brodeur then he has faced in his career? I know! They scored 5 goals in just over 5 minutes against one of the best defensive teams in the NHL this season.
The Leafs are playing so well right now, it's not out of the realm of possibility to consider them currently one of the best teams in the whole league.
Now before you scoff, let's take a look a the results so far: Beat Stanley cup repeat favourite Detroit; 5 goals against Brodeur; 5 goals in 5 minutes in a win over the league's best team so far;4 times clawing back from a 2 goal deficit in the past 2 weeks, 7 points in those games; and they are outshooting opponents 235-149 over the past 6 games including an almost 2 full period stretch without giving up a shot.
If it weren't for a bad start to the season, Detroit game notwithstanding, this team would be near the top of the league.
It seems they are finding scoring and that's a good thing. I do have a very big concern on how long they can keep this intensity up, however.
Eighty-Two games is a long time to be playing this style hockey.
I'm loving it, however.
In back to back games, they managed to play their best game in many years, then surpass it in the following game.
What more can you say about a team that fired more shots at Brodeur then he has faced in his career? I know! They scored 5 goals in just over 5 minutes against one of the best defensive teams in the NHL this season.
The Leafs are playing so well right now, it's not out of the realm of possibility to consider them currently one of the best teams in the whole league.
Now before you scoff, let's take a look a the results so far: Beat Stanley cup repeat favourite Detroit; 5 goals against Brodeur; 5 goals in 5 minutes in a win over the league's best team so far;4 times clawing back from a 2 goal deficit in the past 2 weeks, 7 points in those games; and they are outshooting opponents 235-149 over the past 6 games including an almost 2 full period stretch without giving up a shot.
If it weren't for a bad start to the season, Detroit game notwithstanding, this team would be near the top of the league.
It seems they are finding scoring and that's a good thing. I do have a very big concern on how long they can keep this intensity up, however.
Eighty-Two games is a long time to be playing this style hockey.
I'm loving it, however.
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