For the first thirty minutes of tonight’s game it looked like the Leafs had become clones of the Boston Bruins team that had just handed them two straight losses. The Leafs came out of the gate like a bat out of hell, dominating the first half of the game against a red-hot New York Rangers team. Jumping out to a 3-0 lead on the strength of goals by Cody Franson, Tim Connolly and Joffrey Lupul, the Leafs looked unstoppable. Phil [...]

With the game tonight between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins being built up to be a measuring stick game for the young buds, I think the Leafs measured up really well before falling a little short. This game was much closer than the 6-3 final score makes it seem to be. The Leafs were able to stand toe to toe with the defending Stanley Cup Champions and hottest team in the NHL. The difference tonight was the Bruins [...]

Is it time for me to admit that I was wrong about Tyler Bozak? Has the third year pro really turned the corner and become a productive player for the blue and white? With five goals and eleven points in his last ten games all signs would point to yes. I can’t deny the fact that he is playing well. Like a jaded spouse though I haven’t had my confidence in his abilities fully restored. On this night Bozak paced [...]

The Toronto Maple Leafs are on their way to Anaheim to finish this four game road trip with another two points following their 3-2 SO victory in Dallas last night. Although the Leafs managed to get a great result against a tough opponent, the game wasn’t all good for the blue and white. Top pairing defenseman (and probably their most consistent defender of the season) Carl Gunnarsson left the game midway through the second period after taking a point shot [...]

When the Leafs decide they’re going to score goals, they really score goals. The widespread panic that fans experienced last week when the Leafs scored only 8 goals through six games has subsided. For the second time in their last three games, the Leafs exploded offensively for a  7-1 victory. Tonight their opponent was the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that shut out Toronto in both home games last season. They are also pretty much the exact same team that [...]

Playing their third game in four nights, without many regulars appeared to be an obstacle that the Toronto Maple Leafs could not overcome. Following a spirited and galvanizing performance against the Washington Capitals Saturday night, the Leafs were completely outplayed and absent for the first 40 minutes of tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Although Carolina dominated possession outshooting the Leafs 29-12 through the first two periods, they still only had a 2-0 lead. Jay Harrison scored with less than [...]

Two struggling teams collided at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night. Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals came into the game with identical 1-4-1 records in their last six games. While the Leafs were said to be struggling and regressing to the norm, the Capitals were in a mild funk that all good teams go through. Of course the Leafs were missing seven regulars with injury meaning that 33% of their salary cap was sitting in the [...]

Having lost five of the last six games the angry villagers have begun to descend upon the Toronto Maple Leafs. The most recent setback came last night as the Nashville Predators preyed on an injury ravaged Leafs squad. As discussed in my game preview yesterday, the Predators are a defensively sound team that capitalizes on their opponents mistakes. Although the Leafs carried the play throughout the first period (outshooting Nashville 9-3), goalie Ben Scrivens and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson got their [...]

On a night in which the Leafs were down 2-0 less than six minutes into the game this evening could have gone in a very bad direction. An early Dion Phaneuf mistake led to another odd man rush against the Leafs, and Coyotes captain Shane Doan made the Leafs pay. Oliver Ekman Larsson then floated a wrist shot past a dazed Ben Scrivens and the Leafs were scrambling. For the next five minutes of the first period, the Leafs defensive [...]

On a night in which the Toronto Maple Leafs had two of their best centre icemen of the last twenty years (Joe Nieuwendyk and Doug Gilmore) in attendance, the boys in blue and white were not able to get over the hump against the Ottawa Senators. The Senators were play the back end of a back to back, and didn’t record a shot until the 13 minute mark of the first period. The Leafs had every opportunity to come away [...]