Wilson can't beat his old team, lose 5-2

Last night the Leafs got dominated against Ron Wilson's former team - the mighty San Jose Sharks.  The Leafs' top center Antropov is clearly not the answer to the Sharks' top center Joe Thorton, who had 1 goal and 3 assists (compared to Antropov's 1 assist)

In a puzzling move, the Carolina Hurricanes hired fired Leaf coach Paul Maurice for the second time.  It seems like they are playing back to the future like the Leafs - who also have a tendency to re-acquire personnel after they pass their prime (Joseph, Gilmour, Fletcher)

Finger finger for Leafs' sloppy loss to Blackhawks

On a night where Wendel Clark was being honoured with a banner in the rafters with his name, the Leafs blew 3-0 and 4-2 leads to lose to the Blackhawks in OT.  On 3 of the Blackhawk goals, prized and highly paid defenceman Finger was standing around watching someone next to him score.  He finished the night as a minus 3.  With an excess of defencemen, look for Wilson to sit Finger next game to make room for Colaiacovo's return.

Leafs Lose A Sloppy One, 5-2

Was pretty disappointing watching the Leafs today. Seemed like they didn't really want to be in it too much. Moments of greatness, got to see some of the hustle of that great new first line of the Leafs, Grabovski between Hagman and Kulemin. It at least makes it exciting and they got some creativity and hustle. But this was more of what I was expecting of the Leafs, some decent plays, but not quite reaching the cusp of where they should be.
I think Ron Wilson will see a lot of what needs to be done and might have to really re-think a few things after this game. But, its very refreshing to see him not afraid to shake things up.

I'll state it right now, but the Leafs will play impressively for their next game on Saturday. I think there's going to be a few things said tonight and some hard work to be put in and the Leafs are gonna play physical, creative and strong. You heard it here first...

5 Minutes and 21 Seconds...

Wowwie Wowwie... Leafs are turning out to be quite the force these days. Who would have thought that after putting up 5 goals against a future hall of famer, Martin Brodeur, they could have it in them again. Down 2-0 for most of the game against the Rangers, in five minutes and twenty one seconds, the Leafs storm back in the third with 5 unanswered goals to take the win. But not too many people saw that one coming.

Kudos to Mitchell on his debut in the NHL to get two goals and an assist. Definitely a night to remember for him. Leafs started shooting again too with 17 shots in the third period alone totalling 35. I guess Ron Wilson is finally getting through to the guys... It's like the youngsters are sponges and you gotta make them accept the system and suck it all in. Only two penalties on the night too, leading to success.

Not too much time to celebrate though as the Leafs have their next game in under 24 hours in Carolina for a 5pm start. Let's see if the momentum continues through. Watch it on Leafs TV.
I love the feel you get from Torontonians, I thought the Leafs would do better than expectations, mind you, the expectations were really really low. Four wins in the last five games with the loss against the Lightning as the one I thought we'd pull through with.

Little statistics for you:

Leafs first 6 games - 11 GF vs. 20 GA
Leafs last 5 games - 21 GF vs. 14 GA

Leafs first 5 games - 78 Penalty Minutes
Leafs last 6 games - 47 Penalty Minutes

Correlation?

Finally - a shoot out victory

The Leafs won in a shootout yesterday against the New Jersey Devils, their first shoot out win of the season. Coach Ron Wilson did not pull Toskala for Joseph for the shootout, despite Toskala playing a sloppy game in which he let in 5 goals during regulation time. The shootout winner was on an unorthodox play by Hagman in which he skated down the ice on his backhand and managed to shovel the puck under Brodeur. Had he missed, it would go down in history as one of the worst shoot out attempts ever, on par with when Robert Reichel took a slap shot on a penalty shot during a third period tie in the playoffs. Brodeur's reaction to the play "I thought it was funny more than anything".

Stajan seemed to have gotten coach Wilson's message about going to the net potting 2 goals. Schenn got his first NHL point, an assist.

Leafs Get A Win, Now What To Do For Ottawa Saturday?

Kudos to the Leafs for pulling out what normally happens to them, a come from behind victory. As I stated before, the Bruins are hurting and demoralized just as much as the Leafs, but the victory wasn't how I anticipated it. Down 2-0 after the first, the Leafs saw some devastating hits against them like Van Ryn going through the glass or Stajan cutting across the blue line and getting decked by Wideman. Impressive grit and determination, they scored four unanswered to take the victory 4-2. Big key is not to get to OT or a shootout as we have serious issues there.

I would not say so much that the shootout gods weren't on our side, but more leaning towards... hit the damn net. You got no defense or backcheckers on you, you miss the net means you can't score.

So here's a question... Does Wilson continue to make Blake a healthy scratch because they won now? I say why not, you pulled off a victory, he's chatting it up with the bigwigs in the press box, and we got a sloppy Senators team who's 1-3 in their last four with a game against the Ducks tomorrow, why not keep the skates moving and hammer'em home. Maybe Blake should do some play by play with Bowen, and get Stajan's wife to sing the National Anthem.

Some news on Sundin... but do you care? He likes the young look and might want to come back to the Leafs for his 14th season. Sounds like a bandwagoner waiting to see how they'd turn out. He's going to Los Angeles for a two week 'conditioning' camp. I appreciate all Sundin's done for the Leafs, but why is he playing with indecision. Since he doesn't want to jump ship and hit a Cup contender, we need your support to send him the Leaf ring because unless he's willing to stick it out and pull a Chelios, it might be awhile.

Score Dirty and Score Often...

I like the idea of Ron Wilson trying to mix it up with new and innovative ideas to kickstart the Leafs into action. The Leafs are a, for a lack of a better phrase, a grind'em out, pound'em out type of hockey team and the games they should win, don't need to be pretty and on highlight reels. Wilson states "We're trying to find ways to score goals ugly" and I truly believe that that should be the motto of the team. Fans, players and coaches alike want TML to make it to the playoffs and you can't do that without wins. Who cares if you get dirty bouncing pucks that trickle in, it all counts the same on the scoreboard and 2 points is 2 points, take it, and make the playoffs.

One thing I find rather peculiar is Wilson's decision to possibly sit Jason Blake next game. Last night he was playing on the fourth line at times and during his limited ice time the Leafs outshot the Ducks 28-4 in the 2nd and 3rd periods. I can understand Wilson's unhappiness with one of the lowest shots per game average at 28.2 but Jason Blake was 5th in the entire league last year with 334 shots and if you shove some big bodies in front of the net to slam in some rebounds the way Antropov does, you're going to create some decent opportunities.

Got the Bruins coming up tomorrow in Boston. They should be just as frustrated as the Leafs as they lost two hard fought losses in shoot-outs on Monday and Tuesday against the Pens and the Sabres, respectively. This is the chance to hit them when they're down and pot a few goals early to leave them demoralized. Why do I feel the anticipation of another shoot-out? Tune in @ 7pm.