Toronto Maple Leafs

[Lichtgestalt]

Tampa Bay Lightning - Toronto Maple Leafs 2:1 (0:0, 1:1, 1:0)

0:1 (37.) Stajan 9 (Steen)

1:1 (39.) Ward 5 (Lecavalier, Lundin)

2:1 (60.) Lecavalier 23 (St.Louis, O'Brien)

SOG: Lightning 21, Leafs 32.

PIM: Lightning 6, Leafs 6.

PP: Lightning 0/3, Leafs 0/3.

-> Recap

[Lichtgestalt]

Florida Panthers - Toronto Maple Leafs 1:2 OT (0:1, 1:0, 0:0, 0:1)

0:1 (6.) Wellwood 5 PP (Sundin, Kaberle)

1:1 (40.) Jokinen 19 PP (unassisted)

1:2 (61.) Kubina 2 PP (Kaberle, Sundin)

SOG: Panthers 30, Leafs 31.

PIM: Panthers 10, Leafs 8.

PP: Panthers 1/4, Leafs 2/5.

-> Recap

[AustroLeaf]

Colaiacovo ist zwecks game shape und so auf Kurzbesuch bei den Marlies. Könnten wir grad ganz gut gebrauchen nach Cabers Verletzung. Auch wenn Kubina derzeit an die 30 Minuten pro Spiel macht.

[Lichtgestalt]

New York Islanders - Toronto Maple Leafs 4:3 OT (3:2, 0:0, 0:1, 0:0)

0:1 (7.) Steen 6 (Stajan, Devereaux)

1:1 (8.) Hilbert 4 (Campoli, Berard)

1:2 (14.) Bell 2 (Tucker, White)

2:2 (17.) Comrie 10 (Park, DiPietro)

3:2 (20.) Guerin 10 (Comrie, Park)

3:3 (42.) Steen 7 SH (Gill)

4:3 (65.) Comrie 11 (Park)

SOG: Isles 28, Leafs 32.

PIM: Isles 8, Leafs 4.

PP: Isles 0/2, Leafs 0/4.

-> Recap

[Lichtgestalt]

Philadelphia Flyers - Toronto Maple Leafs 4:1 (1:0, 1:1, 2:0)

1:0 (20.) Carter 13 (Hartnell, Jones)

2:0 (38.) Lupul 14 PP (Briere, Knuble)

2:1 (40.) Sundin 17 PP (Kaberle, Wellwood)

3:1 (44.) Briere 16 (Smith, Jones)

4:1 (48.) Lupul 15 (Richards)

SOG: Flyers 34, Leafs 35.

PIM: Flyers 8, Leafs 6.

PP: Flyers 1/2, Leafs 1/3.

-> Recap

[AustroLeaf]

Raycroft statt Toskala bedeutet derzeit anscheinend +2 Gegentore pro Spiel.

Beim Ausdruck "groin injury" ist immer eine sich frustrierend lang ziehende Pause zu befürchten...

[themanwho]

Beim Ausdruck "groin injury" ist immer eine sich frustrierend lang ziehende Pause zu befürchten...

:/

Exakt. Sakic hatte auch 12 Spiele mit einer "groin injury" verpasst und Havlat fällt aktuell auf unbestimmte Zeit damit aus. Im Fussball ists nicht so schlimm, dort sinds 3-4 Wochen (naja, in der NHL halt eben auch 9-12 Spiele).

[Lichtgestalt]

RED-LIGHT RAYCROFT EXPOSED

(by David Shoalts)

PHILADELPHIA — If anyone was wondering who was most responsible for the Toronto Maple Leafs' recent run of respectable defensive hockey, the Philadelphia Flyers answered the question last night. The Flyers broke a six-game NHL losing streak by shredding the Leafs and goaltender Andrew Raycroft for a 4-1 win. That officially turned the Leafs' seven-game road swing into a disaster, as it ended with a 2-3-2 record and Vesa Toskala nursing a groin injury with no return date in sight.

With Toskala in goal, the Leafs could at least stay competitive as their offence sputtered and died over the past two weeks. He started 12 consecutive games beginning in late November and was clearly the difference, as the Leafs ran up a 7-3-2 record in that stretch. But since Toskala came up lame after Christmas, the Leafs lost two consecutive games, mostly because they could not provide any offensive support for Raycroft. Considering how long it was since Raycroft last played, he was not to blame for the losses but neither was he able to make a difference. Even with Toskala, the Leafs' offence was such that they have now lost five of their past six games.

There is an argument that the Leafs played fairly well in their seven-game trip but, as head coach Paul Maurice admitted, the result shows they did not play good enough. "Well, if you watch the games and understood them you'd say that's true," Maurice said. "But the record is what the record is. We have to continue to do some of the good things we did. But we have to put the puck in the net to take some pressure off the goaltender and keep us from getting into that loopy game in the neutral zone that is really destructive for us."

That "loopy game" showed up in the third period after Maurice shuffled his lines in the second period in hopes of finally producing some offence. The Leafs outshot the Flyers 17-10 in the second frame but never produced a lot of good scoring chances on Flyer goaltender Martin Biron. All they could manage was a power-play goal by Mats Sundin and the Flyers held a 2-1 lead going into the third period on goals from Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul.

Then, early in the third period, turnovers in the neutral zone allowed the Flyers to finish them off with goals from Daniel Brière and Lupul again. "[biron] did a good job kicking out the low [shots] and when he did give up rebounds, they were there to get rid of them pretty quick for him," Leafs winger Alexander Steen said of the Flyer defence. "And they did a good job in front of the net collapsing and blocking shots."

Steen's line with centre Matt Stajan and right winger Boyd Devereaux was the only one Maurice left intact in the second period. He broke up Sundin and the twin towers Alexei Ponikarovsky and Nik Antropov. Kyle Wellwood, still unproductive as the No.2 centre, gave up his spot to Antropov and moved up with Sundin and, at times, rookie Jiri Tlusty. Antropov and Ponikarovsky played with Jason Blake.

"We generated more offence, there was no question," Maurice said of his shuffling. "But we didn't score and at the same time we gave up two goals. That's fine. We can move players around to generate more and score more but the two goals that went into our net weren't from something creative we did. It was misplayed pucks."

Now the Leafs return home for their first game in Toronto since Dec. 10. The opposition tomorrow will be the New York Rangers. That marks the return of Ranger pest Sean Avery to Toronto for the first time since his notorious pregame confrontation with Leafs winger Darcy Tucker.

The game marked the season debut of Leaf defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo, who missed the first 37 games because of a long, painful recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery last May. He played the night before on a conditioning stint with the Leafs' farm team, the Toronto Marlies, and was flown in for the game. His return came a little earlier than anticipated. The absence of Bryan McCabe because of a broken hand and the continuing struggles of Andy Wozniewski made the Leafs yank him from the lineup in favour of Colaiacovo when he played a couple of minor-league games without problems.

"I felt great out there," Colaiacovo said. "Getting a [Marlies] game under my belt [Wednesday] night made me sure of myself, of how good I can be out there. Right from the start, they were putting me in there every other shift, that got me in the game right away."

-> Globe & Mail

[Lichtgestalt]

Toronto Maple Leafs - New York Rangers 1:6 (0:2, 0:3, 1:1)

0:1 (13.) Betts 2 (Orr, Mara)

0:2 (16.) Jagr 10 PP (Rozsival, Dubinsky)

0:3 (24.) Prucha 3 PP (Avery, Straka)

0:4 (28.) Shanahan 13 PP (Jagr, Gomez)

0:5 (31.) Straka 7 PP (Jagr, Dubinsky)

0:6 (42.) Prucha 4 PP (Dubinsky, Jagr)

1:6 (49.) Tucker 4 (Bell, White)

SOG: Leafs 28, Rangers 34.

PIM: Leafs 35, Rangers 9.

PP: Leafs 0/2, Rangers 5/10.

-> Recap

[AustroLeaf]

Autsch.

Ein schlechter (Dienst-)Tag beginnt mit einer hohen Leafs-Niederlage.

[themanwho]

Ein schlechter (Dienst-)Tag beginnt mit einer hohen Leafs-Niederlage.

Habs mir heut am NASN angeschaut, is mir so vorgekommen dass beim Ehrentor mehr hämischer Applaus als ernstgemeiner Applaus dabei war. Aber wem kann man's verdenken...

[AustroLeaf]

Habs mir heut am NASN angeschaut, is mir so vorgekommen dass beim Ehrentor mehr hämischer Applaus als ernstgemeiner Applaus dabei war.

Klingt sehr plausibel. Noch dazu, wo unser high-scoring Darcy zugeschlagen hat.

[Lichtgestalt]

RAZOR, LEAFS SERVE UP A TURKEY

(by Aaron Harris)

Heading into this debacle, a holiday stinker served up by the listless Leafs, Toronto goaltender Andrew Raycroft noted that it was the media's job to point fingers and assign blame.

So here goes. Raycroft was brutal, particularly in giving up a tone-setting opening goal from behind the net. The Leaf skaters, virtually to a man, were abysmal. Toronto's offence was non-existent. It's hard to know what the team lacked most – discipline or work ethic – as pretty much everyone in blue and white was awful, a situation exacerbated by a parade to the penalty box in the second period.

There. That about sums up an excruciatingly lame effort that added up to a 6-1 win by the visiting New York Rangers and the Leafs' sixth loss in the last seven games.

There weren't any dissenting voices in a shell-shocked Toronto dressing room afterwards, although Raycroft's teammates went to great lengths to protect their porous goaltender from blame. "It's embarrassing. But that's the way the game goes; when you don't play well, you lose," said defenceman Hal Gill. "We didn't bring anything. We didn't play well defensively. We didn't attack offensively. And, obviously, penalty after penalty doesn't help. They were just teeing 'em up and ripping 'em at (Raycroft)."

This was an atrocious showing by the home side but even the home fans, quiet from the start, seemed numb to it all and rarely reacted – save for the odd chant for Wade Belak – as their heroes traipsed lazily about the Air Canada Centre ice, seemingly without a care for how this mess was unfolding.

This was the sixth time this season, in just 19 home games, that the Leafs have yielded five goals or more on their own ice. "It's no fun doing that in front of your home crowd. The Rangers came in and they handed it to us," said Alex Steen. "We've got to bring the work ethic that we brought on the road trip. ... We were doing the little things in our own end and playing a solid defensive game; even though the pucks might not have been going in offensively, we were still playing good hockey. It's something we need to get back to."

In an extremely soft effort by the Leafs – they've gone back to being very easy to play against – you could count on one hand the players in Toronto jerseys who seemed engaged. Darcy Tucker had a couple of good early hits and ended up scoring Toronto's only goal long after it mattered. Belak dropped his gloves once for a tussle with Colton Orr and showed some try. Mark Bell also had moments of energy.

Otherwise, the candies were knocked out of this blue-and-white piñata long before the faceoff. "Tonight was obviously an awful hockey game for our team," said captain Mats Sundin. "You're going to have nights like that over a long season. You have to bounce back. There's no ifs or buts. We have a great chance to be a playoff team but obviously we have to address the problems we had tonight. We went to the penalty box way too many times."

Three times in the second period, the Leafs were short two men for an extended time. The Rangers took advantage of it and had 28 shots, and five goals, 29 minutes into the game when Raycroft was yanked. "It was a shooting gallery," said Steen. "We didn't give him a fair chance."

Raycroft was making his third consecutive start with Vesa Toskala on the shelf with a groin injury. Scott Clemmensen stopped four of five shots in relief.

-> Toronto Star

[AustroLeaf]

Trotz allem muß man glücklich sein, sich für den geilsten Hockey Club der Welt zu begeistern; somit wünsche ich allseits happy new year in blue and white.

bearbeitet 31. Dezember 2007 von AustroLeaf

[Lichtgestalt]

2008 - ein jahr wie geschaffen für einen stanley cup...