Game In 10: Game 26, Leafs at Bruins

by Mislav Jantoljak on December 3, 2011 in Uncategorized - 797 Comments

Another game against the Bruins, another night of same olds. Next game against the Bs is March 6th, 2012, so this was a last chance in a long time to make an impression in what is fast becoming a really ugly two player rivalry. James Reimer returned, which given his record against the Bruins made perfect sense. The HNIC commentators would have you believe Chara is a mammoth shutdown angel on skates and Boston can improve fertility with their systems play.

1 – The Leafs are 14-10-2 and congratulations Bruins, nothing else to say really. It is frustrating but sometimes you just gotta shake their hand and say it – Boston: You’re a better team right now. Outscored us 23-6 in the last four games.

2 – Game started out with a really good pace in the first period, but other than us keeping pace with the Bruins, it was much of the same – a lot of turnovers and Bruins generating chances from those turnovers and off the cycle. We had virtually no offensive zone time but did play solid defense in the first period.

3 – The first Bruins goal was a typical example of one thing Boudreau spoke about in the latest THN issue. Good puck movement by the Bruins, we were caught of out position and it’s 1-0 Bruins from a Krejci stick. We also turned it over after having possession on the wall. The second goal was an example of the Leafs running around in our own zone. The third… ah you get the picture.

4 – We got a goal from a nothing play, Gardiner danced the blueline, lost the puck and it trickled down to Grabo who fires a one timer and beats Rask from a tough angle. Goodto see him scoring again. It was his 2^nd goal in two games.

5 – Kulemin didn’t play a really impressive game, didn’t handle the puck well and made some questionable decisions in the offensive zone, 18 games without lighting the lamp. Hope you make it through this kid, you certainly have the skills.

6 – Our powerplay didn’t look like one of the league’s best powerplays tonight which ALWAYS costs you against top tier teams.

7 – James Reimer didn’t miss a beat… glad to have you back Optimus. Crabb played a good game too.

8 – Phil Kessel played his 400^th NHL game tonight, congratulations Mr. Franchise, but this wasn’t one of your more memorable games.

9 – You can’t control the bounces, you can’t control your size, but you can control how much and how hard you work. The Leafs worked hard, but fact is besides the Bruins being a team we always have trouble matching up against, for most of the game, Boston outworked us. Our players should learn from this.

9b – Another game against the Bruins, another game which raises the question – where’s the truculence? Literally no team can match Boston’s physicality, and we miss Armstrong and Brown sorely in this regard, but you’d hope to see a little more fight out of the Leafs as a whole. Again the Bruins were successful in making the Leafs’ top guns non factors. Kessel, Lupul, and Connolly were hardly involved tonight.

10 – It’s not just the Leafs. The Bruins are Stanley Cup champions and have won 13 out of their last 14 games now. Think about that. Then think about the improvement our team made in order to play close games with such a team. However, there’s no denying they are a better team than us right now and it shows. Boy does it show. Good news, we play them only 2 more times this year. Yay.

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