Game In 10: Game 66, Leafs vs. Bruins

by Mislav Jantoljak on March 6, 2012 in Post Game - 430 Comments

Boxscore | Ice Time | Recap

Good news, Grabo is a Leaf for five more years! Bad news, Grabo’s cap hit isn’t nearly what we expected and it’s not a discount, not by any means. We all know it wasn’t the deal we had in mind but for now I’ll just be happy we have him signed. More than what he’s worth or at a discounted price, there’s no arguing the fact that Grabo offers a lot to this team. Oh, there was a game tonight too, more on that shortly.

1 – The Leafs are 30-29-7 and we’re Boston’s bitch.

2 – Our boys got the ever rare first goal. Gunnarsson shoots from the point, good screen in front by Steckel and it’s 1-0 Leafs! It was Gunnar’s 3^rd goal of the season.

3 – Jordan Caron tied it 10 minutes after the opening goal. Gus made the initial save and the puck trickled to Caron, who squeezed it below Gus’ pad to tie the game.

4 – At the start of the second period, John-Micheal Liles scored  a PP goal after he got to the rebound and put it past a sprawling Thomas. Immediately after, Chara gets a pass in the slot off a turnover in the neutral zone, makes a good move and scores on a quick release. It was changed to Seguin right after, just to spite us I guess.

5 – The Bruins scored two goals in 45 seconds after yet another turnover, Caron beats Schenn to the outside and managed to take the shot off, Gus makes the save but Chris Kelly buries the rebound. Shawn Thornton and Jay Rosehill were involved in a good fight right after that. One of the best bouts I’ve seen this year as both guys threw everything they had.

6 – Armstrong and Seidenberg were involved in a fight shortly after, and Army got the short end of the stick on that one. Props to Army for doing his job, throwing a good hit, agitating, and drawing a penalty. Leafs ended up with a 5 on 3 and score a power play goal as Kessel got his 33^rd after he made his trademark pivot, moved into the slot and took the shot. Thomas ended up pushing it into his own net.  Add an assist to Army there.

7 – An extremely good cycle by the Bruins sees them grab the lead again after Chara found a wide open Caron. I’ll just make an assumption no coverage was made because everyone was running from that fearsome Chara slapper. Seguin scores his second three minutes from the end of the period.

8 – Six minutes from time, Grabo gets started on earning his contract, going on a little speed skate and breaking in alone on Thomas, who had no chance on that shot. Yet another good game by the “Pineapple Express”. Now that’s a nickname!

9 – 17 hits for the Leafs in the first period. Says Carlyle: “that’s the way the game is supposed to be played.”  A physical game and Lupul was an unfortunate casualty, leaving the period with an injury and did not return. Upper body injury is all that was said. That could be the final shot to the dwindling playoff hopes.

10 – So far, Carlyle has had a positive impact on our truculence, belligerence and other big fighting adjectives. Very good response in the third and I can’t be unhappy with the effort level, especially in the third period. The team still has the same flaws as before. Realistically, you can’t expect those to be corrected two games in under the new coach (or without any change in on-ice personnel), but this team competed much harder in the two games under Carlyle (and I’m talking about a full 60 min. effort) than it did most nights under Wilson.

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