Alec Brownscombe
For anyone rubbing their eyes and waking up this morning, I can confirm that what you saw last night was NOT a dream. It was dream-like, but not actually a dream. It happened.
The Leafs won their first playoff game since 2004 and in the process beat the Bruins in Boston for the first time in over two calendar years.
Phil Kessel scored his first goal at evens against the Bruins, and he waited until the playoffs, in the third period (representing the game winner), to do it. [more…]
The three day break has given us much time to digest the events of Wednesday night. The Leafs can draw inspiration from the inexperienced Islanders last night with the way that team was blown out in game 1, looked to be in the process of getting blown out early in game 2, fought back, and now find themselves on equal footing in a best of five series against the heavily favoured Penguins. All we can do is hope the Leafs make the necessary adjustments and find something more within themselves tonight in Boston. [more…]
After last night there is no shortage of critics jumping on the uselessness of the likes of Mark Fraser, Mike Kostka, Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren and by extension the coach who continues to deploy them in his lineup. To varying degrees I have been frustrated with all of them at points throughout the season.
The fact of the matter is that toughness did play an appreciable role in the Leafs success over the 48-game haul. Let’s forget facepunching for today. Without James Reimer there’s no Leafs playoffs, but without a simplification of the defensive game, an emphasis on winning more one on one battles and protecting your net in an overall effort to reduce chances inside 20 feet, maybe Reimer isn’t in a position so much to succeed. [more…]
We are within 2 hours (update: 1 hour, 50 minutes) (update 1 hour, 49 minutes) (update 1 hour, 48 minutes) of the moment we've all been waiting for - Leafs playoff hockey.
No official word on final lineup combinations as of yet but we'll update as soon as we know. [more…]
Look at that glorious playoff ice paint. I haven’t been this excited about ice paint since... well, when the Leafs painted on their logo at center ice and streamed it online during the lockout. Desperate times, let’s not talk about it. After all IT’S PLAYOFF GAME DAY! [more…]
With the fast and furious 48-game 2013 regular season in the books, presented below are 82-game points projections for each Leaf player, for whatever they're worth. [more…]
The Leafs finish the season at 26-17-5 (57 points) and not on the note we were hoping for headed into the playoffs. Their round 1 opponent is now up in the air and will depend on the result of tomorrow's Ottawa-Boston game. [more…]
Playoff preview? A primer for Tuesday night? With a win, the Leafs could go a long way in making it so. The playoff implications have been laid out here for this final game of the regular season for these two rivals.
As if this game didn't already have enough intrigue, Brendan Gallagher, proud owner of arguably the douchiest face in the National Hockey League, made a douchey remark about how Nazem Kadri plays scared when he's on the ice, something the vast majority of us failed to notice between the two or three times Kadri ran Gallagher over last game. [more…]
MLHS is running its annual playoff pool over at CBC, and HOLY SHIT there's Leafs players in it this year. The prize for the individual group winner will be a "Phil & Nazem & Joffrey & James" MLHS t-shirt. If you happen to win the overall CBC-wide pool, you will also take home a car (an MLHS'er actually finished top 5 a few years back).
JOIN THE MLHS GROUP HERE. Here's what you're playing for: [more…]
The Leafs are 26-16-5 after taking care of business with a much-needed, convincing win 4-0 over Florida. The Canadiens beat the Jets, so Saturday's game will not determine fourth place/home ice advantage. Saturday's game still has a lot at stake, however, as the result will determine if the Leafs play the Habs, Capitals or maybe even the Bruins in round one. [more…]
After allowing 5 goals a game while losing three of their last four, the Leafs need to stop the bleeding against the lowly Panthers tonight or else risk falling down the standings into the matchup no one wants against the Washington Capitals. [more…]
