Alec Brownscombe
The Leafs look to extend their winning streak to four while getting off the schneid at home tonight against the Flyers. The key will be avoiding a letdown after a thoroughly solid win over the Canadiens and all the excitement that came with it. It was such an arrant ass kicking that Habs players were still complaining about it in the media today. [more…]
On Hockey Day in Canada in February of 2012, the Leafs organization added special lustre to their matchup against the Montreal Canadiens with the decision to honour Mats Sundin with a pregame banner raising ceremony at the ACC. The Leafs were 28-21-6 at the time, in the playoff hunt, and had even more reason than usual to put on a good showing. They proceeded to get stomped by a score of 5-0, slipping silently into the night and initiating a disastrous slump that would eventually extend the team's playoff drought and end their head coach's tenure behind the bench. [more…]
Hope you've all been enjoying a day chock full of awkward interviews on CBC.
The main event gets underway in about an hour as the Leafs take on the Habs at the Bell Centre in their second meeting this season. At the quarter point of the season, the Leafs could pass the Habs in the division and conference standings with a win and pull into a tie with the Senators after their 1-0 loss to the Jets this afternoon. [more…]
Not a bad day to be snowed in, with a full lineup of all-Canadian hockey on television. Peterborough is hosting Hockey Day and I may brave the conditions to check out the scene on the Trent Canal.
The road warrior Toronto Maple Leafs (5-1 away) look to replicate their success in the season opener at the Bell Centre tonight. The Leafs should expect a stiffer test as the Habs have gone 6-2-1 since looking awful in that opener and are no longer sans Subban. The two teams are a point apart sitting sixth and seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. [more…]
The Maple Leafs, one of the league's better road teams through five away games (4-1), will visit one of the loudest buildings in the league tonight, the acoustic MTS Centre, where the Jets are 3-1 this season and 26-14-5 since their return to Winnipeg. [more…]
This is the first of five reports I'll be writing after each 10-game (and one eight-game) segment of the Leafs schedule, where I break down the team's numbers in the key areas of even strength and special teams; all good factors to consider when you wager on NHL. Note: obviously, be weary of the small sample size in this first report. [more…]
With just a single goal in their past two games, the Leafs need their top six to wake up offensively as they begin a three-game road trip at the Verizon Center tonight in Washington, DC. [more…]
Prepare yourself, this loss is going to invite some doomsday, trade-everybody overreactions. [more…]
This week, the Leafs take on a run opponents projected to be battling with them on the edge of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. They look to start picking up points in these winnable games tonight against the Staal brothers and the struggling Carolina Hurricanes. [more…]
Nothing to be embarrassed about in this one for the Leafs. The Buds played Boston as close as they have in nearly two calendar years. It was also the most boring Leafs/Bruins game in a few years, but we'll take that every time over losing in spectacular fashion. [more…]
This is a big of a test as there is in game #8 of the season for Carlyle's team. How the Leafs look against the 5-1-1 Boston Bruins tonight is going to be an early measuring stick when it comes to the team's level of improvement this season over last.
In the process of losing all six games to the Bruins last season, the Leafs never allowed less than four and were lit up by scores of 7-0, 8-0, 6-3 and 6-2 throughout the season series. The way in which the Leafs were roundly outplayed in all facets of the game, and at times physically outmatched to an extent hard to imagine of an NHL team, in those blowouts was an embarrassment to all wearing Blue and White; the types of performances against a hated division rival the Leafs must avoid if, as Carlyle pledged, his team isn't going to be a laughingstock. [more…]
The Capitals are not a good team at the moment and for a while there the Leafs looked in danger of walking away with nothing in a winnable game. Thankfully, a two-goal third period saves the day and the Leafs move to 4-3-0 with their first home win. [more…]
