Morning Mashup
"Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong"
-Murphy's Law
It's obvious now this Murphy character was a prescient Leafs fan. After the Leafs continued to do their part by dispatching the Senators on Saturday, the worst possible scenario transpired on Sunday as the Rangers beat the Flyers before the Sabres and Hurricanes put the icing in the shitcake by taking their game to overtime. The Hurricanes and Rangers are now 7-2-1 in their last ten while Buffalo is 6-2-2. The Leafs handed Buffalo one of their regulation losses while the other came from the Hurricanes. One of two Hurricane losses came from the Leafs. One of two Rangers losses came from Buffalo. It all adds up to the Leafs taking care of their must wins but receiving practically no help from teams not involved themselves in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Credit to the Sabres, Rangers and Canes for playing really good hockey that hasn't allowed the Leafs to catch up after a horrible first half of their season.
For those maintaining hope until the math says there isn't any, the Leafs would have to win out with three regulation/overtime wins while two of the three below scenarios would have to play out for them to make it: [more…]
The Flyers - Rangers game is available on TSN. 12:30 p.m. start. Carolina - Buffalo face off at 5 p.m., check back for a stream link.
On the eve of the Leafs meeting with the Ottawa Senators, James Reimer was named the NHL's top rookie for the month of March in what has been a whirlwind season for the recently turned 23-year old goaltender. After making his first career start on January 1st against the Senators in Ottawa, Reimer returned yesterday in hopes of recording his 20th win of the season in only his 34th career game. Not bad for a former fourth round pick who began the season as a Toronto Marlie.
With an impressive 20-8-4 record, including a 2.54 goals against average and 0.922 save percentage, Reimer has earned his stay as a starting NHL goaltender. Not only is he capable of playing in the pressure packed market in Toronto, but he is embracing the spotlight with his calm and collected attitude. Again last night Reimer made the saves that mattered and showed no signs of being fazed after a quickfire double from Ottawa Senators erased a 2-0 lead.
Barring a meltdown from either the eighth place New York Rangers or ninth place Carolina Hurricanes, the Leafs will finish out of the post season for a sixth consecutive season. Despite that likely result, there is a long list of reasons why this team has what it takes to ride back to the glory land next year.
The sixth and final chapter of this season's Battle of Ontario gets underway tonight in another must-win game for the Leafs, who are five points back of the eighth place New York Rangers with four games left on the schedule. The 14th place Ottawa Senators will look to play a spoiler role against their arch rival in hopes of putting an end to their remaining playoff aspirations. Although the Senators have struggled as of late, they have managed to stay competitive in games due to the impressive goaltending display from Craig Anderson, who was recently re-signed by the team to a four year contract. The playoff chances may be remote, but the last way we want them put to rest is at the hands of the Senators. [more…]
It appeared as though the Leafs received a lucky break when the Sabres announced that Ryan Miller was listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury as a result of being hit in the chest by a Dion Phaneuf slapshot on Tuesday. As Leafs fans, we should know better by now. With Miller out, the Sabres started a relatively unproven and undersized goalie in Jhonas Enroth, who had only appeared in nine NHL games prior to starting last night. He made 23 saves to earn the victory and his first career shutout. Buffalo's win puts the Leafs seven points out of the eighth and final playoff spot with only five games remaining.
Toronto is back in action tonight against their division rival Boston Bruins, who have struggled against the Leafs this season, winning only two of the five previous matchups. However, the Bruins enter the game on a hot streak, winning three straight, their latest a 3-0 shutout performance over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs earned an uplifting 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres last night to a thunderous ovation from the ACC faithful. While the Leafs live to fight another day, the odds are still heavily stacked against their favour and they will have to hope the Sabres begin to wilt underneath the added pressure starting tonight against the Rangers.
Led by a three-point performance from Clarke MacArthur, Nazem Kadri's best game in a Leaf uniform and an energized Dion Phaneuf, the blue and white dropped the Sabres for the third consecutive time in the span of about a month. While the Sabres are still five points ahead of the Leafs with a game in hand, admirably this Leafs hasn't seemed to have gotten the memo about their season being over, and do maintain a slim chance of crawling back into the top-eight of the Eastern Conference if they can start getting a few favours. [more…]
It certainly felt like the Leafs allowed their final playoff hopes to slip with their loss to Detroit on Saturday. The Sabres won and the Leafs failed to keep pace, but really it has been Buffalo and New York's red-hot play since the calendar turned March that has provided the nails to the coffin on the Leafs season. Estimates at one stage had the eighth placed team in the East finishing below 90 points. Now, the Sabres would only need to play at .500 through their final seven to make it to 92. We could be seeing the final team in the East at 94 points come mid April.
With 78 points through 76 games, the Leafs are sitting 21st in the league and could realistically climb as high as 19th, bumping the Bruins' draft choice out of the top ten. They could surpass Carolina and Minnesota with a good final six, while staying ahead of St. Louis, Columbus (both at 77 points & each with a game in hand) and Atlanta (76 points). A poor final six could drop the Leafs as low as 23rd and put the Bruins as high as seventh in the draft order. [more…]
The Maple Leafs visit the Joe Louis Arena in the only meeting of the season against an original six rival in the Detroit Red Wings. Coming off their third-straight win after a victory in Colorado on Thursday, tonight's game is the next step in the attempt to more or less run the board and climb into the top-eight of the Eastern Conference. Despite being second in the West, the Red Wings have struggled in the month of March, going 4-4-3 in their last 11, including two losses in regulation and an overtime loss, in their last three games.
Toronto is looking to capitalize on the Red Wings glut of injuries. Detroit will be without leading offensive forwards Pavel Datsyuk (lower body), Todd Bertuzzi (back) and Johan Franzen (groin). With a 16-7-4 overall record and a 12-3-1 road record when James Reimer is between the pipes, the Leafs have been one of the top three teams since the all star break, behind only the San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils. In order to prove up to making the playoffs, let alone to competing in them, Toronto needs to be able to beat the best. Let's hope the continued lack of outside help hasn't taken some of the wind out of the Leafs' collective sail, as the state of Florida failed the Leafs last night with Carolina and Buffalo wins over Tampa Bay and the Panthers.
Follow the jump for today's Leaf Links.
With a 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche last night, the Leafs have moved into a tie with the Carolina Hurricanes for ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 78 points, putting them three back of the Buffalo Sabres, who sit in eighth with two games in hand. Based on the past few seasons, the minimum number of points needed to qualify for the playoffs falls between 90 and 92 points. In order to reach that mark, the Leafs must win at least six of their final seven games. The goal heading into this west coast road trip was to collect four out of a possible six points, which has already been accomplished, so earning at least one point in Detroit on Saturday will be a major bonus for the team.
James Reimer is clearly the engine that drives the Leafs’ success, however there is one player in particular who hasn’t garnered nearly the amount of attention that he deserves based on his play this season. With spotlight shining on Clarke MacArthur, Mikhail Grabovski and of course Phil Kessel, there has been less talk of Nikolai Kulemin and his under the radar performance. With two goals last night, he has moved within two tallies of the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career. The 25-year old forward has not only set a career high in goals (28), assists (26) and overall points (54), but he has also been one of the team's best penalty killers.
Check out your Leafs Links after the jump.
