Recap Notes: - Gustavsson allowed 3 goals on 5 shots... the bubble has officially burst - Experts said Kessel would be nothing without Savard... Kessel is lighting it up on a shitty team - I mean seriously... the Maple Leafs suck ass. Kessel made a huge mistake - But he wipes his ass with our yearly salary - Iginla and Nystrom scored 16 seconds apart - It was 80's night in Toronto... and the team played like they did in the 80's - That means they really sucked, for you youngsters
Recap Notes: - The Wild came out pissed that the Canadiens stole their jerseys - They were also pissed that they are called the Wild - Kessel seems set on making the Bruins look bad - He is still half a man - Took longer than I thought for the Toronto D to completely hang Gustavsson out to dry - Mike Komisarek got hurt... this immediately boosts Toronto's D - Probably cut himself shaving his vagina - Backstrom wishes the Wild had that kind of offense for him every night - As a Toronto player, you always want your coach saying things like this: ``We're not good enough to get full of ourselves after we've had a couple of good weeks. I was a little disappointed in our approach, but more teaching tools for me.'' - After a pair of minor penalties to the Wild, Toronto pulled Gustavsson to get a 6 on 3... they didn't score. - Maple Leafs are off until Friday when they visit Chicago
Three Stars: 1. Jonas Gustavsson 2. Jonas Gustavsson 3. Jonas Gustavsson
Final Score: Detroit Red Wings: 1 Toronto Maple Leafs: 5
Goalie Stats Jonas Gustavsson: SV: 35 SV%: .972 GA: 1 Chris Notgood : SV: 23 SV%: .821 GA: 5
Recap Notes:
-Way to lose all credibility Red Wings. -Kessel got his first goal for Toronto tonight, he also picked up an assist. Must be the power of the Chemo. -All 5 Toronto goals came from different players. -Gustavsson continues to be awesome. -Sorry Maple Leafs...I'm not ready to say you're turning it around yet, you need more than 3 wins for that.
Recap Notes: - Wow... how terrible are the Hurricanes - I mean, they blew a 2-0 lead to the Maple Leafs - Gustavsson might be awesome... too bad his team sucks - Leafs have a habit of being severely outshot - Leafs doubled their win total tonight... they now have 2! - Kessel got an assist and wasn't crushed tonight - Canes have lost 11 in a row, but more importantly... they really, really suck - Bruins are pissed the Leafs keep getting points... they need that 1st overall pick! - Leafs meet old rival Detroit tonight - Enjoy some "highlights" below:
Three Stars: 1. Antero Niittymaki (40 saves, about 39 from Kessel) 2. Jonas Gustavsson (30 saves) 3. Phil Kessel (for being a brave, brave boy after getting beat up)
Final Score: Tampa Bay Lightning: 2 Toronto Maple Leafs: 1
Goalie Stats Antero Niittymaki: SV: 40 SV%: .976 GA: 1 Jonas Gustavsson: SV: 30 SV%: .938 GA: 2
Recap Notes: - Leafs lose again, but continue to get points - Still worst team in the NHL - Mattias Ohlund reminded Kessel to keep his head up - Kessel might be the NHL's Terrel Owens... think he gave up on the Bruins - But admittedly... Kessel did look good last night - Gustavsson just may be the real deal - If only there were good defenders in front of him - Ves Toskala is probably on suicide watch - Toronto announcers have trouble pronouncing players' names. A lot. - Hagman should never fight again... ever. - Kessel's wrist shot is quicker than him in bed. - Thats really fast in case you were wondering - Kessel took 10 shots (thinks he's Ovechkin!?) - Toronto's next game is Friday against the Hurricanes
Three Stars: 1. Tim Connolly (2 goals, 1 assist, OT hero) 2. Ryan Miller (33 saves, still a beast) 3. Tomas Kaberle (2 assists, heating up?)
Final Score: Buffalo Sabres: 3 Toronto Maple Leafs: 2
Goalie Stats Ryan Miller: SV: 33 SV%: .943 GA: 2 Jonas Gustavsson: SV: 25 SV%: .893 GA: 3
Recap Notes: - Ryan Miller is ridiculously good - Tim Connolly is a great fantasy hockey sleeper, go pick him up - Maple Leafs showing more fight, but still can't get it done - Tomas Kaberle may just be auditioning for his future team... - Gustavsson is good, not great, but has shitty team in front of him - Grabovski had a nice late goal to tie it up and temporarily give the Leafs hope - The Maple Leafs have no hope - Ryan Miller is really, REALLY good
Recap Notes: The Toronto Maple Leafs earned at least a point for their second straight game. Nope, not a typo. They really did!
Toronto fell to the Dallas Stars in overtime behind the strong play of Marty Turco. I feel dirty all over just typing that. Mike Ribeiro scored last to tie the game and James Neal capitalized on a juicy rebound in OT to give the Stars the victory. Unfortunately for Boston's draft chances the Maple Leafs are racking up points!!! Or not.
We here at Adams Division would also like to congradulate Mike Komisarek for going an entire game without scoring on his goalie or finishing with a minus. Here's to you Mikey!
Three Stars: 1. Niklas Hagman (Hat trick!) 2. Tomas Kaberle (1 goal, 4 assists) 3. Scott Niedermayer (2 assists, 5 hits, +1)
Final Score: Toronto Maple Leafs: 6 (Really?!!?) Anaheim Ducks: 3
Goalie Stats Jonas Gustavsson: SV: 25 SV%: .893 GA: 3 Jonas Hiller: SV: 40 SV%: .870 GA: 6
Recap Notes: The Toronto Maple Leafs decided to do the exact opposite of everything they have done up to this point in the season. They took 46 shots, scored on 5 of 11 power plays and only took 3 penalties themselves on route to their first victory of the season.
Someone on the Ducks is getting fired today for being the first team to lose to the Maple Leafs... and Anaheim wasn't even competitive. Jonas Hiller seemed soft and every defenseman not named Scott Neidermayer seemed disinterested in playing anything resembling hockey.
Kaberle's 5 points were a career high, as were Lee Stempniak's 4. Petteri Nokelainen, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry scored for the cake eating Ducks.
Gustavsson looked good in his first game in 3 weeks and made a couple of ridiculous saves (high lights below). But Anaheim took 17 penalties and played some sloppy seconds hockey, Sean Avery style. It was like watching an AHL team against an NHL team... except that the Maple Leafs play like an AHL team as well.
Toronto was supposed to visit the Dallas Stars tomorrow, but Brian Burke announced the team will not play the remainder of the season so they can eat on a win "streak." Yes, 1 is a streak for the Maple Leafs.
Here's some highlights... including George Parros' epic mustache fighting Colton Orr.
Recap Notes: Roberto Luongo played lights out and was just a goal better than Joey MacDonald as the Toronto Maple Leafs fell once again.
Admittedly this was probably Toronto's best effort of the season, but it is hard to build momentum when your own defenseman are putting goals in your net.
Mike Komisarek scored another goal, but unfortunately it was for the Canucks. Mason Raymond put a shot on net that was swept in by the idiotic Mike Homosarek.
Both of Vancouver's first period goals were scored on the power play. The Maple Leafs have the inability to play disciplined or kill a penalty, two of the biggest reasons they are win-less on the season. Still think it was a good idea to bring in a bunch of goons and undisciplined kids Burke?
The Maple Leafs did manage to put up 36 shots but they could only beat Luongo once, who is heating up and just played nuts. When you combine a hot goalie and Toronto's non-existent offense, you usually end up with a defeat.
And as if defeating the Maple Leafs on the scoreboard wasn't enough, the Canucks Tanner Glass tangled with Luke Schenn and introduced his fists to Schenn's face... repeatedly.
Recap Notes: As expected, the Rangers rolled to an easy victory over the hapless Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs are one of two teams (along with the Islanders) that still do not have a victory on the season.
``We've hit rock bottom,'' said Leafs forward Lee Stempniak. ``There's no lower to go.''
Marian Gaborik didn’t score, but he did add two assists and has scored in each of the Rangers games this season. The Rangers are now 7-1-0 on the season. Ian White had the lone goal for the Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs do not have another game for 7 days, which should give the “forgiving” Toronto media plenty of time to rub salt in the wounds of a team that doesn’t seem like it can get any lower. Especially if you ask Ron Wilson:
``I understand how frustrated the fans are - I do understand that,'' said Wilson. ``But booing doesn't help.''
Despite a line-up shake-up the Toronto Maple Leafs (0-5-1) lost yet another game, this time to the Quebec Nordiques Colorado Avalanche (4-1-1).
Colorado built a lead in the first period that they never gave up. Brett Clark scored on the power play and David Jones added a goal near the end of the first to put the Avalanche up 2-0.
Francois Beauchemin would try to pretend the Maple Leafs don't suck and scored on the power play to bring the score to 2-1.
Then the Avalanche remembered how easily the Maple Leafs defense is exploited and former Maple Leaf Darcy Tucker scored on the power play, followed four minutes later by John-Michael Liles. For those keeping score at home the Maple Leafs are still paying Tucker $1,000,000 a year after a buy out to score on them.
No one would score in the third as the Maple Leafs could not get anything going and the Avalanche were busy thinking about how much better they are than Toronto.
As is custom in Toronto these days, the Maple Leafs once again followed the theory that if you can't beat them, BEAT them.
First Colton Orr remembered that even though he isn't really that good at hockey, he sure can punch! Here he takes on David Koci:
In the second period Matt Hendricks got a lesson in boxing as Garnet Exelby took out the frustrations of a rough season on Hendricks' face.
Ron Wilson decided he is too disgusted to watch the team practice to give his team a day off from practice to refocus. The Maple Leafs are back in action Saturday against the Rangers.
So much for that offseason defensive make over. The Toronto Maple Leafs have now let up 24 goals in 5 games after falling 7-2 to the New York Rangers.
Through the first two periods the Rangers twice had two goal leads but each time let the Maple Leafs close within one.
Ryan Callahan opened the scoring on a power play goal (well, Luke Schenn did... but he put it in the wrong net) and Wade Redden scored a few minutes later to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. With less than a minute left in the first Alexei Ponikarovsky scored to make the score 2-1.
The Rangers started the second quick as Dan Giradi scored a goal just 26 seconds in (again, the shot bounced off Ian White's stick... Toronto is scoring just on the wrong side). Jason Blake would score a power play goal 17 minutes in to bring the score to 3-2.
Then... the third period happened. Toronto lost what little concept of team defense it had and the Rangers had their way with the Maple Leafs.
Sean Avery scored twice, Marian Gaborik extended his point scoring streak and Dan Giradi got his second goal of the game.
"We kept battling until the third period but that fourth goal seemed to discourage us completely, which was the disturbing thing," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. "We have a number of guys who didn't want to take a hit to make a play to get the puck out of our end, and it ended up in our net."
Colton Orr attempted to bring some excitment to the game in the first, but was handled by Donald Brashear:
Unfortunately for Maple Leafs fans, the team is back in action tonight as the Colorado Avalanche come to town.
The victory in Round One of the Battle of Ontario went to the Ottawa Senators in a battle of the most prolific two teams that cannot find offense.
Ottawa Senators forward Shean Donovan scored the first goal on what Toronto called a questionable call. Donovan batted the puck out of the air on a play that the Maple Leafs thought was a high stick.
Another critical mistake by a Maple Leafs defender would lead to the eventual game winner. Luke Schenn caught Senators winger Milan Michalek with a high stick, while at the same time dragging him down from behind. This resulted in both a two-minute minor and a penalty shot. Daniel Alfredsson took the shot for the injured Michalek.
Alfredsson gave the rookie net minder a rude welcome to the NHL, deking the goalie out of his pads. ``Maybe I'll be able to get him once,'' Alfredsson said with a smile. ``I'm sure he'll be better prepared next time.''
Gustavsson never saw the deke coming.
``It was good penalty shot from him,'' he said. ``I thought he was going to shoot, but he fooled me there.''
Stajan would score on a power play late in the game, but it would be too little too late for a Maple Leafs team that just seems disorganized.
``We'll find most of our forwards tomorrow,'' said Wilson. ``That was almost an embarrassing effort from seven or eight guys who we're really counting on heavily.''
Rookie Viktor Stalberg, who had a fantastic pre-season, left with an injury after a run in with Senators defenseman Anton Volchenkov.
Toronto's mistake master Mike Komisarek appeared to have scored the tying goal, but the shot bounced off both posts and never crossed the goal line.
Pascal Leclaire finished with 26 saves while rookie Gustvasson performed admirably in his starting debut, stopping 26 shots as well. Hope Luke Schenn is kicking himself for letting his team mates down.
Alex Ovechkin cherry picks scored less than two minutes into the game as Capitals fans chanted MVP, not even knowing what it stands for, as the Washington Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4. Ovechkin imagined a crowd full of shirtless men and dove into the glass after his goal.
The Capitals had a 6-1 lead going into the third before the Maple Leafs decided to try to play like an NHL team instead of an AHL team.
The only three players Capitals fans can name Backstrom, Semin, and Ovechkin combined to get three goals and five assists while molesting the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Capitals goalie Varlamov was shaky in the third as Alexei Ponikarovsky, Mikhail Grabovski and Niklas Hagman scored in the third. The utterly useless Jeff Finger manged to get an assist.
Washington scored on three of their first seven shots which isn't surprising with Vesa Toskala in net.
"It's unbelievable," said Toskala, replaced in net by Jonas Gustavsson at the start of the second period. "It seems everywhere they go, the puck is following them."
Mike Komisarek again caused more harm to his team as he was in the box when Washington scored their second goal on the power play as Toronto fans begin to realize why Milan Lucic is constantly knocking this idiot's team out. Komisarek was in the box for molesting kittens.
The Maple Leafs will flip a coin and decide which goalie gets the start Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators. Ovechkin will draw names out of a hat to determine which of his teammatess will get to join him in the shower.
On a night when the greatest hockey player in history, Mario Lemieux, was in attendance the Montreal Canadiens roster was allowed to stay up past their bed times as they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime.
Montreal's favorite whipping girl boy Carey Price had an outstanding game (at least for fantasy hockey purposes), stopping 43 of 46 shots in the win. If you recall, the last time we saw Carey Price in a meaningful game the Montreal crowd were being assholes:
"Carey stood on his head," forward Mike Cammalleri said. "I just talked to him and said, 'We've got to be better for you and we will.' The truth is that we expect him to do that from time to time because that's how good he is.
"He won us the game."
The Canadiens, for the most part, were outplayed and outshot by the Maple Leafs. Each team had two power play goals. Brian Gionta opened the scoring in the first period with a power play goal, with feeds from Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec. Overtime hero Josh Gorges assisted on Glen Metropolit's power play goal in the third to time the game.
Matt Stajan scored both power play goals for the Maple Leafs, one in each of the second and third periods.
However, a former Canadien perhaps had the biggest impact on the game. Famous for being a turtle and world class wuss, Mike HomoKomisarek was in the box for both of Montreal's power play goals. The Maple Leafs were flying when this idiot took an elbowing penalty, his fifth minor of the night to go with his fighting major... which for Komisarek means throwing a punch from behind then covering his head and hitting the ice when the opponent turns around. Montreal beat Toskala on the ensuing powerplay. He also received a double high-sticking penalty in the first period after busting open the overpaid Scott Gomez.
The game also featured three fights and lot of after whistle shananagins (we'll feature each bout later today in Northeast Fight Club).
The two teams continue their rivalry on Halloween.
And on a site note.... Toronto Maple Leafs fans are fast. Check on the guy wearing a Kessel jersey at the end of this video... I bet that guy still has both his balls though.
Thomas Vanek and Viktor Stalberg exchanged goals as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-6 in a high scoring game.
Viktor Stalberg opened the scoring when he deflected a Tomas Kaberle pass past Buffalo goalie Patrick Lalime. Lee Stempniak put Toronto up by two with a tip in near the end of the first period.
Buffalo exploded in a 5:35 stretch in the second when Clarke MacArthur, Nathan Gerbe and Thomas Vanek scored to put Buffalo ahead 3-2.
Buffalo's lead lasted about as long Rick Dipietro's season, as Jason Blake scored 30 seconds later to tie the game. Toronto's Nikolai Kulemin scored three minutes later off assists from Matt Stajan and Luke Schenn to put Toronto up 4-3 going into the third.
Buffalo came out hot in the third and scored two goals within the first three minutes, as Jochen Hecht scored on a wrap around and Tim Kennedy got another past Toskala to put the Sabres up 5-4.
Lee Stempniak sooned tied the score at 5-5, but Thomas Vanek broke the tie again on a powerplay goal off assists from Derek Roy and Craig Rivet to put the Sabres up for good.
Less than two minutes later, Matt Ellis gave Buffalo the insurance goal to put Buffalo up 7-5. With less than two minutes left in the period Mikhail Grabovski brought Toronto within one, but Toronto could not tie up the score as Buffalo went on to the victory in a wild game.
Wilson announced that Toskala, who gave up all seven goals, would be starting the season opener -- "so there's no controversy."
"I think both teams were disinterested most of the night," Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. "It's your last exhibition game. Lord knows, we've played enough of them."
Buffalo finished the pre-season 4-1-1 as Toronto finished 6-3.
Swedish sensation Jonas Gustavsson stopped all 15 shots his faced in his first pre-season game at Toronto's Air Canada Centre as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 last night.
Gustavsson had a minor heart procedure that prevented him from seeing much pre-season action, but the "Monster" has not allowed a goal in more than 60 minutes of play so far this pre-season.
Brad Stuart opened the scoring for the Red Wings with less than a minute left in the first when he beat Vesa Toskala from the point, on assists from Ville Leino and Niklas Kronwall, who kept his skates on the ice long enough to make a pass.
Toronto tied the game in the second on a powerplay goal from Carl Gunnarsson. With Alex Ponikarvosky screening in front, Gunnarson ripped it from the point and beat Osgood.
Stahlberg would but the Maple Leafs up for good in the third when he redirected a pass behind Jimmy Howard. The goal was Stahlberg's fifth of the pre-season.
However, the highlight of the game was Jonas Gustavsson's incredible save late in the third:
Gustavsson just might make things miserable for scorers in the Northeast division. The Maple Leafs play the Buffalo Sabres in another pre-season game tonight.
Viktor Stahlberg had two goals and assisted on another as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 in a shootout.
Super rookie Nazem Kadri and Mikhail Grabvoski added goals, with Grabvoski's goal coming late in the third to tie the game. Niklas Kronwall and Johan Franzen each had two goals for the Red Wings. The Red Wings scored three quick third period goals to take the leads.
"We fell apart for a couple of minutes in the third," Stalberg said. "A few mistakes, which is easy to do against the Red wings when they're pressuring."
Nikolai Kulemin and John Mitchell scored in the shootout to give the Maple Leafs the victory.
Jonas Gustavsson did not see much work, but stopped all 7 shots he faced. The Toronto Maple leafs continued their pre-season tonight in a rematch against the Red Wings
The Buffalo Sabres prevailed in a close game over the Toronto Maple Leafs that surprisingly featured only fight (down from Toronto's average of 19). Hey if you can't score, might as well fight.
Jay Rosehill (Maple Leafs) vs Cody McCormick (Sabres)
If Rosehill is trying to make the roster he might want to do something other than fight, as the Leafs have plenty of goons for that.
The Sabres had a strong second period, getting goals from Nathan Paetsch, Jochen Hecht and Cody McCormik. Toronto's Jiri Tlusty scored on a penalty shot. This is one Miller wishes he could have back... just wow.
"I didn't mean to do that, but I count every goal," Tlusty said. "It doesn't matter how it went in."
The third period didn't see much action. John Mitchell scored for the Maple Leafs to close the gap to one goal and was assisted by Nazem Kadri who is still making a strong case for an opening night roster spot. Toronto outshot the Sabres 10-2 in the third, but could only beat Miller once.
Joey MacDonald had a decent showing, stopping 28 of the 31 shots he faced. Buffalo's Ryan Miller continued his strong pre-season saving 23 of 25 shots (outside of that penalty shot... he probably had nightmares about that one last night).
At the draft Nazem Kardi stated his intentions were to stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs all season. With the pre-season he is having GM Brian Burke might just have to keep him up.
The Pittsburgh Penguins jumped out to an early lead with both Ryan Bayda and Chris Conner scoring in the first period. Viktor Stahlberg brought the Maple Leafs within 1 with a second period goal, assisted by supposed super rookie Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson.
Then late in the third, with the net empty and an extra attacker on the ice, Nazem Kadri was able to get one past Pittsburgh goalie John Curry to tie the score with just over a minute left.
Then in the shootout, Kadri decided he felt like completely undressing John Curry with a fantastic shoot out goal:
Lee Stempniak sealed the deal in the third round with a goal himself, but the buzz was still about Kadri. "Hopefully, I'm making the decision hard," Kadri said. "I appreciate (coach) Ron (Wilson) giving me the opportunity to go out there in some big situations. I think it's really building my confidence."
Jamal Mayers was knocked out by a Tim Wallace hit in the second period and needed to be helped off the ice.
Three Stars:
