Hey guys, sorry about the long break in posts – hope everyone had a good and safe holiday season. Alot to catch up on so I’m gonna get right to it.
The World Juniors wrap up today, with Team Canada going for the gold against Team USA, in what should be a great rematch of the final game in round robin play. The Canadians have been impressive throughout the tournament – after their 16-0 drubbing of the Latvians, they reeled off a 6-0 win over the Swiss and an 8-2 win over Slovakia. Team USA gave the Canucks some trouble, as Canada needed a shootout to earn themselves a bye to the semifinals. The Americans dispatched the Finns and the Swedes in the quarters and semis to earn a rematch with Canada. After the Swiss shocked the Russians with an overtime win in the quarterfinals, Canada sent them to the bronze medal game with another impressive 6-2 win. Tonight’s gold medal game should be fun to watch, and Brian Burke will certainly keep a close eye on it, with both Nazem Kadri and Jerry D’Amigo suiting up in the final. Interestingly enough, D’Amigo has played even better than Kadri through tournament play, notching 5 goals and 10 points so far. Kadri has 3 goals and 6 points, along with 14 penalty minutes (although 12 came in the first game against Latvia from his hit to the head). I don’t know about anyone else, but the emergence of D’Amigo as a talented player at the top level of junior hockey has me feeling pretty good about his future in a Leafs uniform.
Now, back to the Leafs. After an impressive win against the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins, the Leafs were back to their old tricks against the Edmonton Oilers in their final game of 2009. Edmonton had lost 7 in a row at home, but a visit from the Leafs was just what the doctor ordered for Pat Quinn’s newest team. The Oilers outplayed the Leafs all night, and by the time Phil Kessel scored in the 3rd, the game was already out of reach. For only the 12th time this season, Toronto was outshot by their opponent, and Vesa Toskala made 25 saves on 28 shots. The Leafs’ penalty kill continued to struggle, giving up two powerplay goals to Patrick O’Sullivan, and dropping to 70.5% on the year. Until those numbers get fixed, it’s tough to see the Leafs having any consistent success.
Toronto’s trip out west didn’t get any better in 2010, as the Leafs dropped to 3-5-2 in their last 10 games with a loss against the Calgary Flames. I didn’t get a chance to catch the game, but I was not surprised to find out that Toronto hung with the talented Flames for most of the game, taking a 1-0 lead in the first, but surrendering 2 goals in less than a minute while being outshot 18-7 in the second period. Surprise, surprise, Calgary’s second goal came on the powerplay, marking the 4th straight game that the Leafs gave up a powerplay goal. Meanwhile, the Leafs went 0-4 on their own powerplay.
The Leafs will get a chance to end this recent slide with a home game against the Florida Panthers, one of the teams that they had been gaining ground on in the hunt for the playoffs before they started playing like it was October again. The Leafs beat the Panthers in their last matchup in Florida, with Kessel and Hagman both notching a pair of goals. Florida is coming off of a 6-2 upset in Pittsburgh, but has not won back to back games on the road since before Thanksgiving. That’s all for now, but I’ll be posting a bunch of stuff in the next few days, including reaction to the Olympic rosters that were released this week, and some New Year’s resolutions for the Leafs. Happy New Year, and Go Leafs!