Crossing The NHL’s Atlantic Division: Week 25

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Maple Leafs

By Tim Bayer of Editor In Leaf

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost 3-2 to the

Grand Rapids Griffins

Detroit Red Wings last night. The win propelled the Red Wings to within one point of a wildcard spot and second-place Montreal extended their lead over the Leafs to three points with a win over the Avalanche.

The Leafs showed considerable fight in the third period, but after falling behind 2-0 thanks to lazy efforts in the first two frames, it was a matter of too little, too late. It also didn’t help that Jimmy Howard was a monster (not to be confused with former Leaf and current Red Wing goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who’s known as THE Monster) in the Wings’ net, turning aside 31 shots, including this Phil Kessel breakaway attempt:

Gustav Nyquist made the Leafs defense look like inanimate objects, scoring two breakaway goals. The two youngest members of the D, however, stepped up to combine on this beautiful goal:

The Leafs have seen a lot more goals from the backend recently, which is a reason to be optimistic. Unfortunately, the Leafs forwards have scored only three goals in their last 12 periods of play.

The Buds clashed with another division rival as the Tampa Bay Lightning visited the Air Canada Centre last night. As Tasha mentioned, The Lightning were only one point ahead of the Leafs (although they have two games in hand), so that was be a big game for both teams.

On Saturday, the Leafs host the red-hot Habs, and travel south to the Garden State as they take on the New Jersey Devils the following day. Next Tuesday, the Western Conference powerhouse St. Louis Blues come to Toronto. After failing to capitalize against a wounded Red Wings team last night, the Leafs will need to pick up points in these three tough games. I’ll let you know how that turns out.