Controversy Abounds As Maple Leafs Lose To St. Louis

Manny Legace's equipment barely arrived as game time approached.  Good thing it did.  The Toronto boy played fantastic tonight as the St. Louis Blues bested the Leafs 3-2 tonight at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Legace made 23 saves, while his Toronto counterpart, Vesa Toskala, made 16 in the loss.

It was the first game back from the All-Star break for either team, and through the first ten minutes of the contest, the Maple Leafs looked like they were still vacationing. 

On one of the weirder plays of the year, Keith Tkachuk made it 1-0 St. Louis just 1:18 into the contest.  The play was reviewed because it looked as though the Blues forward touched the puck with a high stick; however, it was deemed a goal and the Blues were owners of a quick lead on the road.

5:41 into the period it appeared, as it has many times before, that the sky was falling in on the Leafs again. A turnover in the neutral zone led to an odd-man rush for St Louis, where the puck was thrown in front of the net and directed in by Tkachuk, who netted his second of the game. 

The defense was somewhat stagnant on this play for Toronto.  No one made a real effort to tie up sticks or take bodies, therefore Tkachuk went to the net largely uncontested.

The Leafs would answer with a goal before the period was out, and what a beauty it was. 

Winger Jason Blake took a behind-the-net pass from Darcy Tucker, and patiently walked around the crease, forcing Legace out of position, and deposited the puck top-shelf to cut the deficit to one.  It was Blake's tenth goal of the season.

Midway through the second period St. Louis got a goal that had a bit of a tough aroma to it.  Vesa Toskala made a fantastic save going from one side of the net to the other, pushing himself way out of the blue paint to make a excellent save. 

Unfortunately for Toskala, he thought he was under the puck. It was lying beside him, and St. Louis' David Backes pounced on the puck putting it past the prone netminder and his defensive partners.

Less than five minutes later, however, the Leafs got another answer goal, this time from Matt Stajan.  Stajan has played very well this season for the Maple Leafs in a 3rd/4th line role, and has done an effective job of backchecking, forechecking, penalty killing, and chipping in offensively. 

He truly has been somewhat undervalued on the team this year, as he is a real jack of all trades.  This goal was Stajan's 12th of the year, and set up an exciting third period.

Each team had seven shots in the third period and took turns trading chances.  In the dying minutes of the game Toronto had several chances but couldn't tie the game.  Included in the dying minutes was the controversy that occurred when Mats Sundin shoveled in what appeared to be a loose puck, similar to the goal Backes scored. 

However this time the goal was disallowed, as official Don Van Massenhoven claimed he lost sight of the puck, which was loose in front of Manny Legace.

The goal was not reviewed and was disallowed, leaving Sundin, Tucker and other Leafs steaming mad, even as the game ended.

Next up for the Leafs is a road trip to the "Tobacco Belt", where they will take on the Hurricanes in Raleigh Thursday night on LeafsTV.  Following that they return home to take on the rival Ottawa Senators at the Air Canada Centre to finish off the week.  The game will be on Hockey Night In Canada, of course, starting with the pregame show at 6:30.

Game Thoughts

--It's good to see Kris Newbury up with the big club.  Breathe it in Leafs fans.  This breath of fresh air is brought to you by grit and toughness, two things Newbury brings to the Maple Leafs line-up.  Energy is another.  He is not going to dazzle anyone, but guys like that are important on any team.

--Turnovers create offense.  Turnovers kill hockey teams.  Both are true, and it was displayed tonight in the early going of the contest.  Both of St. Louis' first two goals were set up because of turnovers by the Maple Leafs, in the neutral zone.  Not that he touched the puck, but what in the heck was Paul Kariya doing so unguarded in front of the net like that?  

--Great goal By Jason Blake that made it 2-1 at the time.  Blake showed patience and poise, something that had been lacking in his game during the first half of the season.  The only thing better than Blake's goal was his assist on the Stajan goal that cut the St. Louis lead to one. 

I'm still not willing to give up on Blake yet.  In the calendar year of 2008, he has been better, and hopefully the gelling process (though taking longer than it should) is complete and we can begin to see more of the player we thought we signed this past July.

--The third goal for the Blues was simply not very good.  You could easily point out that the goalie is at fault because he didn't cover it, but what about communication?  The defense also needs to be accountable on this play.  Had they been talking with Toskala, he would have known the puck was lying free.

--Colaiacovo seemingly got better as the game wore on,  I guess anything is an improvement over nearly taking your teammates face off with a slapshot.  All kidding aside, he was eased into more minutes throughout the night and he responded by getting better and better.  If this guy could stay healthy for the Leafs he could really be a great 3-4 D-man.

--Jiri Tlusty played a decent game tonight skating on the teams top unit with Mats Sundin and Nik Antropov.  He was, however, a little off.  Before the game he admitted to being nervous and it showed quite a bit throughout the game.  Anytime you change lines it is a bit of an adjustment, but changing roles can make it more difficult.  He hasn't looked completely out of place, he is skating well with his linemates, he is just a little out of sync.

--As the game ended the Maple Leafs put up quite a fight that the puck was loose when Sundin stuffed it in.  The whistle clearly went, however, the puck was partially free, however the official lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle.  Personally in my opinion the puck was free, and even Manny Legace admitted to getting lucky, in his post game interview, that his ref blew the whistle.  These calls are tough, but we must remember that the officials are human beings too, and are entitled to a margin of error.