Maple Leafs-Islanders: Special Teams Pace Toronto

Another night, another one-goal game.  Although this one certainly wasn't as low scoring as the night before. 

Most of the players tonight will be thankful they don't draw pictures on the scoresheet, because the majority of these goals tonight were not pretty. 

They did, however, hit the back of the net, and isn't that all that matters? 

Nine goals went in tonight, with the Islanders notching five, the Leafs four.  It was the second straight loss for the Leafs, who felt heartbreak just 24 hours ago, losing to Buffalo 1-0.

Ruslan Fedotenko had two goals for the Islanders, pacing them to the 5-4 win, while Matt Stajan had a goal and an assist in a losing effort.

Former Leaf Bryan Berard opened the scoring 16:12 into the first, on a goal that appeared to deflect off his foot and into the back of the net.  With not even the slightest kicking motion on this one, there was no way the goal would be called back. 

The goal was Berard's fifth of the season.  The American born defenseman is a feel good story, a player who has returned twice in his career from threatening injuries.

The Maple Leafs got two answer goals less than two minutes apart.  7:51 into the second stanza Maple Leafs forward, Darcy Tucker, scored a goal that went off his skate after Matt Stajan went to simply throw the puck out front. 

All Tucker could do was laugh it off.  The hard luck forward's goal tonight lifted his total for the season to 10.

Under two minutes later Mats Sundin showed his size, and talent, when he was able to take the deflected puck in front of the net and shovell it past a prone Rick DiPietro.  Sundin now has 24 goals for the season.

The Islanders stormed back to score the next three goals.  Mike Comrie's 17th of the season was sandwiched in between Fedotenko's 11th and 12th, to give New York a 4-2 lead. 

Both Comrie and Fedotenko are free agents at seasons end.  The talk around the league is that both Comrie and Fedotenko could fetch some interest come deadline day, along with a few other Islanders.

Matt Stajan's 13th of the year on a great effort in front of the net brought the Leafs to within a goal, but that was as close as they would get.  Stajan took the puck in front, spun around and buried it past a falling DiPietro, who made 27 saves for the win.  

Freddy Meyer of New York and Toronto's Alexei Ponikarovsky traded last minute goals to add to the games goal total.  Meyer's empty net tally came at 19:08, while Ponikarovsky brought his team back to within a goal and only 19 seconds remaining.

Vesa Toskala made 24 saves in a losing effort for Toronto.  With under 20 games left in the season, coach Paul Maurice said he will likely ride the Finnish netminder as much as he can.

Next up for the Leafs is a Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada tilt with the Northeast Division rival Boston Bruins.

Game Thoughts

--Despite the fact he took a whack of penalties tonight (deserved or not) it's getting hard to argue that the Leafs aren't a better team when Bryan McCabe is in the lineup.

  Earlier this year when he was struggling, he seemed to be forcing things, trying to be too flashy.  Now upon returning from injury he seems to have reverted back to his old ways of playing just a simple game. 

This is the recipe that brought him the success he had in years past.  In saying that he still had his difficulties tonight, but this was the first time since returning from injury that he seemed to stumble, which is a true testament to his conditioning and skill.

--It says a lot about Anton Stralman's character with the way he responded tonight. 

Last night the Leafs were involved in a tough 1-0 loss, where the rookie ended up making the mistake that cost the leafs the win.  However, unfazed he returned tonight, grabbed the reigns and went back to the confident style of play he has brought to the team since being called up. 

His point blast that struck the crossbar was an absolute bullet, and he made a fantastic cross ice pass that gave Dominic Moore a real good scoring chance.

--Vesa Toskala wasn't bad tonight, but he didn't look as spectacular as he did in the previous two games against Buffalo and Detroit.  When he is off, it is very easy to see, as he looks uncomfortable in his own pads, if you will. 

Still it's another one of those games where you certainly can't blame the goaltender.

--The Penalty kill was simply awful tonight, four goals allowed on seven opportunities simply isn't going to cut it.  I heard a little helpful tip one time that says you have to add the powerplay percent by the penalty kill percent, and if it is over 100, your team is in good shape. 

Well, if you add Toronto's power play rank (15.9) with that of their Penalty Kill (77.3) you get 93.2.  I don't know, not saying it's a clear indication, but with so many numbers and stats flying around, it helps.

--How about Matt Stajan?  This kid has really stepped it up this season.  I don't think we'll ever see the young forward ever lead the team in scoring or anything, but still he takes as much pride in his defensive game as he does his offensive side, and is a team player through and through. 

The fact that Stajan has been named the teams player rep at the young age of 24, and that he organizes the teams Hockey Fights Cancer night, speak volumes about his maturity and the type of quality person he is.

--I was kind of surprised to see Ian White a healthy scratch tonight, although I am in favour of seeing him not in the line up in place of Anton Stralman, especially after last night.

Benching Stralman could have made him fragile; instead he plays, and he played real well tonight.  Still, Ian White has been a decent contributor this year, and he keeps his feet moving, walking the blue line.

Theoretically Speaking

Now, I mean, most things that are talked about theoretically speaking never work out as planned.  But really, if the season were to end today, and the teams drafted in the spot they are now, the Leafs would draft third overall. 

Now imagine they traded Sundin (which is getting into theories now for sure, seeing as he seems willing to stand pat.)  They trade him to Anaheim for Bobby Ryan, and Edmonton's first round pick, along with a few other picks. 

So theoretically the Leafs could enter next season's training camp with young guns Bobby Ryan, third overall draft pick, which could be someone like Alex Pietrangelo or Nikita Filatov.  Then they could use the Edmonton pick, which as of today standings wise would be fifth overall. 

This equals to someone along the lines of Kyle Beach, Cody Hodgson, or Luke Schenn.

Couple those three young gentleman with the fact you would get promising guys like Anton Stralman, Jiri Tlusty, and Robbie Earl who would have a years experience under their belt.  Also you can add Justin Pogge, who may make the team as back up next season, and Nikolai Kulemin who appears poised to come over from Russia in the summer.  

So, in theory of course, there is eight young solid guys the Leafs could really use next year as building blocks.  Couple that with some buy outs/trades of the more expensive players, sign some somewhat inexpensive free agents and bring back Sundin (this again hinges on the fact that he gets traded at the deadline), and I think you would have a pretty good nucleus of a team to build around.  

If the buy out route is the way they plan on going, it could get expensive, but if they are rebuilding with these guys mentioned above, and some other young inexpensive free agents, they wouldn't have to worry about cap room.

Of course, this is all in theory.  Simply something to chew on.