So close, and yet...

The Leafs managed to come back from being behind 2-0 but they couldn't get that extra point in OT. Both of the Devil's goals came on power plays, which is upsetting, because out penalty kill was looking superb as of late.
Kessel scored the first goal for the Leafs which redirected off of his foot. He now has 17 goals and 35 points, he is still in the league leader (he is also leading the way in All-Star voting! Go Kess!)

Photo by Graig Abel

Matt Frattin scored a BEAUTIFUL goal to tie the game up. I had faith in this kid since the preseason, and I'm really glad he is starting to play like I know he can, you can see the confidence in his game. There is no photo of the goal/reaction, so I give you impressed Burke:

Photo by Graig Abel

Reimer was in net, and despite the loss he made many game saving saves. He was brilliant on the late giveaway that led to a breakaway. It's really good to see him back, we need to get him a win!

Photo by Graig Abel

On another note, we need to get a win at home! Our home record is pretty lame right now.
The Leafs play the Washington Capitols on Friday, hopefully this small break will rest up some players after 3 games in 4 nights.
GO LEAFS GO

Now that's what I call a game

Tonight's game was incredible. It proved the skill and speed the Leafs have this season, despite the two quick goals by the Rangers (one was a 5 on 3). But we were able to hold the lead with the help of Jonas Gustavsson. The Monster was truly on his game tonight making some, for lack of a better word, monster saves.

Photo by Scott Levy

Why couldn't we play like this against Boston, huh? Being a Leaf fan makes me question my sanity sometimes, I swear.

Photo by Bruce Bennett

The Leafs pretty much dominated this game. Their speed made the Rangers run around a lot. Kessel got 2 assists on the night bringing his beautiful tally up to 34 points, still the leader. Cody Franson scored with a rocket shot in the first and Connolly and the red hot Lupul both scored in the third to make it 3-0 before the Rangers came back. Steckel scored the empty net goal for insurance (final score 4-3). And that Dion Phaneuf hit? Beauty.

Photo by Scott Levy

Games like this make me so happy, and I just want every game to look the same. Obviously that won't happen, but hey, a girl can dream.
The Leafs play the Devils tomorrow. Let's bring the same level of intensity! Please and thank you!
As always,
GO LEAFS GO
PS.

Photo by Bruce Bennett

Just because.

Bozak attacks the not so Mighty Ducks

Sorry that this post is a little delayed, but I was studying for a test. Oh the joys of university. But I did watch the game, and what a good game it was.
Even though we gave up the first goal tonight the way the Leafs were playing I had no doubt in my mind that they would come back and tie it up. I, on the other hand, did not realize they would take the lead so shortly after. Bozak scored on the power play on a pretty little passing play to tie the game up, and just 19 seconds later Mr. MacArthur put the Leafs up one with a glorious shot. You can hardly see the puck, it's a beauty.

Photo by Jeff Gross

Speaking of Bozak, he had two goals this game. That is his second 2 goal game of this road trip and, I believe, his tenth point in as many games. He has really stepped up playing on the first line, the chemistry between him, Kessel, and Lupul is just clicking right now and it's beautiful.
Luke Schenn has also totally turned his game around and has been solid for the past two games. He was awarded tonight with an empty net goal from the other side of the ice, he also had a point on the Joey Crabb goal. Crabb has also been great with three goals in three games.

Photo by Debora Robinson

Gustavsson is great too. I feel like I'm repeating myself with him. He's been consistent, solid, and just plain good. He has definitely got his groove back. "How Jonas Got His Groove Back", I'd watch it.
Leafs have a bit of a break before they have a home and home against the Boston Bruins. I think these next two games will be big ones because we need to prove that we can beat them, which I beleaf we can.

Photo by Debora Robinson

GO LEAFS GO!

Deja vu? Who cares!

There were quite a few parallels between this game and the game against the Washington Capitols. The first and most obvious of them being the score, 7-1. Holla.
Gustavsson was in net for this one as well and made a plethora of great saves. He was in position all night and was there when the team needed him. He has a 6-4 record, and for a backup goalie this isn't a bad stat at all.

Photo by Scott Audette

Another parallel between these two games is the scoring of a first ever NHL goal. Tonight it was Joe Colborne who scored the first of his career. Frattin, who had his first career goal against the Caps Saturday night had a solid game with two great plays that led to goals.

Photo by Scott Audette

The two games also featured two early first period goals to put the Buds up by one, tonight's goal from MacArthur coming back from injury. They both also had the opposing teams scoring to tie the game up before the Leafs took control.
The first line of Lupul, Kessel, and Bozak had a fantastic night with a collective 5 points, three from Tyler Bozak who put on a VERY impressive show tonight. Tim Connolly also had a kick ass game with a goal and 2 assists.

Photo by Al Messerschmidt

The game overall was solid. It was great to watch the Leafs look so dominant from start to finish. Power play was good scoring on 2 of the four opportunities, and the penalty kill was effective only allowing one goal on eight penalties.
There is probably more to say, but I'm going to end this simply by saying it was a great game for the Leafs.

Photo by Scott Audette

Leafs have a bit of a break before they take on the Dallas Stars on Friday.
No Saturday game this week, I don't like that.
Go Leafs Go!

PS Saw the clip of Hal Gill saying that Crosby 'poops rainbows'. Haven't laughed so hard in a very long time.

All around good night

I doubt this just pertains to me but, I always feeling so much happier after a Leaf victory. Especially when it is a 7-1 victory over the Washington Capitals, in which Ovechkin didn't get any points and Joffery Lupul got 4 (1 goal and 3 assists). Because of all the injuries the Leafs called up Joe Colborne from the Marlies.
Tonight was also a night of firsts. Both Matt Frattin and Cody Franson scored their first goals; Franson with his first as a Maple Leaf and Frattin his first ever NHL goal. So a huge congrats to the two.

Photo by Graig Abel

Tonight's game, though, was definitely the outcome of the solid play from Gustavsson and Lupul. Lupul had a huge four point night and Gustavsson was solid in net despite an early goal. Makes you wonder why the Leafs stuck with Scrivens instead of putting the Monster in net.

Photo by Graig Abel

Kessel is still playing like a beast. He had a goal and an assist tonight bringing his point total to 27 and his goals to 14, still numero uno in the league. Hey Ovechkin, remember that time Kessel was picked last at the Allstar game and you laughed at him? Karma's a bitch isn't it?
Bozak also scored tonight, which is like a top line hattie, the first line combined for 8 points tonight. David Steckel had the final goal on the night, a breakaway against his former team, quite Stecksy if you as me.

Photo by Abelimages

Special teams tonight were ballin', the crowd was ballin', the whole game was pretty much ballin' and one can hope that tomorrows game against Carolina will also be ballin' (overuse of the word 'ballin'', I know, but I am not sorry because I love saying it).

Photo by Abelimages

Just realized now how late I am publishing this blog post. I should really try to get these in earlier.
Will be back tomorrow with coverage of the game, til then I bid you adieu and a hearty 'go leafs go' cry.

It's not over until it's over

This game honestly started out like [feces] (see what I did there, punny). Coyotes get two early goals and just like that the Leafs are down 2-0. They were playing sloppy, and it was just an all around mess. I will be the first to admit that I had little hope when that happened.
But this is why I love hockey so frikken much. Despite the Leafs lacklustre start to the game, they improved throughout the game until we saw that spark they had at the beginning of the season. Most of the third period was absolutely brilliant. We scored our two goals - the first from Komisarek (I wasn't expecting that either, believe me) and the second from none other than Phil 'the thrill' Kessel on the power play. After those two goals the game was on a whole other level. Overtime was even better, it really helped show why I love four on four hockey so damn much.

Photo by Graig Abel

Though Scrivens had a bit of a shaky start he turned up HUGE later with multiple glove saves in OT. Despite the loss in the shoot out (worst way to end a great game, but that's just my humble opinion) the Leafs proved that even though they are the second youngest team in the league they have the character, and the ability to come back and take charge of a game, which is a pretty important thing if you ask me.

Photo by Graig Abel

Kessel was a beast all night. If it wasn't for Mike Smith being on his game the outcome could have definitely been different. Kessel still leads the league in goals (13) and in points (25) which is so beyond awesome.
It's a weird feeling when you are still satisfied over a game even though you lost, but with an ending like this one it's hard not to feel a bit of happiness over the Leafs ability to come back.
November has not been a kind month for us so far, let's hope the second half is much better.
Next up the Leafs head over to Nashville to take on the Predators, fingers crossed that the end of this game will carry over to that one.
Side note: Both Clarke MacArthur(upper body) and Mikhail Grabovski (lower body, leg I think) left the game early with injuries

The Leafs? Scored two power play goals? Whaa?!

Firstly, I need to apologize again for not watching the game in its entirety I have a test tomorrow and have been studying all night. School, always getting in the way of everything, psh. Alright, now on to the fun stuff:

 THE LEAFS SCORED ON THE POWER PLAY!! No wait, correction: THE LEAFS SCORED TWO GOALS ON THE POWER PLAY! After having gone 10 opportunities without one you sort of forget what that's like. Quite glorious, really. 

Despite the win, this game was in no way perfect. The penalty wasn't horrible going 1-6 on the night and the power play (finally) did something scoring twice in 4 chances. But it has to be said, Scrivens kept the team in this game. He was pretty solid all game and made a BEAUTY save on Alex Steen in the third. Super pretty. 

The Blues tied the game up with just over a minute left to play in the game. The Leafs completely broke down and just could not get that puck out of their zone. 

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat

In the shootout Scrivens saved all three of the Blues chances while Phil Kessel beat Halak to give us the win. 

Lupul had a killer game tonight, Liles scored the opening goal, and Kessel scored again bringing his grand total to 12 goals and 23 points, still enough to lead the league. 

The Leafs play Ottawa on Saturday, it'll be a good one. It always is. 

Again, sorry for this being so brief but I still have a LOT of studying to do.

GO LEAFS GO!

Just keep calm and keep beleafing.

So tonight's game is the second of two in which the Leafs struggled. But, it's only been two games, so let's all take a chill pill and relax. We must believe that we will get over this current slump we are in, we've done it in the past with much worse teams, and MUCH worse slumps.
That being said the team really needs to step it up, the goalies can only do so much. Sure, a goalie needs to have the ability to save the game, but they need help too, like a goal every once in a while. Up until Kessel (bless his soul) scored in the third the Leafs had gone six periods without a goal. SIX. That's two whole games if you think about it that way. Fortunately, the penalty kill is improving, but the power play still needs work. They need to find that drive they had, that extra jump in their step. We all know it's there, we all saw it, we just need to keep on keeping on and not lose faith. We are Leaf fans after all, if anyone knows how to not lose faith in a team it's us. Let's also hope Reimer is ready to play soon. They team seems to play with more confidence when it's him between the pipes.

Photo by Brad White

Leafs take on the Blues in St. Louis on Thursday. Let's hope they can pick up where they left off before these two games.

The rookie's alright

Tonight was a big night for Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens; it was his first NHL game. They must be putting something in the water at Marlies practices because he (along with fellow call up Joey Crabb) played amazingly. Only letting in one goal is something to be proud of in your début. 

As mentioned before Joey Crabb is also lighting up the NHL with two goals in two games. He looks like he belongs here; making plays and scoring them goals. I think it might be a while before he goes back down. 

It was a pretty uneventful game, I thought (little secret: I did change the channel to Doctor Who (yes, I'm a nerd) during commercials and missed a bit of the game because I forgot to turn back).  The Leafs seemed pretty dominant throughout, minus a few mishaps in their own zone here and there, but Scrivens was there to make sure the puck didn't hit the back of the net. He kept the Leafs in it when they needed him to. 

The recently hot MacArthur had two goals on the night (including the game winner) and defenceman Liles had his first as a Maple Leafs to bring the total to four. Ryan Johansen scored in the second to make the game 4-1.

Photo by John Grieshop

And some super duper amazing news: THE LEAFS ACTUALLY WENT 4-4 ON THE PENALTY KILL! That deserves a hearty HUZZAH! They, unfortunately, did not score on their two power play opportunities, but let's tackle one thing at a time shall we?

And for those keeping track of the Kessel train, he had an assist tonight bringing his total up to 21 points

Leafs are back home on Saturday to face those pesky Bruins who, no matter where they are in the standings, give us a hard time. Let's hope Kessel can find a way to do some damage against his former team.

PS At this point in time the Leafs are actually first in the Eastern conference (and in the whole bloody league! WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!). If Pittsburgh holds on to the lead (which is probable) we will move back down to second in the East, but you know..I'll still take it!

Photo taken from Tumblr

Update: Pittsburgh lost in a shoot out which means, WE'RE STILL NUMBAH ONE (look at picture above for proper reaction).