Leafs Win 3-2 In Carolina

Okay, so maybe I posted on my twitter and on MapleLeafs.com that I’d do a video for this one. And maybe I was going to. However, I’m still new too this thing, and noticed I didn’t learn the best thing you could do for these videos – memorize in pieces, and edit the dead space in the middle. For this reason, I look like I’m staring down in all of my recordings and I am much too tired to re-record it. I’ll give it another whirl tonight.

Anyway, some good news – the Leafs won last night?! Yes, for the second time this year, I can actually say they did. Sure, it was to the only team that’s worse than them, and we had to come from behind, and that team is coached by Paul Maurice, and the Leafs were very shakey to start the game, but the point is, the Leafs have come out of the RBC centre with a win!

Don’t worry, I’m not going to pull a Howard Berger ‘plan the parade’ rant. I won’t lie, I just ran into that video and wanted to post it somewhere.

The Leafs had a solid game from middle to end, in my opinion, but of course they had some issues.

Lets dissect this video just a slight bit.

As you can see, this is a bit of a desperation play by Ian White. Don’t get me wrong, White has been nothing short of fantastic this year, and he might just be the most underrated player in the NHL. But this has to be his most questionable play of the season. Swiping at a shot with your stick, especially so close to the net, usually ends in heartbreak. If he got a piece of the shot, its quite likely he would’ve deflected it in anyway from that range. Just, no matter what, cut the flailing stick, it always fails. (Unless you’re a baseball player. On that note, congratulations to the 2009 New York Yankees on proving to all of professional sports why the salary cap exists in various leagues, and why it should in ones that don’t).

It also wasn’t terribly played by Jonas Gustavsson, but one thing I noticed – he did something very unmonsterlike, and rather than “making himself big” as he prides himself over, he went into a wide butterfly (big in the pad region, small on glove and up). If he had the glove up, he probably would’ve made that save. No worries, though. Its not the worst goal he’s allowed this year.

This, on the other hand…

A very weak attempt by the Monster, entirely his fault. And probably the worst goal he’s let in his entire (well, single digit game total) NHL career. One thing that has been so universally praised about Gustavsson is his stellar rebound control, and its just not there in this goal. Hell, you’d think he was playing tennis with the Hurricanes offence. You have to wonder what went wrong there for him. One thing is for sure though – its good to see him make the second effort, and a fairly solid one at that. One of the huge issues with Vesa Toskala’s game this year is that he just gives up if he doesn’t think he has a chance, making goals look really pathetic. And they are, because theirs always the chance at a great save, as Jonas has been proving so far this year. When it comes down to it, this is what separates the two goalies in my mind.

So the Leafs now get back in the game with this goal. It’s a fairly solid point shot by..hmm, looks like John Mitchell scored it. Interesting. Wait, who got the assists? Huh? Jason Blake and Tomas Kaberle? I thought these were the three who are playing first line and first pair to pass the puck to Kessel! In fact, this was a common theme this game – Kessel didn’t even touch the puck until approximately 12 minutes into he game. Well, they scored, Kessel or not, and that’s all that matters. Lets see what happens throughout the game though.

This goal is a typical “Kulemin B” goal. Now, you may be wondering, what the hell is “Kulemin B”? If you don’t know what I mean, there are basically two sides to Nikolai Kulemin’s game, and there have been ever since he was a winger for Metallurg Magnitogorsk back in the former Russian Super League.

There’s the skilled forward who played his first 31 games with the club on a line with Pittsburgh Penguins Ultrastar Evgeni Malkin, and got 13 points in that timespan. He relied heavily on specific moves and dekes, and didn’t have an aggressive facet to his game. He wouldn’t crash the net, he wouldn’t hit, he would just try to produce.

Then Kulemin B woke up. Kulemin B is a powerforward who will go straight to the net for the somewhat skilled yet typical powerforward goal, who would hit anything in site, and who would score an amazing for the Super League 27 goals in 2006-07 and would lead his team to an RSL Championship and net himself League MVP honors that year, as he was obviously like nothing the league was used to, and the KHL i. Now, I’m not saying if Kulemin employed the Kulemin B strategy all the time that he’d be chasing Ovechkin and his former linemate for the Hart Trophy race. However, especially if he can’t get top line or second line minutes, it may be worth taking this role. Hell, it might be worth it anyway – he’s just that good when he does.

Also, it appears the Leafs have tied the game. Huzzah! All they need is for Gustavsson to rebound from those two questionable goals and, oh god, a breakaway, I can’t watch.

Alright, he’s back in it. What else is left for the Leafs to screw up? Well, I guess the defence is going to completely hang him out to dry now in an attempt to get a lead, and the leafs will go behind by-

..okay then. Well I’ll be damned, I was wrong again. Nice goal too. Hold on though, who did they say got the points on that one?

BLAKE FROM MITCHELL AND KESSEL? I THOUGHT PHIL WAS SUPPOSED TO SHOOT! TWICE IN THE SAME GAME NOW..WHATS GOING ON HERE/

There’s actually quite a reasonable explaination for why Blake and Mitchell had better games. Its my useless fact of the day.

So people out there are definitely wonndering, why exactly did Phil Kessel’s linemates, John Mitchell and Jason Blake, both get a goal and an assist tonight, yet all Kessel could muster was a secondary assist? Its something that I like to call the Alexander Semin effect.

No, its not the effect where everyone makes fun of his name. I’ll leave that to a Penguins fan to explain. The Alexander Semin effect is when you have a star player on the team – usually on the same line, but with some exceptions, with such star power over the rest of his teammates that most of the defensive plans of the other team are focused around that player, letting solid players who aren’t that player do their thing. In Semin (and linemate Nicklas Backstrom’s) case, that linemate is the all out superbeast Alexander Ovechkin. It goes without question that when number 8 takes the ice, the defence takes notice, giving the already very very good Semin and Backstrom room to do a bit of magic on their own.

There are actually many players of rapidly varying qualities that this is the case for, Semin just happened to be the first one to come to mind because he’s an example of a player who’s been recognized recently as a star player practically because of this. But it happens all over the league – even at the benefit of star players. Malkin benefits from Crosby, Zetterberg and Franzen from Datsyuk, Stamkos and St. Louis from Lecavalier, Alfredsson did from 06-09 with Heatley, and Marian Hossa has done it his entire career, from Alfredsson to Kovalchuk to Crosby to Datsyuk to now Toews and Kane. There are tons of smaller level players I can say this for, but I don’t want to be here all day. I’m pretty sure you get my point, right?

Now, John Mitchell and Jason Blake are by NO MEANS WHATSOEVER star players. But, the gap between them and Kessel and those examples is much bigger, and it shows, as the Hurricanes defensive core seemed to completely focus on Phil the Thrill whenever he was on his ice, not entirely turning a blind eye to the rest of the team but certainly not giving them the attention they deserved. And this is a Paul Maurice coached team that fell victim to this – as you remember form Paul’s agnoizing tenure in Toronto, Maurice a 1 on 1 style defence, where everyone would cover a specific player. Even he couldn’t resist blocking the closest thing the Leafs have to a star player, though, and he got bit in the ass by it. Maybe John Mitchell isn’t on the top line to pass to Kessel. Maybe Blake isn’t there for the same reason. Maybe they’re there in spite of Kessel, who can carry the puck on his own and create chances, while these guys pick up whatever is left for themselves. I mean, I’d still rather have Hagman and Grabovski up there if that’s the actual reason, but at least it makes sense. My point is, for those worried about him not scoring yet, minus the whole “he’s two games back from major surgery on a new team where he has no chemistry” bit, he still is creating chances, but he’s doing them in absence of himself. Its weird, but its true.

Of course, there isn’t really much left to call home about – the Leafs didn’t capitalize on the empty net. On that note, its a good thing Ponikarovsky didn’t pull one of these again, eh?

Just a few more notes though:

Luke Schenn had another weak night. He seemed very desperate to make plays that he didn’t have to make. Definitely in a state of mind where he knows he needs to show improvement, and he’s trying too hard to do so. Kind of like how Mike Komisarek started the year.

Personally, now that he’s 20 years old and eligible, I’d send him down to the marlies for two or three games just to get his head back in gear. He can be a very good defensive defenceman, as we saw last year. The only thing is, he’s certainly not showing it now. Also, he should probably take powerskating lessons this coming offseason – he’s still quite slow.

Matt Stajan had a fairly mediocre night, not doing much of any real significance. Ron Wilson apparently agrees, not playing him much at all during the third period.

Mike Komisarek, as said above, has been much improved, and looks like the Komisarek that played for the Montreal Canadiens in 2007/08. He’s done with the whole playing to make an impression bit, because whether he did or not, we’re a fair chunk into the season now and he realizes that he just need to play hockey. And he’s playing good hockey, hockey that is actually making good impressions on people.

Anyone who still says Vesa Toskala is our starting goalie should seriously just go cheer for another team. If Gustavsson keeps playing like this, he’s the best goalie we’ve had since pre-lockout Belfour.

Francois Beauchemin had the same problem as Mike Komisarek to start the year. Actually, scratch that. He still does. He’s trying way too hard to impress the fans, and he’s just weakening his reputation by doing so. Keep it simple, or lets get Exelby AND Finger playing a game or two together rather than rotating the scratches.

On Finger, he had a very quiet game, which is typically good for a defensive defenceman (it means they didn’t make any glaring mistakes). Its a shame that he’ll be a cap casualty on this roster. He really is not that bad of a player, in fact he’s quite solid. However, he’ll never lose the reputation that he got when he first signed the contract for being overpaid, whether he is or isn’t largely due to the fact that Toronto is an awful place to be a defenceman in terms of your reputation. Essentially, if you’re drafted they love you, if you’re traded for at a young age they love you, and if you were signed or make even a dollar more than you play like, they hate you. Finger has turned into a poor mans Pavel Kubina, both in play and in undeserved negative reputation.

Everyone else played somewhere between average and pretty good. All in all, a weak start, but a solid finish for this Leafs team. And guess what? We’re not in 30th anymore! Eat your heart out Paul Maurice, if Jim Rutherford wasn’t the GM you’d be gone by now, and his mancrush with you will begin to fade rapidly if you don’t pick things up.

Until next time,