So tonight is the last night in 2011, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are celebrating it by pla-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Uhh, sorry. By playing in Winnipeg. Tonight they face the Jets for the first time, with James REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIMERRRRRRRRR. Uhh, yeah. Reimer. James Reimer starting in net. There was a lot of question on whether the penalty kill could stop leaking goals, if Phil Ke- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. For the love of… Kessel could give the team some goal of his own, and if the Jets forwards could be shut down by the likes of Dion Pha- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
I give up. I give up. I give up. The Jets fans, they’re just too loud to try to give you an intro paragraph. I mean, I know they just got a team back in town this year and all, but can you at least be litt- TRUE NORTH! Oh, come on. It wasn’t even the national anthe- BOOOOOO. Guys. For one seco- REIIIIIMERRRRRR. Screw it.
The first period didn’t get off to the best of starts. Just three and a half minutes in, Keith Aulie headed to the box for hooking. Amazingly, the Leafs survived it. Astonishing, I know, a penalty killed off by this team. Trust me when I say there was plenty of the left in this game. Keeping with the penalty theme, Andrew Ladd earned himself a high sticking minor on Cody Franson with about six minutes to go in the period. Toronto had their first attempt at the powerplay, and just ten seconds in, Clarke MacArthur took a gorgeous pass from Carl Gunnarsson, turned it into a one-timer, and gave the Leafs the 1-0 lead that they would take into the second period.
Lets move on to the third period. There wouldn’t be any scoring, and just one penalty giving the Leafs the 1-0 win and James Reimer the shutout!
Apparently, we can’t do the selective memory thing for recaps, and as such, I have to tell you the real story. Oh well, I liked mine better. Dion Phaneuf went to the box for hooking just a minute in, leading to a Zach Bogosian powerplay goal. To continue everybody’s fears, Cody Franson was next to go in the box 30 seconds later, but the Leafs killed that off. By kill that off, I mean that Franson skated on the ice for about 3 seconds as Jets captain Andrew Ladd scored the goal ahead goal for the Jets. To ease the pain, Phil Kessel tied the game a minute and a half later with his 21st of the season, but the MTS centre crowd decided that Joey Crabb was deserving of a penalty, which the referees were happy to make happen, and Blake Wheeler was happy to celebrate the benefits of shortly after. Nazem Kadri was called for a hook, and Alexander Burmistrov for a hold, but neither would lead to anything and the period ended at 3-2 Jets.
By the way, I wasn’t kidding about the third, making this paragraph really awkward. Nothing really happened other than everyone cringing every time Phil Kessel limped off the ice, still feeling an accidental shot block on his foot.
Other Notes
James Reimer was way better than the Jets fans were giving him credit for (if you haven’t figured it out, they chirp every goalie and boo one or two star players a game. Apparently, they also think the Leafs suck. Also, that their ownership group is the greatest thing to exist on this planet). 31 saves on 34 shots is pretty solid, don’t let yourself get fooled. Some people I’ve seen have blamed him for this game. Don’t be one of them.
The powerplay was a solid 1/3, and lets not talk about the penalty kill. It’s too depressing, and I don’t want to give a team that’s 85th in the NHL in the penalty kill percentage anymore discussion.
The team as a whole looked relatively solid in the third period, after what may have been the worst second period in recent memory.
The Leafs are now out of a playoff spot. No comment either way, they’re still higher than I thought they’d be, but I’m just throwing that out there.
I really hope Phil Kessel is okay. He was clearly playing through the pain in the third.
The referees really let the crowd get to them this game, in that it was extremely biased. I hate criticizing the refs, I’m notorious for defending them at their worst, but in brutal honesty, there were calls that were because of how loud the crowd booed, and there’s no denying that.
Speaking of the crowd, I’m hearing a lot of “why can’t the ACC be more like that?”. I have a response article to this coming next year. In other words, tomorrow or Monday.
4 Comments
why?
when you start 3 straight years in a row without a #1 center and without a #1 goalie, then your GM is a fault. Add in the fact hes done NOTHING to address the PK and bring players in who can get the job done, and I think its time for Burke to leave. Hes done some good but also so very bad. Bringing up career AHL players to try just doesnt cut it anymore.
[...] have been written condemning the team’s shorthanded shortcomings (e.g. Globe and Mail, LeafsHQ, Five Minutes for Fighting, even NHL.com). Most attempt to answer the question ‘why is it [...]
As a resident in the North East part of Ballard, I can