Playoffs?

Whether or not the Toronto Maple Leafs will be playing in mid-April is totally up to them. Right now the Leafs sit in the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference with 62 points, 1 point ahead of Ottawa, 3 points ahead of Florida for 9th and Winnipeg sits 10th with 56 points. As of now it seems unlikely that there will be more than those 10 teams fighting for a playoff spot when the end of the season comes around and there are only 9 points separating 9th from 2nd, so the East, as of now, is wide open. Nevertheless, the Leafs have a very good chance of making the playoffs. With 28 games to go, the Leafs are a mere 6 points back of recently-mediocre Boston for the Northeast division lead, which would move them all the way up the standings into 2nd place.

Great hockey teams (like Detroit and Boston) win the Stanley Cup when they have a hot goalie, that's just the way it is. Good teams (like the Leafs) make the playoffs when they have a hot goalie, and good news for Leafs fans: we have two goalies that are capable of getting hot. James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson are both B level goalies, and that is okay. As we just saw with Reimer's shutout streak, when a goalie is playing well, the Leafs win. I would not be surprised to see coach Ron Wilson use the "if you win, you play the next game but if you lose, you don't" tactic on these young goaltenders that are both fighting for ice time. If both guys are able to stay healthy and continue to play well, the Buds will make the playoffs.

All good teams need a guy who can just put the puck in the net, the Leafs have that in Phil Kessel. In a losing effort on Tuesday night, Kessel scored his team-leading 30th goal of the season, and it was beautiful. It won't make any highlight reels, but Phil is skating and getting his shots through, his quick release is killer for goalies and as he does here, when he is cutting across the middle of the ice the shot to the far side is an impossible save for the goalie as he is tracking Phil through the middle of the ice. Whether you like him or not, Kessel is our best player and it is awesome to see him finally playing like it. In his first two years with Toronto he had -8 and -20 ratings, this year he is +7. In his first two years his shooting percentages (goals per shot) were 10.1% and 9.8%, this year he is at a career high of 15.6%. If Kessel and the two goalies stay consistent, the Leafs will make the playoffs.

The Leafs are in Philly tonight and will play against an undermanned Flyers team that has lost 3 in a row for the first time since last March. Danny Briere is still out and Ilya Bryzgalov will miss the game due to the flu. Jofferey Lupul will make a return to Philly to play his old team, he was never able to score more than 50 points as a Flyer and he already has 56 this season. I doubt that many Flyers fans will care/remember him. I see his relationship to the Flyers' fans similar to Leafs' fans relationship with Kyle Wellwood. He never did much for us and we often forget he is in the league until we see him on one of the three teams he has played for since Toronto, and Leafs fans say in unison: "Hey, that's Kyle Wellwood! I remember him..." and that is about it. Don't look for Simmonds or Hartnell to run Lupul or anything like that. Do, however, look for Kessel to score for the fourth game in a row or Grabovski's line to get back on track after being blanked in Tuesday's loss to Winnipeg. Prediction: 3-1 Toronto.

Until Claude Giroux wins the Conn Smythe for the Maple Leafs
-Riley

Wait... You're Supposed to Skate?

In a previous post I said that Phil Kessel was due to score 40 goals, I am now revoking that statement and saying that Phil Kessel is due to score 50 goals, IF he is able to keep his feet moving. Now for those of you that do not play hockey you may think that that is pretty much a gimme... why would you ever be standing still? As a lazy forward (yes, P-Kess is lazy at time) I can vouch for him that often it feels like you are in the right spot and that you should stay there, at least for a few seconds, for your teammate to find you. This is often not the case and, especially in the NHL, you have to make your own goals sometimes. That is exactly what Kessel is doing.

I was able to find an online stream of the Calgary game and right as I turned it on I saw 2-1 Calgary and they were on a 3 on 2... awesome. Then I make the game fullscreen, it buffers, and we score! I am sitting there wondering how it happened, it buffers some more, and I saw something beautiful. Kessel used his quickness, and his speed to blow past the Clagary "Defender" (sorry Clagary fans you won't win 35 games this year) then used his true scoring ability to slip the puck bye Mikka Kiprusoff for the tying goal. Yes, Kessel did get off two a fast start last year (3 goals in first four games) only to cool off to a brutal 7 combined goals in October and November, but I do believe that somebody in the Leafs organization finally got to Kessel and made him realize how good he can be.

Not every goal you score can be picture perfect though. And as any hockey coach/player/announcer would say all you have to do is put the puck to the net and good things will happen. That's how Kessel scored his 2nd goal of the night, it bounced off of former Leaf Lee Stepniak and trickled barely over the line... but it turned out to be the game winner. He now has 5 goals, 3 assists, 11 shots on goal and is +7(?!?...he finished -20 last year). Also, for those fantasy owners he got 2 PIM minutes in last nights game, so it's good to see him getting down and dirty in the corners. Kidding, he got a delay of game penalty for shooting it over the glass... but thanks for the 0.5 fantasy points anyway!

If P-Kess is able to keep his legs moving, stay healthy and have his line mates continue to feed him the puck, and have Optimus Reim save 30 shots a game all season (that is for another post, no pun intended) then the sky is the limit for Phil this season.

Until Kessel scores an "Ovechtrick"
-Riley

Can You Say: Due?

The last time the Leafs were in the playoffs, i distinctly remember where I was, if only I knew that i wouldn't have That Thrill™ for a very long time.


Let us start with the obvious. The leafs are one of two teams to have not made the playoffs since the lockout (yes, now we are being compared to that sorry excuse for a franchise in Florida.) In total, that would be six straight seasons. We are due for the post season.

A Hart Trophy candidate. Every other team has had one in the last decade... why can't we? It is about time Phil Kessel starts playing like the superstar we all know he can be, whether he has a centre that can set him up or not, he should have more of an impact on the game at both ends of the ice. Yes, it would be awesome to see Naz on the first line with Phil and Lupul, but that won't happen until Tim Connoly fractures a finger or rolls his ankle getting out of bed (for those of you that don't follow Buffallo the Leafs acquired a human feather in Tim Connoly.) But basically,Phil Kessel is due to score 40 goals.

A good goaltender. A good goaltender has not been in Toronto since Eddy the Eagle, and he was really only good in 02-03. However, last years late "playoff" push brought us James "Optimus Reim" Reimer, and boy was he fun to watch. He was called up J.S. Giguere was suffering from "I'm playing in Toronto, do i have to try" syndrome and Jonas Gustavsson was complaining that his pads were made of trampolines that aimed the puck onto the oppositions sticks and that his chest protector actually had holes in it? Anyway, Optimus Reim went 20-10-5 last season with 3 shutouts, a 2.60 GAA and a .921 save percentage, it would be pretty awesome if he could keep that up for a whole season. The Leafs are due for a top 10 goaltender.

A highlight reel goal from Nazem Kadri. Come on Naz!! You have all of these preseason and Junior dangles, why can't you do it in the show? Oh yeah, 10 goals would be nice too... Naz is due for a few beautiful goals.

A whole season without heartbreak. Oh, wait, nevermind...

Anyways, the Leafs lead off the season tomorrow against the Canadians. I won't be able to watch the game because I will be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, which may be a good thing because if you recall the Leafs went 4-0 to start the last season... and we all know how that turned out. A good start would be nice, but in the long run it doesn't mean much.

GO LEAFS GO