BFin
Toronto vs. New York (NYC, NY)
Thursday October 27th, 2011
Bets:
Drink: Crown + Diet
State of Dress: Shorts and Tee, every ladies dream.
Location: Toronto, Ontario.
Mood: Quietly optimistic
Introduction
The Toronto Maple Leafs take on the New York Rangers in the newly renovated and hopefully rat-free Madison Square Garden in beautiful Downtown New York. James Reimer was placed on Injured Reserve this afternoon with concussion-like symptoms (so…a mild concussion) and Ben Scrivens was re-called from Toronto to back-up Der Monster. Nazem Kadri is the odd man out tonight and has been sent back to Toronto to get some time in with the Marlies. For more on my take of the Kadri demotion have a quick read of my blog from earlier today Kadri is Walking a Fine Line. The Leafs once again get great odds tonight so if you like upsets and are feeling one tonight, get your bets in now.
Pre-Game
- I missed most of the pre-game so that I could do some cardio and keep my body from shutting down due to all of this Leafs Diary drinking. That’s pretty much everything I have to say about the pre-game.
- Is it just me or does it sound like Marc Crawford just got punched in the throat every time he speaks on the TSN panel?
- The TSN panel is right, Dion has been the best player on the Leafs this season. Is he back to his old form? Let’s collectively hope!
1st Period
- Read an article today that said that despite the renovations to MSG the ice is still the same old garbage that they have been playing on for decades. Perhaps not hosting a circus, NBA games (won’t have to worry about that one this year), political rallies, and concerts during the NHL season isn’t the best thing for the ice surface?
- Mr. Glass (Tim Conolly) is in the lineup tonight. I don’t fault him for having a body made of paper mache and I don’t think his contract is all that horrible considering it is short term, so we will leave Mr. Glass alone tonight. I will continue calling him Mr. Glass so remember the reference.
- I think Mike Johnson owns two suits.
- Looks like the same old shitty MSG to me.
- WOW! Did you hear that? Kadri got demoted to the AHL just as the Marlies were set to go on a 9 game, 18 day road trip. If that doesn’t get him thinking about working harder on his mental and defensive game…I don’t know what will. Maybe the pay cheque difference.
- I debated making a joke relating the anthem singers shaking to Michael J. Fox but decided not to since it would be in bad taste. Whoops.
- Looks like they have decided to install lights in the ‘new’ MSG so that you can actually see white ice instead of the stuff that looked like the ice in your community parking lot. Green boards anyone?
- Franson still out. Komisarek and Liles still together. Ron Wilson makes it too easy on me.
- Despite the fact that McCarthur only has 1 point in 5 games I still feel confident that he will hit his stride and get back to where he was last year. His competitiveness (Not fucking compete level you NHL pundit morons) is way too high to not hit his stride.
- Der Monster let’s in a stinker. Shock and awe comes over the crowd. I guess we can add 5-hole to his ever growing list of deficiencies.
- Ron Wilson said before the game that Gustavsson has played quite well in New York. I believe he has allowed 12 goals on his last 63 shots for a whopping save percentage of .809 in NYC. Does Ron Wilson even look at stats before making asinine statements like that?
- No goal on another Callahan interference.
- Brandon Prust is one of the nicest guys you are ever going to meet in the NHL. I met him a couple of times when he played with Quincey in London and he defied the whole OHL player mentality. Seriously, great guy and I hate the Rangers.
- THE FUCK KOMISAREK!?! I was trying not to rip on the man tonight but you just cleared the puck like your first name was Miley not Mike. It’s a PK!!! GET IT THE FUCK OUT!
- Dupuis, Steckel and Brown is a VERY good fourth line. This is the type of line you need to succeed in the playoffs, not one with a plug like Orr or Rosehill on it.
- Great hit by Komisarek and smart idea to not get into a scrap on a 4 on 2 for the Leafs. Good job. See?!?! I can be nice to him.
- Despite being down a goal here we have to feel good about the outcome of that period since we could conceivably be down 3 goals after this debacle.
Second Period
- Skipping intermissions to give myself to time to get a drink, respond to my girlfriend’s txt and relieve myself. Please don’t take it personally all 12 of you reading this.
- 5 on 5 to start the second period. Looks like the ice has finally frozen over in hell (MSG)
- LOMBARDI with a LOMBEAUTY!!! Yah I just made that up. Why are all the Leafs fans in New York hipsters or nerds? Oh yah…because most of New York is filled with assholes.
- Wow Mike Brown just destroyed Mike Newbury like Newbury was playing for the Maple Leafs.
- Mike Johnson has jumped all aboard Lombardi’s crotch after he gets his fourth point in 9 games. Shit, even I could pick up an NHL commentator with my stats.
- LOL a ‘Go Leafs Go’ chant at the opening of MSG. Embarrassing.
- Monster and the King with dueling pad saves. This game has finally settled down into a proper pace.
- Wow, Mike Johnson has obviously been brushing up on his adjectives. He just referred to the ice as “bumpy…it’s……….not…not very good….not very smooth” thanks Mike, now we know why they pay you the big bucks.
- First time I have heard the name Schenn tonight. Odd.
- Where is the pause button on this damn game? My bladder can’t handle it.
- The only Mr. Glass actually doing something tonight is Tanner Glass…and he plays for the Jets.
- Grabo just robbbbbbed by Mike Sauer. Shit. No luck. That was a Julie ‘The Cat’ Gafney like save out of no-where.
- I love the pairing of Schenn and Gardiner. Schenn could really give Gardiner a lot of current advice on what it takes to break into the league successfully. Kudos to Wilson on that decision, even if it comes with Komisarek-Liles as a combo.
- Lundqvist owns Kessel.
- Don’t really know how that didn’t go to a review at the very least. Two guys lying in the crease and none of them used a hand?
- Gunnarsson has been as invisible as Schenn tonight. I don’t know whether that is a good or bad thing for either of them?
- At the end of two periods we are tied up after forty minutes. Leafs had a better second period tying it up but they have not been impressive on the offensive end to this point. Lombardi’s goal was weak and Kessel can’t seem to get the puck off of the ice on a breakaway.
Third Period
- So glad I bought MS Office Pro for this. Word auto-formatting for the win. Enough of the nerdery, back to the game!
- Lundqvist can stop shots he can’t see. Just robbbbed Lupul on a beauty toe drag wrister.
- LUPUSSSSS!!!!! On his game this year. That Toronto shopping must be pleasing him a lot more than Anaheim. Until that replay I didn’t even know Connolly was still in the game.
- WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT MCCARTHUR EARLIER?!?!? Read back! Effort pays off for him finally. Thanks for the gift Henriq. Didn’t realize we gave them Monster at intermission.
- If the Leafs can manage to put one away on this power-play it would really go a long way to securing Gustavsson’s confidence.
- Dan Girardi taking harder shots to the chest than (insert porn skank here)
- Don’t think I have ever seen a power-play that ran with three forwards up high in the umbrella. Someone tell one of our forwards to un-tuck their balls and get to the front of the net.
- Komisarek bails on coverage in front of the net to go challenge a guy at the blue line on a 3 on 2. Yes I’m sure Franson would have been much worse than this…
- Mikey ‘knuckles’ Brown deserved that one! Assist for the first Gordie Howe hat-trick of his career.
- I have Del Zotto in my keeper league. A little bittersweet. Provided they don’t score another goal I am completely fine with it.
- Highlights from this Jets game could be from the WHA days. Sixteen goals, are you kidding me?
- This is a big win for the Leafs. I am sure it will do a lot for Gustavssons confidence, I just don’t know why. He has fought it all night but he has not given up on this game which is a positive sign. Kudos need to be given to the Leafs defence for keeping everything to the outside of the ice after the first period.
Conclusion
The Good – Clarke McCarthur. As I mentioned earlier, I thought that his effort was way too much for him not to start putting them in the net sooner or later. He finally got off the snide tonight and ruined the debut of the same old MSG.
The Bad – Tough call on this one. The Leafs played well collectively after the first period so I don’t know how to gauge this one. Let’s say the bad is the Rangers fans not being able to enjoy this game tonight. It was the debut of your new rink, loosen up the neck tie and get loud.
Overall – I was quietly optimistic. I placed a long-shot double bet on the Leafs and Habs (ugh) and pulled it off. Good win for the Leafs. Good win for me. It was a good night. I hope you enjoyed the read, comments or questions are welcome on here or on my twitter account.
Stay tuned for the next Leafs diary on Saturday, October 30th as the Leafs take on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
BFin
Don’t forget to check out PK’s Puck Blog for CHL and NCAA information. The guy is a doozy!
