Toronto Maple Leafs Diary: Leafs vs. Jets

Toronto Maple Leafs Diary
BFin
Toronto vs. Winnipeg
Wednesday October 19th, 2011

Bets: None. No point in betting on the Leafs when they have 1.6 odds.

Drink: Water (Even I should take a day off)

State of Dress: Honestly? The cleanest pair of shorts off my floor and my undershirt from work.

Location: Toronto, Ontario.

Mood: Skeptical

Introduction:
The hapless Winnipeg Jets make their first trip to Toronto in the last 15 years! I love semantics. The Jets come in sporting a 1-3-0 record and a paltry two points early on. Toronto has once again come out of the gates with momentum and sit at 3-0-1 firmly entrenched at the top of the Eastern conference table (take a deep breath Leafs fans, we have a long ways to go). We should see quite a different atmosphere at the ACC tonight than we did when the Jets were the Thrashers, mainly due to the fact that the travelling road support for the Jets is greater than the sum of the collective Thrashers fan base. Does Atlanta even realize the NHL season has started without them?

1st Period
- And here we go folks, Pavelec vs. Reimer tonight in Toronto
- I have to ask the obvious question, would this have not been the better game to rest Reimer in favour of the Monster? Are we more fearful of the Jets than Boston?
- In the first minute the crowd this evening has already surpassed Tuesday nights performance
- Phil Kessel displaying his Ovechkin-like turnover prowess
- Colby Armstrong appears to be hurt. Brian Burke sure does love his injury prone players.
- This game is a painful reminder of how hard it was to watch Nik Antropov skate
- Holy shit, where was Dion intending to hit with that shot? He almost put it into the mesh.
- Reimer had no chance on that goal. Leafs PK working as well as the PP tonight.
- The chemistry between Kessel and Lupul is off the charts right now. Batman and Robin-like.
- Lupul hit that net cam as hard as Komisarek (allegedly) hit that woman in an LA Night Club. Have I used that too many times?


2nd Period
- We're back for round two.
- Damn Antropov. Why is it that some former Leaf or a kid from Toronto always seems to kill the Leafs when they play here?
- Liles has not impressed me at all this year. Has been one of the Leafs most irresponsible players on a nightly basis. I know he's supposed to be a power play quarterback, but even a QB tracks back and tries to make a tackle after throwing an interception. Liles throws a lot of interceptions. I'm talking Brett Favre like INT numbers. (Did I mention I am a huge Packers fan and will hold a grudge against Brett Favre for the next decade?)
- Back to back penalties for Komisarek AND he was on for the PK goal...yeah Wilson made the right decision in hurting a promising young players confidence (Franson) by benching him and allowing Komisarek to continue this abortion of a performance. That may have been a little too bitter.
- And Mark Scheifele can add Komisarek to his Christmas card list thanks to that power play goal.
- These special teams are ugly.
- Phil Kessel with the no look behind the back pass in the neutral zone to the Jets. Is he back?
- Ugly stuff in that second period


3rd Period + Extra Time
- Typically the Leafs best period, let's see if they can climb out of this ugly hole.
- Wow Joffrey Lupul is getting every missed bounce from the past 3 years, glad to see he might be back on track.
- Steckel sparks the power play again with a beauty faceoff win. Kessel with another snipe. When will Ron Wilson learn to just go with what works!?
- Careless play by the Leafs and the Jets are back on the power play again. With the way their PK has been going this might as well be a death wish.
- A lot of critics will probably be somewhat quieter about David Steckel after his start with the Leafs
- These comebacks are reminiscent to the way the team was playing last year
- I love having Dustin Byfuglien on my fantasy team, but wow would I be upset with his overall defensive play if I were Claude Noel.
- Overtime one night before they have to play in Boston is going to be a tough go...
- That shootout goal is going to be a HUGE confidence booster for Frattin. Should be enough to buy him another game with the Leafs but I don't think a season in the minors would be bad for his career.
- Similar start as last year. I know I'm feeling optimism but I still feel like I should temper these expectations because at some point Kessel and Lupul won't score and someone else is going to have to pick up the slack.
- Isn't Ron Wilson supposed to be a great special teams coach? I know this comment has been made before but at what point does someone in the organization recognize this?

Conclusion:

The Good - Same as always, Kessel and Lupul. When will they slow down? David Steckel has also been a nice depth addition for a very low price. With the injury to Connolly (that no one saw coming by the way) Steckel has been a very big piece of this roster.

The Bad - This one is not picking on him, but Mike Komisarek's back to back penalties and beauty screen of James Reimer on a PK had a large contribution on 2 of the Jets goals. Not what you would expect from an assistant captain making that kind of money. I'd be upset if I were Cody Franson as well.

Overall - Despite the somewhat bitter tone to some of the third period messages I am very happy about the way this team has started the season. We obviously aren't going to be 70-0-12 at the end of the season but picking up these early points against some winnable teams (Ottawa, Winnipeg) can go a long way in a playoff race at the end of the season. Seeing as how most pundits are predicting a finish somewhere in the 7-10 range, these are valuable points despite it being 5 games. Let's just not let it get to our heads.



Stay tuned for tomorrows Leafs diary tomorrow, Thursday October 20th, as the Leafs take on the Boston Bruins.