Watching Phil Kessel on the powerplay has been both a treat and a source of anxiety for me.  It seems that the coaching staff isn't sure what to do with him on the ice during the PP.  So far the plan has been to have Kessel on the left half-boards distributing the puck and walking into the slot to shoot.  Looking back at his stats over his first 3 years in the league, the bulk of his scoring has come 5 on 5. He has averaged 25% of his scoring on the powerplay so far in his career.  Is that because he's that good on the PP or because the coaches assume that a natural scorer gets PP time by default?  Phil Kessel's ice time has increased 3.5 minutes per game after coming to a talent-challenged team.  I think that this is the scenario that develops when a above average player is brought to another team and is expected to produce at a higher rate with more ice time.  That hardly ever happens unfortunately.   A great example of this phenomenon is Dustin Penner.  Scoring 29 goals on the 2nd line before being snatched up by Kevin Lowe, Penner came to Edmonton and hasn't started living up to expectations until this year.  He's started living up to his billing this year under different coaches.  Is that maybe an issue with Kessel?  I haven't really seen Kessel get used effectively on the PP.

Changing Kessel's linemates for the PP would help. I'd like to advocate a change of center to Mikhail Grabovksi.  Seriously, people, Grabbo can pass the puck.  I'll never be able to figure out why this hasn't been tried.  Especially when the Leafs were on a 0 for 15 run on the PP.  Ron Wilson's unwillingness to be a line juggling coach may end up hurting the team in the short and long run.  I'm don't believe that a line has to be together all the time to be successful.  Shouldn't it be a reward for great 5 on 5 play to get on the powerplay? For a guy who says that ice time is earned he certainly doesn't live by it.  This theory is upheld by John Mitchell floating around on the PP prior to his injury.  No idea how a guy with 1 goal on the season can be on the number 2 powerplay unit.  This brings me back to Phil Kessel.  Let's drop him to the number 2 unit for a week.  Motivate him to get that ice time back.  Let's start coaching Ron.

Let's roll the bones and see why the Leafs choked last night in the third period(bear with me).  *ROLL*

Bruins have never come back from trailing after 2 periods(0-6-2)  CHECK!
Tim Thomas has the largest horseshoe stored in his person CHECK!
Michael Ryder has scored once in the shootout EVER. CHECK!
There's a magnet to either side of the Boston net that is turned on whenever Grabovski takes a shot unmolested directly in front of Thomas from 10 feet out and a proven sharp-shooter shoots a foot wide.  CHECK!
Toskala was left in the net for the shootout. Click Click BOOM

All these signs led to the Maple Leafs pre-ordained loss to Boston last night.

Not their cruddy defensive positioning on the last two goals.

GOT IT?

Tonight's game is where us, as Leafs fans, will find out if Ron Wilson is a superstitious coach.  Justin Pogge got his first NHL win against the lowly Thrashers and a black-cat-avoiding coach would put the same goaltender in the net for a rematch.  Especially because it was somewhat of a whimsical choice the last outing.  I'm sure Brian Burke would like to see Pogge a bit more  over the next stretch to make sure that getting rid of Vesa Toskala would be a great idea.  I'm sure that the Maple Leafs could use another half-full bucket of pucks for their practices.

You're standing on the front step, waiting to get the courage to ring the doorbell. You reach up and find that the doorbell doesn't work. You tentatively rap your knuckles on the door, feeling the harsh sting from the frozen wood. Her father answers the door and looks you up and down before asking if he can help you. You say that you're here to pick up your date "The Playoffs" and was she home? Again her father looks you up and down and turns his head away and yells to your date that you were there to pick her up and were 59 minutes late. Your date comes down the stairs, looking beautiful, like you hadn't seen her in four years. She walks slowly to the door and gives you the same slow look up and down that her father did. Looking down yourself you finally notice what they already had; that your pants were around your ankles. This was the second time in four outings that you felt the breeze, but never thought to look down until now. Knowing that you had two days off, you walk home to take a break and maybe go knock on her door again on Boxing Day.

Merry Leafs Christmas!