SB Nation User Blog: PPP

Meet The Monster!

PPP — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:21:41 -0000

Here's your chance to meet a couple of The Heroes at CentreSports in the Air Canada Centre. You can even ask Jonas Gustavsson to sign as "The Monster"

Leafs ALL ACCESS interview and autograph session with Garnett Exelby* and Jonas Gustavsson* Sunday, November 15th, 1 - 2pm

Live at CentreSports, space is limited so arrive early!

Raptors ALL ACCESS interview and autograph session with Demar DeRozan* and Hedo Turkoglu* Saturday, November 21st, 2 - 3pm

Live at CentreSports, space is limited so arrive early!

KIDS DAY at CentreSports Saturday November 28th, 12pm - 3pm

Bring the kids down and enjoy free access to the fan zone area and meet your favorite Mascots, Leafs and Raptors players. Prizes available to be won!

Maple Leafs Game Used Equipment Sale from the Locker Room Friday, December 4th, 10am - 4pm

Fans get your hands on Authentic Game used Maple Leaf used equipment including sticks, skates, gloves, goalie equipment, and more. Exclusively available at CentreSports with rare access to the Leafs dressing room.

Daly did say the team would not be located in Hamilton because the city's Copps Coliseum "doesn't...

PPP — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:56:47 -0000

Daly did say the team would not be located in Hamilton because the city's Copps Coliseum "doesn't provide modern-day NHL economics."

There were extensive renovations planned in conjunction with Balsillie's plans to relocate the Coyotes. But, Daly, said, the plans were not clear.

"As far as I know, the money that would take was not coming from any particular source," Daly said. "It was kind of a pie-in-the-sky kind of deal."

A second team in the GTA isn't just an inevitability in the eyes of anyone with a clue but with the NHL as well. Although Hamilton better not be holding it's breath because it won't be in the Hammer. Actually, hold your breath Hamilton we can smell what you had for lunch last week.

Maple Leafs 5 v. Red Wings 1: On The Road To Validation

PPP — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:57:59 -0000

More photos » by NATHAN DENETTE - AP

What can I say? I'm neewwwww here!

Browse more photos »

The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Hall of Fame game 5-1 as they used their forecheck and a determined defense to stymie a Detroit Red Wings team that had seemingly turned a corner. The Chris Osgood that had posted a .976 sv% over his last three games was replaced by the one that had a sub-.900 sv% in the rest of his starts. There was a confusing moment in the first period when a Leaf wearing 1 and 8 flew down the wing, past a sprawling defender before rifling a wrist shot past Osgood to notch his first goal in Toronto. Congratulation to Wayne "Not Keith" Primeau on finally breaking his goose egg. Phil Kessel also managed it but in decidedly less glamourous circumstances as he tapped in a Jason Blake shot that was trickling into the net anyway.

Jeff Finger stretched the Leafs' lead to 3-0 when he rifled a shot past Osgood as he jumped into the rush to turn a Stempniak-Stajan 2-on-2 into an odd man rush. Daniel Cleary scored the least surprising goal of the season John Mitchell, who must be thanking his lucky stars that he is centering Phil Kessel, picked up his second on the powerplay on a play that looked like Kessel just banked it in off of his stick. Ponikarovsky finished off the scoring as he put a weak backhand through Osgood's legs.

The win was good, starting a winning streak is great, but the best part is that root of the Leafs' ills seems to have be solved.

The Leafs have points in seven straight games with three of them being wins. Not surprisingly, Jonas Gustavsson started six of those games. The Maple Leafs are now looking like the kind of team that made Brian Burke think that the Phil Kessel trade was an acceptable risk. Brian Burke haters were falling all over themselves to get their jabs in when the Leafs were winless. Things were not helped by the fact that Vesa Toskala continued where he had left off before his surgeries. Actually, he has been much much more than he has ever been.

Jonas Gustavsson's heart issues and his strained groin robbed Brian Burke of seeing one of his prized off-season acquisition (and possibly his most important) make the impact that he expected. Until this recent run. The Phil Kessel trade would never have been made without the Gustavsson signing because as Burke has noted, you build teams from the net out. That signing, along with the additions on the blueline, gave him the confidence that the Leafs would not be giving up a top ten pick let alone a lottery pick or two in the deal.

Do you have that zen feeling when the opposition has the puck? You know, the complete opposite of what you felt when Toskala was in net? Yeah, so do the Leafs and it shows. Suddenly, Burke's talk about competing for the playoffs doesn't seem so insane. And it all starts in goal with the improved goaltending. Yes, chemistry was an issue early on but even the players and coaches and Damien Cox agree that the underlying issue was in net:

It's not rocket science after all; get good goaltending, and everything else flows from that.

I made a big point of the fact that having confidence in your goalie (as well as a goalie that can stop a beachball) helps to improve a number of areas. Take goal-scoring for example. The Leafs scored 15 goals in 7 games and a bit of the Washington game when Vesa Toskala or Joey MacDonald were in net but they potted 24 in 7 games and the rest of that Washington game with The Monster guarding the crease.

The penalty kill is another area that has improved. During the seven game point streak it's been killing penalties at a 85.7% clip including all of them over their last four games. You can read more quotations from other players in blurr's fanshot but this one from Jeff Finger sums the argument up best:

"He’s been great, bottom line. It gives us the confidence to play the game that you need to play to win in this League. You’re just confident in what you’ve got back there so you can make a play and not worry about turning the puck over. He’s been real solid."

At the end of the day, the poor penalty kill, the lack of offence, and the terrible defence are all symptoms of the problem that begins between the pipes. It appears that the Leafs have found the cure in Jonas Gustavsson but the real test will come the next time that they play Vesa Toskala in net. They need to maintain the mental toughness to play the game the way that they have been and maybe displaying that confidence will rub off on the Finn.

Maple Leafs 5 v. Red Wings 1: The Monster Saves...

PPP — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:50:08 -0000

More photos » by NATHAN DENETTE - AP

O HAI MONSTER. What a shock that the team looks more confident, composed, and is more successful with a good goalie. Who was it that said that would happen?

Browse more photos »

and the defence clears the rebounds. That's how things worked tonight as the Toronto Maple Leafs stretched their point streak to 8 games and their winning streak to two games with a 5-1 win over the Red Wings. The most impressive thing was that for the majority of the game the Red Wings did not look dangerous at all and when they did there was the Leafs goaltender of the present and future Jonas Gustavsson ready to slam the door. Daniel Cleary potted the lone Wings goal but that's hardly fair because he was on 99 career goals so it was pre-ordained.

The three stars for tonight's game were:

Jonas Gustavsson - Duh. The guy is huge, fast, confident, attractive, and signs autographs with "The Monster"
Phil Kessel - Game winning goal and he continues to put those 'lazy backchecker' stories to rest so far.
Ian White - It goes without saying that he was steady and good as always.

Also, Don Cherry just called out the fans that wore those Upset Fan bags are jerks and stupid. I heartily approve.

This is your post-game instant reaction thread.

Maple Leafs 3 v. Red Wings 0: WTF?

PPP — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:53:47 -0000

2nd INTERMISSION	1	2	3	Total
Detroit Red Wings	0	0		0
Toronto Maple Leafs	2	1		3

Join the Game Thread

Seriously, this game is scaring me in a good way. Up next: Satellite Hot Stove with some sort of massive surprise from Pierre LeBrun. Draper just tried to say that the game plan has unravelled but I think the Leafs are defending quite effectively. Let's keep our eyes on the prize boys: 28th place.

It was tough to carry on a conversation with the board-stomping and chanting in the background...

PPP — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:07:45 -0000

It was tough to carry on a conversation with the board-stomping and chanting in the background threatening to completely drown out my caller, who happens to be an NHL scout. But through the din of the college arena, one sentence came through clearly over the phone:

"Yeah, this is going to be a good one."

"This" is the 2010 Entry Draft, a talent grab that could go down as one of the best of all-time.

Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated takes an early look at 2010 Draft. You will remember this "Greatest Draft Ever" talk from 1999 which is now known as the worst collection of hockey players ever. Dear God please let it be the latter.

Glove tap to Puck Daddy.

One potentially key factor on that front is that Kessel’s production last season with the Boston B...

PPP — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:57:02 -0000

One potentially key factor on that front is that Kessel’s production last season with the Boston Bruins came in large part at even strength, with just eight of his goals scored on the power play. Only six players – Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, Marian Hossa, Rick Nash and Jeff Carter – had more even-strength goals than Kessel last season, and 13 games into this season, that’s precisely where Toronto needs a boost.

James Mirtle tries to avoid H1N1 as he reports on Ron Wilson's attempts to get blood from a stone. Just kidding. Goals will come.

The Leafs are getting killed at evens which is a big change post-lockout (at least for the first three years) so any boost would be a godsend.

Maple Leafs 1 v. Lightning 2 (OT): I Said No More Moral Victories

PPP — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:45:48 -0000

More photos » by NATHAN DENETTE - AP

"YOU'RE BOTH GOING IN AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

Browse more photos »

The Toronto Maple Leafs fell, once again, in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite peppering Antero Niittymaki with 41 shots the Leafs only managed one goal by way of the moustachulent Ian White and a healthy deflection. Jonas Gustavsson looked good once again in stopping 30 shots. He gave up a juicy rebound for the Lightning's opener although Matt Stajan and Francois Beauchemin (aka the player that gives me ulcers) should have done a better job of picking up players after The Monster's giveaway.

But the real news was Phil Kessel's debut as a Toronto Maple Leaf and what a debut. Phil Kessel looked dangerous all night especially 13 minutes into the game. It looked like he was going to waltzed through the Lightning. Of course, Matthias Ohlund had a different idea. I have to admit that I almost passed out when he stepped up into Kessel and almost ended his life. Thank God Kessel's not made of glass so he didn't even miss a shift. He finished the night with over 23 minutes of ice-time, 10 shots on net, and highlighted just how vast the gap is between himself and the rest of the team's forwards.

So there was a lot of good tonight. Of course, they wouldn't have lost the game if there weren't any problems.

Shut your eyes around a minute in.

The league's best powerplay went 1-for-8 in a game that went to overtime. That was the difference right there. And what was one of the problems? As expected, Phil Kessel was run out there at every opportunity and frequently for almost the entire powerplay. While Kessel is a hell of a sniper he is pretty static which, when combined with the other players deferral to him, hmstrung the penalty kill. It was much easier to defend them than when the movement was much more dynamic. The refs actually did a pretty good job of calling some soft penalties both ways.

The overtime winner was another sign of trouble. Too often, the defence pairings seem as if they just met each other. After Matt Stajan made a Matt Stajan play (95% good, 5% falling down) the Lightning came down the ice 2-on-2. Simple enough right? Well, then the Lightning forwards crossed just inside the blueline and all hell broke loose. There are two options on that play: the defence can communicate and follow their respective forwards across the ice or the the defence can communicate and switch forwards and remain on their side. Instead, we were treated to secret option # 3 where one defenceman follows his forward across the ice and the other steps up on that same forward. The only problem is that that move leaves Ryan Malone alone in front of the net to slam the rebound (and Gustavsson) into the net. The puck doesn't go in if Malone doesn't knock Gus into the net and it's a shame to see a simple call like that get missed but based on some of the phantom calls made tonight we shouldn't be too surprised.

The penalty kill has been improving incremnetally and tonight marked the second straight game with no powerplay goals again. It's strange to think that a small change like adding a goalie that can make a save would have such a big impact. There is definitely still room for improvement. With Jonas Gustavsson in net the Leafs have killed 13 of 17 penalties (76.5%) with Gus making 21 of 25 (.840sv%) saves. Of course, even that 76.5% number is a huge improvement over the rest of the year. However, as with so much, it's about baby steps for the Leafs.

Maybe one night the Leafs will get all aspects of their game firing at the same time. If they had to choose one night to do it I'd suggest Friday night when the Leafs face their fellow basement dwellers the Carolina Hurricanes. Until then the Leafs will be busy fixing the little things.

Poll

Who was the Maple Leafs' player of the game?

Maple Leafs 1 v. Lightning 2 (OT): Referees Are as Bad as MLB Umpires

PPP — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:14:31 -0000

More photos » by Nathan Denette - AP

Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Antero Niittymaki is seen here being made to look like a superhero by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Browse more photos »

What absolute horseshit. Of course that dummy Doug Maclean is saying it's a good goal when Ryan Malone throws Gustavsson into the net. Nice to see Stajan just give the puck up after he's made a good play. Typical. 95% well done and then he falls. Should have had the winner too. Thank goodness Gustavsson is our number one. Not the best first goal but does anyone else still have heart palpitations when the puck goes near him?

Of course, this is all moot if the Leafs had buried some of those powerplay opportunities or if Phil Kessel had scored on one of his 20 attempted shots or the 10 that hit the net. Great debut but it could have used a goal. And it's clear he's not a porcelain doll.

Anyway, share your thoughts folks.

Maple Leafs 0 v. Lightning 1: Real Victories Please

PPP — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:15:54 -0000

Intermission	1	2	3	Total
Tampa Bay Lightning	0	1		1
Toronto Maple Leafs	0	0		0

Join the Game Thread

It's coming. Hopefully it'll come this period. Phil Kessel is creating opportunities and looking exciting almost every time he touches the puck. Lecavalier opened the scoring late but the Leafs will just overturn the deficit this period because Phil Kessel Day cannot end in a loss.

20 Minutes to go, powerplay to start. Let's do this. GO LEAFS GO!