Friday, December 30, 2011

Just like Leafs of seasons past

The Maple Leafs are finding different ways to lose games which is reminiscent of past seasons. One night it is weak special teams, another night the goaltending fails and on another occassion it is turnovers.  All this adds up to an inability to maintain a consitent winning streak needed to pull away from the large pack fiighting for the final few playoff spots.  I suppose this is going to continue for the remainder of the season. Lst night's 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina was more or less a combination of several of these weaknesses.  As a result the Huricanes were able to score 3 straight goals to snatch away a needed win from the Leafs.

Good - Nazem Kadri scored his 3rd goal in just his 4th game since being called up from the Marlies. If he continues to play well it will make things difficult for Ron Wilson to send him back when Matthew Lombardi returns to the lineup.  Considering Matt Fratin has only more more goal than Kadri but has played in almost every game this season, he may be the loser.

Bad - Special teams certainly contributed to the loss.  The powerplay couldn't score on 7 opportunities.  The Leafs stayed out of the box for much of the night but in overtime, the Tim Conolly took a penalty which created Carolina's 3rd powerplay of the game.  That was all it took for Eric Staal to score the winner.

Good/Bad - James Reimer bounced back from a terrible start on Tuesday against Florida but he should have stopped Carolina's 3rd goal which created the overtime situation.

Bad - The Kessel-Bozak-Lupul line had a sub par night which will rarely lead to a win.

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