The Oilers play the kind of hockey that Maple Leafs enjoy and fans too. Fast-paced, wide open with lots of scoring opportunities. And not too much hitting though there even was a fight last night between Ben Eager and always willing Mike Brown. Although the style of hockey is much to the Leafs' liking they will not see it during the playoffs. The Oilers are so soft that the light-hitting Leafs out hit them. Th Leafsy need to be able to succeed in a tight checking game which is largely what they saw during the losing streak in games to Winnipeg and Montreal, two teams at the bottom of the standing but because of weak offense not defense. Still the 4-3 overtime win last night was thrilling and fun to watch.
Good - Dion Phaneuf redeemed himself after a terrible game the night before in Calgary. He made a terrific play just prior to the winning goal by Connolly coming back to break up a scoring chance after a dangerous Toronto turnover.
Bad - The number of turnovers by the Leafs was totally unacceptable - 25! Leafs TV picked Connolly as the first star of the game because he scored the overtime winner. But just 20 seconds or so earlier it turned over the puck and created an excellent scoring chance for Edmonton. He was turning over the puck all night. The fact that he scored his first goal in 18 games doesn't hide the fact that he has not played well since coming to Toronto.
Good - The wide open game works fine for Matthew Lombardi who scored the nicest goal of the night. The style of play was also to the liking of the first line that has 9 shot on net and was a plus 4 for the night.
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