Archives for November 2011

2nd time the leafs took a hammering from Boston. I’m gonna sell them for a model that actually knows how to beat boston, k? lol.

• Wins: 13
• losses: 12
• shootout wins: 3
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 29

. Recap:

Bruins close out brilliant November by beating Leafs
Wednesday, 11.30.2011 / 9:59 PM
TORONTO — The Boston Bruins closed out a November to remember by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on Wednesday night to finish the month undefeated in regulation.
Milan Lucic scored twice and David Krejci had a goal and a pair of assists for the Bruins. Tim Thomas stopped 37 shots for his 12th win of the season as Boston completed the month with a 12-0-1 record — only a shootout loss to Detroit on Nov. 25 kept the Bruins from a perfect month.
The Bruins broke a 2-2 tie at 15:30 of the second period when captain Zdeno Chara zipped a 15-footer to the short side past Jonas Gustavsson. Krejci set up Chara with a tape-to-tape pass, and Chara finished for his fifth of the season. He has goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Benoit Pouliot scored 3:03 into the third period to give the Bruins a 4-2 lead. Pouliot went top shelf with his shot from the right circle after a passout from behind the net by Joe Corvo.
Matt Frattin got the Leafs within a goal at the six-minute mark when his shot from near the goal line to the right of Thomas went into the net off the goaltender. But Lucic finished off a feed from Krejci with 4:39 left in regulation, and Brad Marchand hit the empty net as Boston beat Toronto for the third time this month, outscoring the Leafs 19-4 in the process.
The Bruins went up 2-1 at 3:33 of the second period when Krejci put home the rebound of Nathan Horton’s shot. Gustavsson made the initial save off Horton’s soft backhander but John-Michael Liles and Tyler Bozak failed to clear Krejci from the crease, leaving him free to poke the loose puck into the net for his fourth of the season.
The Leafs got even at 7:00 on a 2-on-1 break, as Joffrey Lupul fired Phil Kessel’s pass behind Thomas for his 12th of the season. Lupul extended his point streak to seven games and finished November with 18 points in 13 games. Kessel, who leads the NHL in points, had failed to register a point against Boston this season until setting up Lupul.
Toronto opened the scoring at 7:29 of the opening period when Mikhail Grabovski finished off a nifty passing play by beating Thomas. Carl Gunnarsson started the play with a long lead pass to Clarke MacArthur at the blue line. MacArthur found a charging Grabovski with a pinpoint cross-ice pass, and Grabovski outskated Andrew Ference before beating Thomas for his sixth goal of the season and first since returning to the lineup after a five-game absence.
Boston tied the game at 15:08 when Lucic wired his ninth past an outstretched Gustavsson just as the first of back-to-back Leaf penalties expired. Lucic snapped an eight-game goal drought, his longest of the season.

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hey, 3 in a row? hot shit!

• Wins: 13
• losses: 11
• shootout wins: 3
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 29

. Now, the recap!

Ducks’ woes continue in loss to Leafs
Monday, 11.28.2011 / 1:00 AM
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t come to Southern California often, but they certainly look right at home at the Honda Center.
Tyler Bozak scored twice and Joffrey Lupul had two assists in his return to Anaheim as Toronto neatly ended a four-game road trip with a 5-2 victory against the Ducks on Sunday night.
The Maple Leafs finished the trip 3-1. They have won four of their past five games to jump back into the Northeast Division lead and can enjoy their extra night’s stay in Orange County, where Lupul maintains a residence in nearby Newport Beach.
“I’m on my way there right now,” he said.
Lupul was satisfied because, “Obviously it’s a big trip for us, and it’s nice to have three big wins. We were pretty solid tonight. It’s been a lot of travel, kind of all the way down the south coast swing. We were strong all the way through the third period, so that’s a good sign.”
It was only Toronto’s fourth appearance in Anaheim in the past 13 years. But it was the second time in three years that Toronto has come into Anaheim and extended the Ducks’ miseries.
Toronto notably beat the host Ducks to end an eight-game winless streak to start the 2009-10 season.
Sunday’s victory extended Anaheim’s winless streak to seven games (0-6-1). The Ducks fell to 2-12-4 over their past 18 games, and those two victories have come over a five-week span.
Lupul, who has voiced his displeasure over his trade from Anaheim to Toronto in February, downplayed his return, but obviously he’s familiar with the Ducks and their big line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan, who finished a combined minus-6.
“We knew it would be a tough night tonight because we were going to go against Getzlaf, Perry and Bobby all night,” Lupul said. “We were prepared to do the job defensively and wait for our chances and we got them and made them count.”
Bozak scored on a putback off a pretty rush just 47 seconds into the third. Perry got Anaheim to 4-2 when he walked out from the corner and roofed a shot over Jonas Gustavsson at 5:38 but the Ducks rallied short.
Toronto improved to 9-0 when leading after the third period thanks to a late third penalty kill. It also fended off a 6-on-5 advantage in the final 90 seconds.
“Special teams got the job done,” Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. “And I thought we skated really well.
“We’re pretty comfortable. We know what we have to do going into the third period. We’re getting better at it.”
Toronto struck quickly in the first with goals by Bozak and Clarke MacArthur in a 19-second span for a 2-1 lead.
MacArthur beat Jonas Hiller on a slap shot from the left side that appeared to be deflected by Luca Sbisa at 14:29. Tim Connolly made the play possible when he took the puck from Toni Lydman near the blue line to create the turnover.
Bozak tapped in a nice backhand pass in the crease by John-Michael Liles for a power play goal at 14:10, the seventh straight game Toronto has scored with the advantage.
“It was big,” Lupul said of his team’s response to the 1-0 deficit. “After playing here and playing against Getzlaf and Perry and those guys, I know when they start to get some confidence at the start of the game and get rolling, they’re going to be a tough line to contain. They scored and then we came right back on the power play and scored. That kind of settled things down a little bit.”
Toronto held Anaheim to seven shots in the second period and was rewarded with a 3-1 lead thanks to an opportunistic play.
The Maple Leafs picked off Cam Fowler’s pass in the neutral zone and hemmed in Anaheim for a long sequence that ended with Joey Crabb deflecting Luke Schenn’s shot at 2:36.
Anaheim played with the puck for much of the last five minutes of the second but couldn’t generate many quality chances.
It was the same story for the Ducks, who are one loss away from equaling the franchise record eight-game losing streak last set in 2005.
The frustration was worn on the face of coach Randy Carlyle after he watched his team continue to have issues in its own end.
“We just seem to be dead between the ears,” Carlyle said. “We’re not thinking. We’re not reading. Then it seems we pile on extra work for ourselves from our lack of execution by making a pass to a guy who is covered or an ill-advised pass where the opposition has a player in a position to block the pass that we make. It turns into defensive zone coverage for 35-40 seconds. It’s mind boggling some of the plays we’re trying to make.”
Anaheim struck first with a power play goal by Francois Beauchemin. Teemu Selanne carried the puck behind the net and drew defenders to him before he found Beauchemin for a wrist shot from the high slot as Devante Smith-Pelly screened Gustavsson.
Mikhail Grabovski returned to the lineup after he missed five games with a lower body injury and Wilson said he gave them added speed.
The Maple Leafs recalled defenseman Keith Aulie and scratched David Steckel and Carl Gunnarsson with finger injuries.
Wilson said Gunnarsson probably could have played, but he wanted to wait until next week.

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Hey, we can win two in a row?awesome! even if it is a shootout win.

• Wins: 12
• losses: 11
• shootout wins: 3
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 27

. Here’s the recap.

Leafs Beat Stars in 4-3 in shootout
Saturday, 11.26.2011 / 12:28 AM
DALLAS — Not all wins are pretty. But the Toronto Maple Leafs were more than happy to leave Dallas with two points on a night when they weren’t the best team on the ice for much of the night.
Joffrey Lupul scored in the third round of the shootout to give the Leafs a 4-3 victory against the Dallas Stars before the first sellout crowd of the season at American Airlines Center.
“It was a good win for us,” Lupul said. “We didn’t play that well in the second period, we let them back in the game, but we played really well in the third period and it was a hard-fought game right to the end.”
After the first four shooters failed to score in the tiebreaker, Lupul zipped a forehand shot past Kari Lehtonen. Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson then denied Mike Ribeiro’s backhander for the win. Ribeiro deked Gustavsson, but the big goaltender got just enough of the shot with his pad to keep it from crossing the goal line.
“It was [a total team effort],” Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. “We lost a couple of guys in the second period and the bench got kind of short. But we had to weather a couple of storms. [Gustavsson] obviously came up big in the third period in a few of those situations. Then, [Gustavsson] came up big again in the shootout against some guys that are pretty good.”
The Stars outshot Dallas 14-6 in the third and controlled play for lengthy stretches, but flew to Phoenix for Saturday’s game against the Coyotes with only one point.
“We worked hard,” forward Radek Dvorak said. “It’s too bad we came up with just one point, but it shows that we can play the whole 60 minutes. If you want to keep putting points on the board and if you want to play our game, you have to work hard and we did that.”
Dallas took an early 1-0 lead when Eric Nystrom scored his sixth of the season, beating Gustavsson on his glove side with a 20-foot wrister 4:03 into the game. The sequence began when Jamie Benn dug a puck out along the right boards before laying it off to Michael Ryder, who got the primary assist.
Toronto got even at 10:55 when Joey Crabb fired home the rebound of Dion Phaneuf’s blue-line blast for the equalizer.
The visitors took their first lead of the evening at 14:53 when Phaneuf blistered a 55-foot power-play slap shot that trickled over the goal line for his third tally of the season. Lehtonen appeared to have stopped Phaneuf’s blast from the right point, which struck the Dallas netminder between his right arm and pad, but the puck came out and went over the line.
Nystrom tied it for a second time at 4:38 of the second period, capping a quick sequence with his seventh goal of the season, a wrister that beat Gustavsson to his right. Benn got his second assist of the night by feeding Radek Dvorak who set Nystrom up for the goal.
It was the third multiple-goal game of Nystrom’s career. The other two came during his time in Calgary and all three performances have come against Canadian teams.
The Leafs took a 3-2 lead at 6:55 of the final period when Clarke MacArthur scored his eighth of the season when a pass from Tim Connolly deflected off his left skate and ended up in the back of the net. But the Stars answered at 12:47 when Dvorak scored for the second time as a Star, beating Gustavsson top shelf on the left side with a 20-foot wrister after a solid pass from Mike Ribeiro.
“I don’t know what you can say about that line [that Nystrom and Dvorak play on],” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “They bring it every night. They have passion, they skate and they work. They’re all in every night and they’re a real effective group for us and they help us a ton. Dvorak’s goal was a big goal for us.”
Gustavsson stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced while Lehtonen faced 23 shots from the Leafs, stopping 20.
Wilson specifically singled out two members of his defensive core for the solid performances they turned in against Dallas.
“Luke [Schenn] easily played his best game of the season and Jake Gardiner was right there too, skating the puck out of a lot of trouble. Those guys had a great game,” Wilson said.
The Stars’ improved play, a holiday weekend and a rare visit from the Leafs helped the Stars fill the building.
“That was a lot of fun,” Nystrom said. “It was a great atmosphere in there. It’s fun playing against a team like this. They have a lot of fans in the building, and they have a lot of skill up front. It’s a nice change from the monotony of the schedule.
“When it comes down to a shootout it’s chance, and those you kind of take with a grain of salt. We played really hard tonight, we did a lot of good things, and we have to continue doing that.”.

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back and forth it goes. lose, win, lose, win. nuff said.

• Wins: 11
• losses: 11
• shootout wins: 2
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 25

. The recap.

Leafs cruise to 7-1 win over Lightning
Wednesday, 11.23.2011 / 12:24 AM
TAMPA — There’s nothing like an early goal to get a team going, especially on the road. Scoring in the first minute against the Tampa Bay Lightning did wonders for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Clarke MacArthur’s goal 41 seconds into the game triggered a three-goal first period and Tyler Bozak scored twice as the Leafs blitzed the Lightning 7-1 on Tuesday night.

MacArthur, returning to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury, gave Toronto a quick lead by redirecting rookie defenseman Jake Gardiner’s shot from the blue line past Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson for his seventh goal of the season.

“Scoring the first goal on the first shift got us in the right frame of mind,” Leafs coach Ron Wilson said.

The Lightning (9-9-2) got even after allowing the first goal for the 13th time in 20 games played this season when Vincent Lecavalier converted on Tampa Bay’s second power-play opportunity of the game at 8:38. He beat Jonas Gustavsson on the short side to break an 0-for-10 power-play skid for the Lightning.

But Tim Connolly put Toronto (12-8-2) ahead to stay by beating Roloson on a deflection for a power-play goal at 17:56 with Victor Hedman serving a double minor for high sticking. Pavel Kubina joined Hedman in the box at 18:44 when he was called for interference, and Bozak got his first of the game by firing home a rebound with 16 seconds left in the period.

“Our power play did a great job tonight,” Wilson said. “We had two power-play goals and probably could have had a couple more.”

In the other locker room, Lightning coach Guy Boucher was upset with the penalties that led to the two power-play goals, and with his team’s inconsistency.
“Stupid penalties,” Boucher said. “We have to stay out of the box. Our attitude in the face of adversity wasn’t good. Right now, we’re like a leaky ceiling. When you patch one hole then you run over to the other hole that’s leaking and then you go back to the first hole that’s leaking again, and that’s what we have. We have to become consistent.

“The great thing about the game being over is that every moment after the game is a moment to change things.”

Rookie center Joe Colborne scored his first NHL goal at 17:45 of the second period, and Toronto put the game away with third-period goals by Bozak, Joffrey Lupul and Joey Crabb. Bozak’s goal came after Roloson’s pass behind the net landed right on his stick — the second time in as many games that a misplay by the 42-year-old goaltender wound up in the Lightning’s net.

“I was hoping he would fling it back,” Bozak said. “Then I just got lucky and had an open net.”

Boucher lifted Roloson after Lupul ripped a wrister from the top of the right circle past him at 4:28 of the third period — Toronto’s sixth goal on 21 shots. Crabb finished the scoring against Mathieu Garon.

Frattin and Gardiner both had a pair of assists. Gustavsson stopped 27 of 28 shots for his sixth win of the season, helping to disappoint a sellout crowd of 19,204 at the St. Pete Times Forum, which saw the Lightning allow seven goals at home for the second time this season and turn in a second consecutive sub-par effort after snapping a six-game home winning streak.

The Lightning wrapped up a three-game homestand in which they went 1-2-0.

“We’re just not as consistent as we want to be,” Lecavalier said. “To be a playoff team, you’ve got to be consistent and that’s something we have to get better at.”

The Leafs, who have another two games remaining in their four-game road trip, scored seven goals for the second time in three days. They beat the Washington Capitals 7-1 at home last Saturday.

Wilson said the Leafs succeeded in pushing the tempo against a team that likes to trap.

“We wanted to push the pace so we wouldn’t have to face that 1-3-1,” Wilson said. “I thought we were really effective at doing that.”

Um, apparently we can’t win 2 in a row. lol.

• Wins: 10
• losses: 11
• shootout wins: 2
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 23

. and now, the recap.

Skinner scores in third as Canes edge Leafs
Sunday, 11.20.2011 / 9:04 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. — An air of tension has hung over the Carolina Hurricanes in recent weeks as the team has sunk to the lower reaches of the Eastern Conference standings. So when they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Sunday night, the reactions ranged from cautious optimism to a bit of gallows humor.
“I get to get on the plane,” said coach Paul Maurice, referring to the Hurricanes’ flight to Philadelphia for Monday night’s game. “We’ll go from there. Just try to get on the plane, don’t assume anything.”
Maurice has been on the hot seat lately as the Hurricanes have fallen to 14th in the East, but a hard-fought win over the Leafs gave the coach and the team some momentary relief.
Jeff Skinner scored the decisive goal in the third period to seal a win that looked in doubt twice down the stretch. Phil Kessel scored both Toronto goals, each time cutting the Hurricanes’ lead to one. Kessel leads the NHL with 16 goals and 29 points.
Skinner finished with a goal and an assist, while Eric Staal added two helpers.
“Everyone (in the room) wants to win,” Skinner said. “That’s the biggest pressure — the pressure you put on yourself, especially when you’re going through something like we’ve been going through the last few games. It’s not fun.”
The Hurricanes had lost back-to-back games leading up to Sunday’s win. Wednesday night’s 4-0 loss at Montreal left general manager Jim Rutherford giving his coach only lukewarm support. A much better effort in a 1-0 home loss to Buffalo on Friday gave the Hurricanes a bit of hope.
“It was hard to keep (our momentum) after our last one,” Maurice said. “We knew we had played a solid game, but you have to have something good come from that.”
The Maple Leafs (11-8-2), playing the second of back-to-back games, didn’t have much jump for most of the night. The injury-ravaged Toronto roster was missing seven regulars.
With the Hurricanes (7-11-3) clinging to a 2-1 lead with less than seven minutes remaining, Carolina defenseman Bryan Allen sprung Staal on a breakaway. Toronto goaltender Ben Scrivens stopped him, but Skinner was there to finish the rebound.
“If you’re sitting at 2-1 and both teams have had 10 great chances to score, you’re not feeling very good, but we were really good to that point,” Maurice said. “The guys recognized that and they just continued to try to do that.”
Carolina goaltender Cam Ward, who had lost five of his previous six starts, recorded 23 saves.
Hurricanes defenseman Jay Harrison opened the scoring with 38 seconds remaining the first period. He fired a low wrist shot from the left circle to beat Scrivens for his second goal of the season. Staal also earned an assist.
The Hurricanes pushed the advantage to 2-0 in the second period on Jussi Jokinen’s power-play goal. Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk earned his first NHL point with a nice diagonal pass to Jokinen, whose shot deflected off Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn in front of the net.
“I saw (Chad LaRose) backdoor there,” Jokinen said. “Every time you put a puck to the net, it can go in off your guy or their guy. It was a big goal for us.”
Less than 24 hours after a dominant 7-1 win at Washington, Toronto looked like a tired team. The Leafs gave up 19 second period shots. The Hurricanes held a commanding 29-12 advantage through 40 minutes.
“I thought we were doing fine in the first period,” Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. “I don’t think they had very many scoring chances. But in the second period we didn’t have much energy and we didn’t work smart.”
Toronto showed some life early in the third period. Tim Connolly sent a wrister toward the top shelf, only to have Ward swipe it with his glove. But Kessel finally put Toronto in the scoring column after Carolina’s Alexei Ponikarovsky was sent off for elbowing. Kessel cleaned up the rebound of a Dion Phaneuf slap shot from the high slot at the 4:31 mark.
After Skinner extended the lead to 3-1, Kessel scored again with one minute remaining in regulation, with the extra attacker on for Toronto.
For Carolina, the win is a welcome breather after a 3-9-2 stretch. That’s why Maurice could have a laugh at his tenuous situation.
“Don’t answer your phone and just follow your routine,” he said. “That’s the key at this point.”

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lose three, and come back and deliver one hell of an ass kickin’. Nicely done!

• Wins: 10
• losses: 10
• shootout wins: 2
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 23

. and now, the recap.

Leafs roll over Caps in 7-1 win
Saturday, 11.19.2011 / 10:00 PM
TORONTO — Joffrey Lupul had a goal and three assists to lead a scoring parade as the Toronto Maple Leafs routed the Washington Capitals 7-1 Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.
The Leafs blew the game open with four goals in the second period, including three on the power play, as they handed the Capitals their third consecutive loss.
Jonas Gustafsson stopped 40 shots — 33 in the final two periods — for his first win since Nov. 2.
Toronto led 2-1 entering the second period, but scored 1:18 after the puck was dropped. With Matt Hendricks in the box for slashing, Lupul parked himself at the edge of the crease and set up Tyler Bozak with a nice backhand flip pass. Bozak’s second goal of the season put the Leafs up by 3-1.
The Caps thought they had pulled within one when Mike Knuble jammed the puck past Gustavsson at 4:35, but the referees ruled that the puck was frozen before crossing the goal line. It was one of several goalmouth scrambles generated by the Capitals in the second. Gustavsson stopped 15 shots in the period, including big saves on Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin on a late Washington power play.
Just over a minute after Washington’s non-goal, Toronto’s Phil Kessel scored his League-leading 14th of the season, prompting Washington coach Bruce Boudreau to pull Tomas Vokoun and replace him with Michal Neuvirth. Vokoun allowed four goals on 18 shots in just over 25 minutes.
Toronto made it 5-1 at 17:12 during another power play when Dion Phaneuf sent a pass into the crease to Lupul, who scored his 10th of the season and earned his fourth point of the night. It was the first four-point night for Lupul since Dec. 20, 2008, when he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, coincidentally it came against the Capitals. Lupul also matched a career high with three assists.
Cody Franson’s power-play goal at 19:29 capped the outburst. Ex-Capital Dave Steckel added a shorthanded goal in the final minute of regulation.
The victory was extra special for an injury-riddled Leaf team that had lost five of six coming into Saturday. Mike Komisarek (broken arm), Mikhail Grabovski (lower body), Colby Armstrong (ankle sprain), and Matthew Lombardi (upper body) all were out of the lineup, as was starting goaltender James Reimer, who’s been sidelined for four weeks after being hit in the head during a collision with Montreal’s Brian Gionta. Forward Mike Brown also did not suit up.
Due to the injuries, rookie Joe Colborne was called up from the AHL Toronto Marlies. He made an immediate impact by setting up fellow rookie Matt Frattin for his first NHL goal on a lovely cross-ice pass in the Capitals zone at 19:16 of the opening period to break a 1-1 tie.
Tim Connolly opened the scoring at 1:39 of the first period, beating Vokoun with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle to the left of the Capitals net minder. Brooks Laich tied it less than a minute later by taking a drop pass from Jason Chimera and blasting a shot past Gustafsson.
Ovechkin, who entered the game with 14 goals in 12 career games at the Air Canada Centre, matched his season-high with eight shots on goal but was held without a point.

I’ll take that win, and now go enjoy my coffee and doghnuts.

did we leave our ability to play in the toilet? Apparently!

• Wins: 9
• losses: 10
• shootout wins: 2
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 21

. Here’s the recap.

Rinne and Predators beat Leafs 4-1
Friday, 11.18.2011 / 12:40 AM
The Toronto Maple Leafs did almost everything right in Nashville on Thursday night — except win. For that, they can blame Pekka Rinne.
Nashville’s star goaltender made 38 saves and Martin Erat scored twice as the Predators (10-5-3) beat the Leafs 4-1 for their fifth win in seven games.
Sergei Kostitsyn assisted on three of the four goals, matching his career high for points in a game. He and linemates Erat and Mike Fisher are all healthy again after missing time with injuries — and not surprisingly, the Predators are showing more offensive spark.
“We are playing much better than before,” Kostitsyn said. “We have all come back from injury and needed a couple of games to get better.”
The Leafs, making only their fourth trip ever to Bridgestone Arena, lost for the fifth time in six games. They also lost two more players with injuries. Forward Matthew Lombardi, who played just two games last season with the Preds before suffering a season-ending concussion, left the game with an apparent shoulder or arm injury in the second period and did not return. Defenseman Mike Komisarek left early in the third after blocking a shot. With Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur lost due to injury in Tuesday’s home loss to Phoenix, the Leafs had just 11 skaters on the bench for much of the final 20 minutes.
Erat gave the Predators a 1-0 lead just 5:48 into the game with his fourth goal in four games, converting Fisher’s pass from the goal line to the right of Ben Scrivens.
John-Michael Liles tied it at 10:36 of the second. With the Maple Leafs on a power play and both teams on a line change, Liles picked up the puck at center ice and drove down the right side before beating Rinne with a wrist shot from the circle.
That was all the offense the Leafs could manage despite outshooting Nashville 39-22.
“That might be the best game we’ve played all season,” Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. “To be honest with you, start to finish, their goalie came up huge.
“He’s one of the best goalies, he was up for the Vezina, but we did our best and he was up to task.”
Nashville regained the lead less than two minutes later when Ryan Suter’s shot from the left side through traffic beat a screened Scrivens. It was his fourth of the season — matching his total in each of the past two seasons.
Suter and defense partner Shea Weber both went plus-4, but said much of the credit for the win belongs to Rinne.
“Tonight was one of those nights where they couldn’t get much going, and we took advantage of some of their turnovers and mistakes,” Suter said. “Everyone is playing better. Everyone is coming back hard and playing hard in the ‘D’ zone, and Pekks is standing on his head for us.”
Erat made it 3-1 at 2:05 of the third by firing a cross-ice pass from Fisher behind Scrivens to complete a 2-on-1 break.
“We are good on the forecheck and are just creating chances,” Erat said. “We are playing good defense against the other team’s top line and then getting pucks to the net.”
After rookie Craig Smith missed his chance at an empty-netter by firing high with the puck in the crease, Matt Halischuk hit the empty net with 23 seconds left to seal the win.
Wilson had no gripe with his team’s performance, especially considering the lack of available bodies.
“The bench was really short by the end of the game but I thought we played really well,” he said. “I thought we dominated most parts of the game. There is nothing you can do, just play on and whoever we bring up or guys who aren’t playing get in the lineup we’ll do our best.”

. Their’s a game being played as I type this so we’ll see what that comes out as when it’s all said and done.

apparently we fail at playing.

• Wins: 9
• losses: 9
• shootout wins: 2
• shootout losses: 1
• points: 21

. recap.

Coyotes keep rolling on road with SO win over Leafs
Tuesday, 11.15.2011 / 11:53 PM
TORONTO — The weather may be nicer in Phoenix, but the Coyotes are just fine right where they are.
Dave Tippett’s club stretched its road win streak to 5 games with a 3-2 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night.
Shane Doan and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored in regulation and Patrick O’Sullivan notched the shootout winner. Mike Smith made 35 saves — plus another 2 in the shootout — to post his sixth win in 7 games.
Tippett praised his goaltender, who improved his record to 8-2-3 on the year.
“He’s really embraced the No. 1 goaltender role,” Tippett said. “Smitty has earned the confidence of the team. He’s been a very solid player for us a leader in the dressing room and his play has been as good as anybody in the League up to this point.”
Smith cited goaltending coach Sean Burke as a key factor in his strong start.
“Everyone knows goaltending is mental,” Smith said. “I know I have the physical ability to be a great goaltender in this League, but I’ve struggled with the mental aspect of it throughout my career. I have to find that consistency and Sean’s been very good for me. He’s a guy that played in this League and did very well. Now I’m fortunate to have him on my side.”
Smith’s heroics negated a spirited Toronto comeback in the third period that brought the Leafs back from a 2-0 deficit. Mike Komisarek got Toronto on the board early in the period with his first goal of the year, and Phil Kessel scored his League-leading 13th goal via the power play at 4:41 to tie the game and set the stage for a thrilling finish.
According to Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson, a patient approach keyed the rally.
“The important thing we talked about was we don’t want to go and try to tie the game in the first 4 or 5 minutes and yet we did by keeping things simple, not having the ‘D’ get caught pinching. You have 20 minutes and we were getting plenty of scoring chances in the second period and some shots, we needed a little more traffic and we got it — a little more patience with the puck in the offensive zone.”
After a slow start, Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens starred late in the game, matching Smith save for save and sending the game to the shootout.
Wilson praised the youngster for keeping his composure.
“I was happy for Scrivs that he buckled down, he didn’t cave, then he came up with a lot of saves as the game went on,” Wilson said. “I think our team’s confidence in him grew as the game went on.”
For his part, Scrivens is getting acclimated to the NHL game, with a 2-2-1 record in the absence of injured number one goaltender James Reimer.
“I’m starting to feel more comfortable and get a bit of confidence,” Scrivens said.
Doan opened the scoring just 1:54 into the game when his counterpart — Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf — made a costly mistake. Phaneuf fell at the Coyotes’ blue line and coughed up the puck, springing Mikkel Boedker and Doan on a 2-on-1 the other way. Doan fired Boedker’s feed past Scrivens for his first goal in 7 games.
Scrivens was shaky on the Coyotes’ second goal, as his giveaway behind the net eventually led to an Oliver Ekman-Larsson floater from the blue line that hit the twine at the 5:18 mark.
Wilson looked to spark his team in the second period, moving Matt Frattin up to the second line with Clarke MacArthur moving down to the third. While the Leafs did come on strong in the latter half of the period, few of their shots got through the tough Coyotes’ defense – most were either blocked or deflected off target. With a 2-0 lead, the Coyotes were content to relieve pressure by chipping the puck out or icing it.
Toronto’s bottom six forwards keyed the comeback early in the third period, as MacArthur and Mikhail Grabovski were forced out of the game with injuries. Matthew Lombardi, David Steckel and Joey Crabb created pressure in the Coyotes’ zone, and Komisarek snuck into the slot to draw the Leafs within one at the 2:08 mark. Under a minute later, Mike Brown drew a cross-checking penalty from Martin Hanzal, setting the stage for Kessel’s tying goal on the power play off the rebound of a Nikolai Kulemin shot.
MacArthur suffered an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return. Grabovski left with a lower body injury in the third after a neutral-zone collision with Hanzal. Wilson had no update on either player following the game.
Despite the loss and the injuries, Phaneuf emphasized the positives.
“I thought it was a real character job by us, especially when your bench gets shortened like that,” Phaneuf said. “We lost a few key guys. I thought we really did a good job to come back and get the point.”
The Coyotes’ recent road streak has been impressive, but it will be put to the test as the Eastern trip continues. Phoenix faces Philadelphia on Thursday, followed by games in Buffalo and Washington.

gettin’ their asses handed to them by the team who’s city I live in, lol. glad I wasn’t out and about that night.

• Wins: 9
• losses: 8
• shootout wins: 2
• shootout losses: 0
• points: 21

. Recap.

Sens spoil Leafs party with 5-2 win
Saturday, 11.12.2011 / 11:12 PM
TORONTO — The more than 19,500 fans inside Air Canada Centre roared for three of their favorite former Leafs who were being honored prior to the annual Hockey Hall of Fame game.
Once the game started Saturday night, they didn’t get many opportunities to bathe their favorite current Leafs in the same type of love.
The Senators spoiled the party here by snapping a five-game winless streak with a 5-2 victory in front of soon-to-be Hall of Fame members Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Ed Belfour and Mark Howe. Gilmour, Nieuwendyk and Belfour all played in Toronto during their illustrious careers.
“This league is about results and we went and got that tonight,” Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips said. “It was a big night with the Hall of Fame, and for us to come in on a back-to-back and find some energy to win the last two periods was big for this team.”
Ottawa didn’t look the least bit tired despite the fact that just 24 hours earlier it suffered its fifth straight defeat and played one of its worst games of the season in a 5-1 loss at Buffalo.
Craig Anderson, who was pulled after giving up two goals in the first two and a half minutes of Friday’s game, was sent right back into the nets by coach Paul MacLean. He made the coach look smart by stopping 31 shots for his seventh win of the season and first since Oct. 29.
Nick Foligno scored twice and the Senators got one each from Sergei Gonchar, Zack Smith and Milan Michalek.
Toronto goalie Ben Scrivens made 19 saves in the loss, the Maple Leafs’ third in a row at Air Canada Centre.
“It’s a huge confidence lift when the coach comes to you and says you weren’t very good the night before, we need more out of you, and you respond,” Anderson said. “It’s a huge emotional lift knowing that he’s got confidence in me and that makes my confidence go higher and higher.”
Toronto made it interesting when Joffrey Lupul scored with 2:50 to play in regulation. But, Foligno and Michalek each scored empty-net goals to seal the Senators first win since they beat these same Maple Leafs, 3-2, at Scotiabank Place on Oct. 30.
“We came to compete tonight, came to play,” Foligno said. “That’s the beautiful thing about this game, sometimes you get to play back-to-back, and right the wrong right away.”
The Leafs were guilty of coughing up a 1-0 lead that Tyler Bozak gave them late in the first period, in part because their power play was poor but mostly because they stopped trying to put the pressure on Ottawa.
Inconsistent play is an ongoing problem with Toronto, one captain Dion Phaneuf said comes when a team is trying to “build a winning culture” after years of losing, as the Leafs are attempting now.
“I think we’re on our way there, but we’re still learning and we’re going to have to learn how to win these one-goal games that seem to be slipping away from us,” Phaneuf said. “Not being negative, but when we’re up by a goal we tend to sit back. We’re going to have to learn to keep pushing and to win these kinds of games that we have leads in.”
The Leafs had their chances to step on the Senators. Bozak gave them the lead with his first goal of the season at 17:18 of the first period, but their power play went 0-for-5 with only six shots on goal.
MacLean said his team’s penalty-kill was the difference.
“Jesse (Winchester) did a good job in the faceoff circle, he was outstanding,” MacLean said. “I thought him and (Kaspars) Daugavins as a pair and Erik Condra and Zack Smith as a pair really were outstanding for us as penalty killers. They’ve really worked hard at learning how to do it here in the National Hockey League and it looks like they’ve taken big steps here in the last couple of games.”
The Senators erased Toronto’s 1-0 lead with goals from Gonchar and Foligno in the second period and Smith’s third goal of the season just 48 seconds into the third.
Gonchar scored during a delayed Toronto penalty and Foligno gave the Senators the lead with a 5-on-3 goal with 2:14 to play before the second intermission.
For Foligno, it was sweet revenge. Not long before, he left the ice bleeding after the blade of Philippe Dupuis’ stick caught him in the face, leading to a double-minor penalty and the Senators two-man advantage.
Bozak went to the box two seconds earlier for a holding minor.
Foligno had to start the power play on the bench with the trainers tending to him, but when he was ready he leapt over the boards with his left nostril stuffed with gauze and went right to the middle, where defenseman Erik Karlsson found him with a picture-perfect pass from center ice.
He was coming with so much speed that he easily split Toronto’s defense pair of Mike Komisarek and Jake Gardiner and then wristed a shot through Scrivens’ five-hole for the go-ahead goal.
“The adrenaline was pumping, I wanted to get back out there,” Foligno said. “It was a nice pass by Erik to get me that breakaway and I was just happy to make good on it.”
The Leafs started the third period with a pair of quick and quality chances by Phaneuf in the first 39 seconds. Anderson stopped both shots, and after the second nobody covered for Phaneuf at the point, leading to a 2-on-1 opportunity for the Senators.
Smith cashed in by sending a short-side wrist shot from the left circle past Scrivens.
“We’re going to have to figure out how to push the pace for 60 minutes,” Toronto coach Ron Wilson said, “and develop that kind of instinct to keep pushing the (other) team down.”