Leafs Beat Canes 6-2

Well, the Cardiac Kids strike again. In what appeared to have the makings of a blowout with the Leafs leading 4-1 going into the third. Carolina scored three un-answered goals in the third to tie it up. Thanks to a couple of of timely saves and the "Jason Blake show", the Buds managed to hold on and win by a final of 6-4


With 11 seconds to go, Jason Blake cemented his bit for a hat-trick with an empty netter. White, Hagman and Kaberle also had goals, that while timely, where eclipsed by the five point night of Blake who also got the first star of the game. “We got lazy and we took some penalties,” Blake said. “They’ve got a lot of offensive skill over there and they took advantage of it. We just obviously wanted … to put the foot on the pedal and keep doing what we were doing.”



I don’t know if there is any bittersweetness for us,” coach Ron Wilson said, “but yeah, we found a way to win. We never should have put ourselves in that position, but we did.”

As a bit of a side note, it was Coach Paul Maurices first game behind the bench against his former team. When asked what he told his team between the second and third period that led to the comeback, Maurice responded, “Nothing that you can print.”


The Leafs are in Atlanta tonight and as always, you can hear the game live, right hear on Bench Brawl

Leafs looked good in 4-1 loss

The Maple Leafs played a fairly good physical game for the most part, dominated in in the shots on goal department, and had some decent goal tending. They fell short in the face off department winning 44% of them over the Flyers. Their season average is about the same which in hindsight is pretty good post Sundin. That was going to be a major concern coming into the season and they have actually done ok in the face off circle.

The Buds, after this 4-1 loss have lost three in a row and 4 of five. If they lose Tuesday against Nashville, there will be all kinds of speculation about the diection the team is headed, whether there should be some changes just for the sake of changes, and whether or not Wiolson is the right man for the job.

I would like to remind Leafs fans, that the Buds ARE in fact heading in the right direction. I have never been a Wilson fan, and the changes will come, but, be patient. The Toronto Maple Leafs are not supposed to be a winning team for at least two years, and more likely 4-5.

The trouble with that statement is that it is highly speculatuive. It is easy to be patient when you know that your patience will be rewarded. But as history dictates, it usually isn't, so we want to see the winning now. Well, like I said, they simply aren't supposed to win, no one expects them to.