In the end of the season it won’t matter much, it will just be one of several. However all things considered it was a big win for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. The fact that they had to win ugly is quite irrelevant. It’s not their fault that the Ducks spent the entire night in the penalty box.
The Leafs started off in similar fashion, trailing 1-0. The rest however was pretty much history. they tied it up and then were off to the races behind Niklas Hagman who scored a hat trick and Tomas Kaberle who followed with several assists.
The play of the night, at least according to Joe Bowen and the rest of the Leafstv crew was an early save by Jonas Gustavsson. It’s one the either McDonald or Toskala would have let in and instead of just being 1-0 it would have been 2-0. The difference a big save makes is all about confidence. All of the sudden the guys can relax a little bit play their game. It certainly appeared to give the Maple Leafs a boost as they went on to their first win.
Make no mistake about it though, absent the Ducks frequent visit to the sin bin this game was going to be a another one most of us would like to forget. It was ugly. A battle between two bad teams.
In the end it won’t matter, a win is a win is a win, especially when it is your first of the year after 8 tries.
NOTES:
I have to ask, is there anything more pathetic then the way Leafstv produces hockey telecasts? During the pre-game the audio dropped about a dozen times. There were several name screw ups by the guys talking and the overall production looked totally mickey mouse. Couple that with Mr. Rogers 10, the Ron WIlson run to the other coaches, Bob freaking Mcgill and all that was missing was Marco Moro! How does a team like the Maple Leafs get away with such a shitty product. This is, unlike the product on the ice is totally under their control. The features they show before during and after the game are like a funny SCTV skit, except they aren’t supposed to be funny. The commentary by Rogers 10 is soooooooooo pathetic. I mean the guy doesn’t add anything of substance to a telecast.
Lastly, I know that I am in the minority, but man does Joe Bowen have to use the Wholly Makanaw on EVERY big play???? It is so planned, so contrived, so unnecessary. You have his comments, then Millen talking about how great and important each goalie is and to be honest the games aren’t watchable from the pure tv side of things.
From my seat on the couch, I can tell you that Leafstv is about 15-20 levels below TSN, CBC and NBC/Versus. Hell Fox did a better job on games then these clowns.
One last comment, can we PLEASE lose that god awful Maple Leafs song they insist on playing. I have nothing but respect for the Glass Tiger guy who wrote the song. IT was fine the first 300 times they played it, but really enough!
Not sure what Joe Bowen is smoking but as the game just ended he said that Jonas Gustavsson won his first game and Brian Burke won his first game as President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs….hmmmmmmmmm NO!
In any event, they win and so in easy fashion in large part to the ducks being in the box all night….
