Total BeLeafers

Thursday 19 January 2012

Leafs end a 3-game losing skid with a 4-1 win over the Wild

Leafs win 4-1 over the Wild in convincing fashion at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday night. A game in which both teams needed the two points to inch closer to a playoff spot. The Leafs took control early with goals coming from Kadri and Crabb, and headed into the intermission with a 2-0 lead. In the second, Clutterbuck makes an awfully blunt slash that lead to a 5-on-3 Leafs PP, and just as the first penalty expired Kessel tapped in his 25th goal of the season to extend the lead to 3-0. Heading into the third, the blue-and-white showing complete dominance over this game, Grabovski scores a tricky goal as it was deflected off his skate and into the back of the net. The original call on the ice was no goal, but after further review the goal was given and Mikhail had his 15th of the season. Gustavsson played a solid game, other than a puck-handling brain fart which nearly lead to a goal, and a late goal by Johnson which snuck between his arm and the post. The shutout was there for him but it was his own fault he lost it. Captain Phaneuf lead the Leafs with just under 27 minutes of playing time in this 4-1 win.


I personally thought the Leafs took total control of this game right from the start. The two quick goals drained the Wild, and they showed no signs of life throughout the game. The third line consisting of Lupul, Connolly and Kadri played great as their creative puck handling skills seemed to compliment each other. Lupul had a great night tallying 3 assists and a plus-3 rating. The defence was solid, and made simple plays to get the puck up and out of our end. Speciality teams played good, scoring once out of six powerplay attempts, and killing off the only short-handed stint. There's one thing about our PP that bothers me, and that's the cross-ice pace on the half boards. It never seems to work, always getting intercepted by a stick in the middle, I'd much rather see a simple pass that gets to the target. However, we came out with the win, and the crucial two points in the race for the playoffs, one point behind 8th-place Florida, and I'm happy. 


The Leafs are in action again on Saturday at the ACC against the bottom-feeding Montreal Canadiens. 


Don't stop beLeafing. 





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