WHAT A SAD GAME

Put another one in the loss column.

The Leafs came out flat and played that way throughout. The Leafs pretty much lost to a team worse than them, the Atlanta Thrashers to a final score of 6-3. Both of these teams came into the game on three game losing streaks.

Bad goaltending, mixed in with bad team play spelt disaster for Toronto. They were outplayed in the first period and the game, and had way too many turnovers. Atlanta cashed in on one of those turnovers.

Tomas Kaberle was the one who got caught at Atlanta’s blue line as he missed the puck trying to dump it in.

Colby Armstrong took it the other way on a 1 on 1 rush, got Curtis Joseph to bite on a fake and froze him for a second, before beating him high over the shoulder.

On that goal Joseph’s rust showed, as this was his first start since November 2nd. The play of Jeff Finger on that play was week, and he had similar plays like that one on Saturday versus Chicago where he got burned twice.

The difference in the first period was the play of the two goaltenders. Joseph had his moments making some strong saves to keep the Leafs in it, but didn’t keep it up. Whereas his counterpart Johan Hedberg was the reason his team won.

Hedberg had a great save that should be the save of the year so far on a Leafs 2-on-1 rush. Toronto had some good crisp passes going before Grabovski hesitated slightly and was robbed, on what should have been an easy empty net goal.

The second period was where Atlanta won the game, outscoring the Leafs 3-1.

The rookie Luke Schenn got confused by the Thrashers’ good down low play, and left his man open in front of the net. Todd White had an easy tap in goal right on the doorstep.

About three minutes later, Atlanta score again to make it 3-0. That goal came after the Thrashers’ hard work along the boards and crashed the net. What looked like a goalie interference call, but wasn’t. Atlanta had Joseph down and out of position, and Chris Thoburn had an empty netter. And he was the player that knocked down CuJo.

The Leafs did show some life after Nik Antropov skated down the wing and had his pass deflect off an Atlanta player to go in the net. The goal came 27 seconds after Atlanta had scored, and the momentum seemed to shift in the Leafs’ favor.

After a penalty to Antropov, Atlanta scored a second after the penalty expired. It was Ilya Kovalchuk who controlled the puck on the power play.

His first shot attempt went wide of the net, but after another shot from the point, the puck bounced right to Kovalchuk. He then chipped the puck by John Mitchell to himself, and snapped one over Joseph. That goal was very well orchestrated and the finish was just as good.

Kovalchuk just wasn’t scoring as he and Ian White got into it during the period. The two starting talking after White had hit him into the boards. First Kovalchuk charged White and then sucker punched him. Kovalchuk got a double minor penalty, and as soon as he left the box, he spotted White and the two fought.

All in all, there was some good hitting in the game, and the intensity level was up there.

With the score 4-1, Kovalchuk’s goal did it for Toronto.

Toronto did have chances to score, most notably on the power play late in the second. Antropov had the puck in the slot and shot wide of the net.

Six minutes into the third, Jeff Finger scored his first goal as a Leaf, but Atlanta was quick to answer and Mathieu Schneider scored a soft one that went through the five hole of Joseph. That shot was on a 2-on-1 basically from the point with no obstructed view.

To top off the night, Atlanta scored their sixth goal of the game, and Todd White got his second. It was a pass from behind the net that went off of Luke Schenn, then off of Joseph’s pad.

Niklas Hagman added a late power play goal, but that really didn’t matter.

Both Jason Blake and Mikhail Grabovski got hammered with some big hits. Blake got nailed for admiring his drop pass. Grabovski with all the stick handling he has done with his head down this season got clocked. It was only a matter of time before that was going to happen.

Toronto’s home ice woe’s continue, and they have only won three out of eleven games this season at the ACC. This game was the eighth time the Leafs have given up five or more goals in a game. And newcomer Lee Stempniak recorded a point in his Leafs debut with an assist on the first Toronto goal. Overall, he had a good first showing, as he showed off his speed. Both teams went 1/5 on the power play, and Toronto was out-shot 35-30.


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