Maple Leafs Surrender 9 Goals at Home


Nashville 9, Toronto 2. 
Nine goals by one team in a game is rare nowadays. In fact the Leafs haven't scored nine themselves since the 2006/07 season and they had not given up at least nine goals since Dec. 26, 1991 when they lost 12-1 in Pittsburgh. 

The last time Toronto had surrendered at least nine on home ice was all the way back on Jan. 14, 1991 when Buffalo beat the 11-30-4 Leafs by a score of 9-3. The Sabres got out to a 4-1 lead after the first period, chasing starter Peter Ing from the net. The Leafs actually got within a goal five minutes into the second on goals from Gary Leeman and Dave Ellett. The Sabres then poured three past Jeff Reese in a three minute stretch and two more in the third. In the end Reese allowed five goals on 14 shots while Ing allowed his four on 13 shots. Each of  Alexander Mogilny and Pierre Turgeon ended up with 2 goals, 3 assists and a plus 6 rating, while Toronto's Vinny Damphousse and Michel Petit were each a minus five.

The time previous that the Leafs allowed at least nine at home was two seasons before on March 18, 1989 when Winnipeg smashed them 10-2. This game was only 2-0 for Winnipeg after one period before the Jets ripped four past Alan Bester to go up 6-0 after two. By the time it was over, Bester had given up all ten goals on 35 shots against and Vinny Damphousse posted another minus 5 rating. For the Jets, Tomas Steen had a hat-tick and five points and Dale Hawerchuk collected five assists and six points.

The Maple Leafs of the late '80s early '90s were not a very good team, (Newsflash). From 1987/88 through 1991/92 they posted seasons of 52, 62, 80, 57 and 67 points and won a mere three games in two playoff series. 25 years later, the current edition of the Leafs are somewhat reminiscent of these teams of the past. They are a team that's barely good enough to fight for a playoff berth and not quite bad enough to receive a high draft pick.

Is it possible to equate Kessel, Bozak, vanRiemsdyk to Leeman, Olczyk, Damphousse as the top line in their mid-20's with defensive issues? Nazem Kadri is Daniel Marois, the young up-and-coming scorer? Dion Phaneuf as the ex-Calgary Flame, current captain near 30 years old? Joffrey Lupul as the often injured scorer Wendel Clark? Gardiner and Rielly as Al Iafrate and Luke Richardson, the young stud defenders in their early 20's? Bernier and Reimer as Jeff Reese and Peter Ing, the young goaltending tandem? This may all be a bit of a stretch, but it sure is fun to compare different eras. 

Truthfully, I'm not sure this edition has much more hope than the one from 25 years ago. Remember, those Leafs of old would soon trade for 19 mostly prime seasons worth of two future Hall-of-Famers in Mats Sundin and Doug Gilmour. Even with this, they still never even reached the Stanley Cup final.
Unless the current Leafs are going to acquire Steve Stamkos (maybe?) and say a Rick Nash or Joe Thornton...I'm afraid what we see is what we get.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un
Read more

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,
Read more