By S. Ferguson
LEAFS:
When you are a Leafs fan it’s important not to overreact, but it’s also not our specialty. The Leafs split their two games this weekend. They played amazing Saturday night against the Senators. They went up by 3 goals including the first as a Leaf by Radim Zohorna who was acquired in a trade for Dryden Hunt just last month. He scored about two seconds after getting on the ice!
Equally impressive is how they played in the third period. They were up by three and you could see they wanted that shutout for Ilya Samsonov and showed they could play a tight and defensive game when needed keeping the Ottawa Senators off the board.
Sunday night was a different story. Matt Murray was in net and was only able to save 5 of his first 7 shots. The team went down 2-0, Murray got hurt, and Samsonov had to play on what should have been a night off. Final score was a loss to non-playoff team Detroit Red Wings by a score of 5-2 including an empty net goal.
On the plus side, another fine showing by a Leaf call up. Nick Abruzzese got a nice assist in his first game up from the Marlies where he is having a strong year.
Now back to whether it’s time to overreact. The extent to which you think these games are important, are directly linked to how important you think home ice advantage is in the playoffs. We know we are playing Tampa, and we are up by 4 with a game in hand so we’re probably going to get it anyway. But on that note…
SHOULD JOSEPH WOLL BE OUR BACK-UP?
I guess this won’t happen in part because of what it would mean for Matt Murray who is our highest paid goalie, but if you were to look only at the numbers, Joseph Woll’s are pretty incredible. It’s a small sample size but according to hockeydb in 8 NHL games (all with the Leafs) he has 6 wins, a goals against average of 2.40, and a save percentage of .922. He also has 16 wins in 21 games this year for the Marlies.
Here’s he is in action:
MARLIES
A lot of attention today on the debut of Topi Niemela, considered one of the Leafs top defensive prospects of the future.
He had an assist in his debut and the Marlies won 6-2.
TORONTO 6
A week after winning the championship the Toronto Six were honoured at the Leafs game tonight.