Leafs Officially Own Record with 3-1 loss to Canucks!

These ' New Look Leafs ' now officially own the record for losses to start the season, while it is a dubious record to have, the Leafs shouldn't be worried about it, after all, the still need to lose another four games to clinch the all time NHL title!

If you watched the game last night, then you're as sure as I am, that the Boys in Blue are well on their way. That was easily the best all around game they've played all year, and save for a bunch of penalty trouble in the first period, the Leafs for the most part played an extremely solid game and took the game to the Canucks for most of the night!


The Canucks first goal of their 3-1 win, was scored off the stick of Leafs d-man Komiserik. Joey MacDonald was very good in net aside from the second Vancouver goal that he simply was too far back in the net to see properly, and Luongo, despite taking a knee to the head from Toronto's Jason Blake, was incredibly lucky all night.

While there were several bright spots for the Leafs, there are still a couple of things that they need to work on.

While they obviously need to stay out of the box, they were 5 for 7 on the penalty kill. Luke Schenn needs to spend some time in the press box to re-evaluate himself. After a pretty good year last year, he has been more of a liability to the team in the early going so far this year.

Lee Stepniak looked very good last night, although, his stick couldn't seem to find the net.

Ian White set a career high in shots and even with a bad give away in the second, played his best game so far this year.

Viktor Stalberg, is still having trouble adjusting to life on the big club, he has only one point in six games as a Leaf, and is a -4, with just 15 shots over all.

Alex Edler put his hand over the puck in the blue ice and there was no call, and there where a couple of other obvious no calls in my opinion that could of made the difference, but alas, the Leafs fall to 0-7-1 on the season and will look to Anaheim Monday night for their first win of the season.

As Always, you can hear all the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Until next time, you kids play safe!

Schenn-Sational Night for 'Killer' and the Leafs

On a night that Doug Gilmore will remember for a long time, it was easy to lose sight of the fact that there was a game being played. Watching the ceremonial raising of Gilmores banner, brought to life a lot of great Leaf memories.

The inspiration wasn't lost on the team either as they went on to defeat the very one (or should I say two) dimensional Pittsburgh Penguins by a final score of 5-4.



The combination of Crosby and Malkin is lethal to say the least, but, beyond the two of them, the Penguins just don't have that much to offer. Having said that, it would be kind of cool to see the two of them end up #1 and #2 in scoring and the end of the season. A feat that hasn't been seen ironically enough since 1996 when Mario Lemiuex and Jaromir Jagr did it for these very same Penguins.

It was an excellent game to watch. Fast paced, lots of skill. It still amazes me sometimes to watch some of these guys and the things that they can do with the puck.

Luke Schenn was again a pleasure to watch. He has the poise and confidence of a player 10 years his senior most of the time, and will be a very big part of the leafs roster in the future. In the absense of Kaberle, Schenn logged over 23 minutes of ice time tonight was always on the ice with the dynamic duo.

Vesa Toskala however may not. There were three goal scored on him tonight, that probably shouldn't have been. Two of them were simply because of poor positional play. One however, was as a result of a blown call in my opinion. Toskala was literally pushed halfway across his goal crease by the Pittsburgh player which the afforded 'Sid the Kid' a virtually empty net.

Now, I don't typically harp on the officiating too much. However, it seems to me that there should at least be a happy medium somewhere.

Nik Antropov, after going 17 games without scoring a goal had his second in as many games, and Jason Blake added another goal and an assist to his points total tonight. In the last twenty games he has easily been the Leafs best player and has been on a point a game pace.

The Leafs next action comes Tuesday at home against the Panthers and as always, you can hear all the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Leafs make it 2 in a row!

Vesa Toskala made 24 saves to keep the Leafs in it until Ian white ( and the Stash ), scored past the half way point in the third to help the team to their second straight victory. Which incidentally, keeps them in 11th in the east, only 3 points out of a playoff spot.You can find the box score here.

I know, I know, we don't want them to make the playoffs. But let me tell ya, it sure is exciting to watch most of the time. Except for the game against San Jose earlier in the month, I'm fairly certain that I have yet to see a team just completely dominate this young Toronto team.

There are several problems with this team, though, none that can't be addressed. Let's start with Kabby. Almost everyone is calling for his head, ( including yours truly ). I may have been a bit pre-mature. As my wife like to point out. The thing is, there are several schools of thought when it comes to him. I said last week that I thought perhaps he wasn't as good a defense man as everyone had first thought, and maybe without McCabe and Gill around to make him look good, maybe, just maybe, we were seeing his true talent level. Another thought is, he's disoriented. Entirely possible, given the fact that prior to this year, he had spent the past ten years or so, pretty well playing with the same group of guys, and the same coaches. Now, everything is different. Not to mention the fact that because everyone else is gone, he may be worried about the same thing happening to him. If Burke does trade him, what will he get in return. There are a couple of defence man in the system, the could turn into good puck movers, but who knows really. So, do you make the trade straight up for a defense man of a similar quality, just to shake things up, or do you trade for prospects and hope someone in the system, develops into the role?

Today is a rare Saturday of for the buds who don't see action again until Tuesday when the Devils come to town. As always, you can hear the game live, right here on Bench Brawl!