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Good Leafs Or Bad Wings?
by Paul on 11/08/09 at 08:43 AM ET
Comments (5)
from Damian Cox of the Toronto Star,
Was it the Maple Leafs, suddenly a very competent looking hockey club after two straight victories?
Or was it the Detroit Red Wings, or at least the current injury-riddled, talent-depleted version of the squad that went to the Stanley Cup final the past two springs but was steamrolled 5-1 by the Leafs last night?
Hard to say. But let’s start with this. When the Leafs were being trampled with Joey MacDonald in net and with Phil Kessel’s presence still a distant dream, it was suggested that it would be impossible to evaluate the Toronto team and individual players until top-flight goaltending was supplied by somebody, and that it was a little early to describe the Kessel-for-two-first-rounders deal as a disaster until he at least played a game.
Today, the Leafs, after beating awful Carolina and the Wings on back-to-back nights, look like a club that at least has a chance to vie for a playoff berth.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Toronto Maple Leafs | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
This outcome just doesn’t surprise me… rarely do the Wings play well at ACC. I think a lot of it has to do with so many family members at the games. The Wings just never look mentally sharp in TO.
I’m waiting to see the outcome of the Columbus game Wednesday before jumping to any conclusions.
Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste. Marie on 11/08/09 at 10:50 AM ET
I think a lot of it has to do with so many family members at the games. The Wings just never look mentally sharp in TO.
There was a study on performance that I read once, about how musicians perform and their comfort level in front of a friendly audience of family and friends, or a hostile audience of strangers, or a receptive audience but one made up of people they did not know. They rated their own performance after each situation and it was also rated by a few judges who were out of the room at the time.
The performers rated themselves better than the judges did when they performed in front of a friendly audience, and ranked their comfort level very high. In front of a receptive audience of strangers, though, they did not feel very comfortable, but the judges rated their performance better. (They all felt uncomfortable and some did worse, some did better in front of the hostile audience.)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 11/08/09 at 10:57 AM ET
Today, the Leafs, after beating awful Carolina and the Wings on back-to-back nights, look like a club that at least has a chance to vie for a playoff berth.
How hockey could possibly be enjoyable in Toronto is a mystery. With the clowns they have covering the sport, when they lose a game, everyone should be fired. When they win two, they start talking about the playoffs. Good God!
Posted by Timbits on 11/08/09 at 12:13 PM ET
How hockey could possibly be enjoyable in Toronto is a mystery. With the clowns they have covering the sport, when they lose a game, everyone should be fired. When they win two, they start talking about the playoffs. Good God!
Amen… I like how last night they kept trumpeting how the Leafs had points in their last 6… nevermind that four of those games were still losses. Just one more reason the “three point game” has got to go.
Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 11/08/09 at 04:30 PM ET
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Toronto beat the Wings in the first game of last season. Was the best game they played all year. Detroit went to game seven of the Cup Finals, the Leafs went… who cares where they went.
Sometimes good teams have bad games (Detroit did last night). Sometimes bad or mediocre teams have really good games (Toronto did last night). Sometimes the two coincide.
I’m not saying Detroit is still a juggernaut (they are not, with two, and possibly three, major injuries to their forwards, and the loss of three other major offensive contributors to FA). But Detroit is still a good team with notably more talent and experience than the Leafs’ squad.
When you play 82 games, these things happen! The Toronto media reacts way too heavily to each game that’s played.
Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 11/08/09 at 10:23 AM ET