Carolina (1-1-1-0) @ Toronto (1-1-1-0) - 7PM -RSNET(R)/AM640

[The-Insider]

"I came here to Toronto -- to a new franchise -- mainly to be another piece in helping this team win a Stanley Cup," he said. "And, truthfully, that's all I've been thinking about through my situation. I want to keep playing until they throw me out of the league... hopefully in 10 years from now." - Jason Blake

Probable Lineups

Canes:

Whitney-Brind-Amour-Williams
Stillman-Staal-Cole
Ladd-Cullen-Walker
Larose-Hamilton-Adams

Hedican-Kaberle
Commodore-Gleason
Wallin-Wesley

Ward
Grahame


Leafs:

Ponikarovsky-Sundin-Antropov
Blake-Stajan-Steen
Kilger-Pohl-Tucker
Battaglia-Devereaux-Newbury

Kaberle-Kubina
McCabe-White
Gill-Wozniewski

Toskala
Raycroft


Television Canada: Rogers Sportsnet Ontario(Regional)
Radio: AM640
Gametime: 7:00EST



chyeaaaa!

[TR50]

Waiting for a good game, we play the Canes pretty well and i'm looking forward to seeing Vessy in net....

btw i'm pretty sure Jason Blake will be playing on the top line, pohl moved to wing and some other 3/4 line changes talked about on LeafsTV

GO LEAFS GO!!!!!

[Mak]

Leafs should win 3-1

[Looogie]

Leafs down 6-1

[straightguji]

WOOHOO WE GOT RAPED 7-1!

TANK TANK TANK.

[Mak]

holy ****, Leafs suck

[dagger]

Won't be long before the fans start wearing paper bags on their head at the ACC.

http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/archives/ph ... _670.shtml

[Snayr]

Ouch, tough loss. Why couldn't Toskala play like this vs us eh? Geez lol. Anyways I'm sure you guys will get the better of them next time!

[The-Insider]

They don't make beer strong enough to watch games like these.

[MAS]

It was to be expected, when you start the year with natural rivals like Ottawa and Montreal and play a non-natural rival like Carolina right after that. You tend to come out with less intensity and relax a bit.

I think the only person who really came out to play today was Vessy and good on him.

On Thursday, we will all forget about this game when we beat the Islanders

[MAS]

Ouch, tough loss. Why couldn't Toskala play like this vs us eh? Geez lol. Anyways I'm sure you guys will get the better of them next time!

Nothing wrong with Vessy tonight, the rest of the team just sucked

[The-Insider]

-= original quote snipped =-



Nothing wrong with Vessy tonight, the rest of the team just sucked

I have a hard time believing that Gamache, Salamander and Stralman are worse than some of the dead weight out there.

[Tor-Rap-Tor]

-= original quote snipped =-
I have a hard time believing that Gamache, Salamander and Stralman are worse than some of the dead weight out there.

Reading the posts above sounds like the world just ended...LOL

Like "The-Insider" I too would like to see Gamache, Salmelainen and Tlusty, they bring speed and enthusiasm, something we were sadly lacking last night and it is comforting to know we have some pretty good players ready to step in if things don't turn around. Stralman is a good player and needs to get a year in the AHL under his belt and maybe Tlusty too needs a little seasoning but they will be with the big club soon...

I think after playing 3 good games against tough opponents, most thought this was going to be a walk over and so too the Leafs as a whole, thought they were going to go out and easily beat the Hurricane's. This hopefully was a wake up call and the next game, they will be prepared to play hockey...

[Griff83]

-= original quote snipped =-



Reading the posts above sounds like the world just ended...LOL

Like "The-Insider" I too would like to see Gamache, Salmelainen and Tlusty, they bring speed and enthusiasm, something we were sadly lacking last night and it is comforting to know we have some pretty good players ready to step in if things don't turn around. Stralman is a good player and needs to get a year in the AHL under his belt and maybe Tlusty too needs a little seasoning but they will be with the big club soon...

I think after playing 3 good games against tough opponents, most thought this was going to be a walk over and so too the Leafs as a whole, thought they were going to go out and easily beat the Hurricane's. This hopefully was a wake up call and the next game, they will be prepared to play hockey...

I dont know who would have thought this? Canes are a good team that was filled with injuries last season and will be one of the better teams in the East this season and even Maurice said earlier in the year he thinks 2 of the teams to beat in the East this season are Ottawa and Carolina.Add to that this Leafs team isnt going to beat any team easily and arent in a position after missing the playoffs 2 years in a row to take any team lightly. Canes just have way too much speed up front for our team to contain. Our defence is one of the weaker groups defensively in the league and struggle bigtime when we face teams with lots of speed up front.

Unless this team greatly improves its play in its own end its going to be another year without the playoffs.

[jalenrose#5]

Well I could see this happening, the Leafs team speed is AWFUL and their team defence isn't much better.

You can really only blame Vesa on maybe 3 of the goals, but he was left out to dry most of the game. 5 PP Goals....come on!

The Leafs need to seriously address their defence. They are far too slow. If they could get Carlo back, and bring in Stralman and Kronwall, I think at least they'll stand a chance.

Woz, Gill have no wheels, Kubina is far too inconsistant, White and McCabe together is like having 2/3 stooges out there and Kaberle has really been off this year.

I really hope the Leafs can actually get some speed on defence and possibly some skill upfront. Whoever said this team would be a top 5 team in the East has to seriously look this team over.

Here's hoping they can take the Isles.

[TR50]

Problem with the leafs is simple, 2 things we severely lack...those speedy players that can keep up with others and not the big fat farts that can just size others up and defense....until then we will never be a dominant playoff team, at best a fringe team

[RapsVC15]

Goaltending has never been a problem. It wasn't last year, and it won't be this year either. The problem is the god awful defense. Ferguson collapsed under the pressure last year by signing Toskala after all the boo birds Raycroft was hearing. Instead of blowing cap space on another goalie, he should have sured up our AHL level defense. Just brutal.

[Crowned]

Goaltending has never been a problem. It wasn't last year, and it won't be this year either. The problem is the god awful defense. Ferguson collapsed under the pressure last year by signing Toskala after all the boo birds Raycroft was hearing. Instead of blowing cap space on another goalie, he should have sured up our AHL level defense. Just brutal.

On 'paper', our defense looks extremely good. McCabe is obviously an offensive defenseman, but still a top tier player in that regards. We've got Kaberle, probably one of the better defenseman in the league. JFJ then went out and signed Kubina, the Lightnings top shutdown defenseman, the same defenseman that led them to the cup. He's got Carlo Coliacovo, Ian White, Gill, Stralman, Woz, etc left as depth defenseman, which includes some pretty good names.

So far this season, we've seen McCabe stink it up, Kaberle struggle, Kubina struggle with the speed of the game, and Coliacovo injured.

Something just isn't clicking with this defensive core, and I think it's really bothering the team, because there is some very good names on that blueline. I think we've got too many offensive players back there, and not enough shut down type of defenseman. I'd like to see a shutdown, defensive type of player such as a McKee or Witt play with McCabe.

We can manage with Kaberle and Kubina together, but McCabe/White or Carlo just isn't working...so far we've see McCabe act as a defensive liability.