Leafs Blow Lead, Lose 6-5 To Hurricanes In Shootout November 19th

In a battle for last place in the National Hockey League, the Toronto Maple Leafs came up short against the equally terrible Carolina Hurricanes. Toronto took a commanding 3-0 lead (well, maybe for a good team) only to be outscored by Carolina 5-2 over the final 2 periods and losing in the shootout. If you are up 3-0 in the first, usually that means you can turn up your best defensive game and play boring defensive hockey when on the road. But Carolina won by playing a tenacious game and clawed back to tie the game forcing overtime and then winning in a shoot out. The Hurricane and Leafs have both sucked for this last month or so, but Carolina has been even worse. They haven't won a game in regulation time since October 9th and the franchise's 2 most recent wins have been due to the shootout.

In the first, Leaf fans were delirious as they thought, I told you, this is the year when Toronto steps up and becomes a franchise to be reckoned with! But no. Once again Toronto blew chunks by giving up 5 goals in the final 40 minutes and then allowing 2 for 2 in the shootout. Leaf fans were turning their backs on the old familiar franchise (until the next game when they'll have that "maybe, just maybe" glint in their eyes again).

The game started well, with Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson stopping 11 Canes shots and Toronto getting goals from Matt Stajan, Lee Stempniak and Mikhail Grabovski to take a 3-0 lead into the dressing room after the first period. In the 2nd, the Leafs curled up in a panicky defensive shell, getting a mere 4 shots on Carolina netminder Manny Legace while the Canes bombarded Gustavsson with 17 shots and getting 2 behind him (Stephane Yelle with his 1st and Matt Cullen with a beautiful wrister over Gustavsson). So now it's 3-2. Do the Leafs crank it up? No, they get outshot 14-7 in the 3rd and return to their weak defensive form after Alexei Ponikarovsky puts them back up by 2 goals with a rare power play goal at 3:43 of the 3rd period.

Tim Gleason scored twice in about a 3 minute span to tie the game at 4-4 and the Canes pressing for the win. It appeared that the Leafs may have salvaged a win when Ian White scored with 30 seconds remaining in the 3rd, but not to be. With 3 seconds remaining, Erik Cole popped in his 2nd of the year after Leafs defenseman Jeff Finger coughed up the puck to Tuomo Ruutu whose shot bounced to Cole who snapped a quick shot past Gustavsson. Ruutu had an excellent game, assisting on all 4 of Carolina's last 4 goals. Overtime settled nothing.

And off to the shootout where Carolina highlighted a big hole in the Leafs' last line of defense.

Tuomo Ruutu CAR Goal
Phil Kessel TOR Save
Jussi Jokinen CAR Goal
Lee Stempniak TOR Save

To give Gustavsson some credit, this was his very first NHL shootout and he looked way out of place as both Carolina players scored on their shots. It looks like yet another glaring flaw in the "How To Beat The Leafs" handbook - get them to the shootout because their goaltenders are sieves.

What Toronto needs is another NHL franchise in southern Ontario who will suck badly for several years to take the stanky smell off the franchise until they start beating the Leafs into the ground like the rest of the NHL. When will there be professional level hockey in Toronto again? That's up to the Board of Governors.