Preview: Maple Leafs versus The Comets

by PPP on Dec 23, 2008 3:00 PM EST Comment 20 comments

Pre-Game: 7pm LeafsTV
Broadcast: 7:30pm Sportsnet Ontario
Post-Game: 10:30pm LeafsTV
Bloggers in attendance: ME!

The Dallas Stars Fight Song by Pantera

Stat that worries me about tonight

Dallas is 4-1-1 in its last six and 6-2-2 in its last 10 at Toronto.

REMEMBER YOUR SPG PICKS

He's also earned the No. 1 star of the week by the NHL for his six-goal outing in the past three games. So good for him. A Toronto writer actually informed him of the honor before the PR folks could. Loui took it in typical Loui fashion. "They're just going in right now."

Tracey Myers, Five For Fighting

Hmm...does John Ondrasik know that she's infringing on his copyright? Who is this Loui character?

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Loui Eriksson	32	18	8	26	4	6	2	0	3	1	65	27.7

I wonder how that superstar kid is doing. The one that got away?

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Fabian Brunnstrom	29	9	3	12	-9	2	2	0	3	0	43	20.9

Looks like a bit of a toss-up. He's certainly not the game breaker that he was being sold as yet but that shooting percentage is pretty nice. It's not Jeremy Williams:

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Jeremy Williams	6	5	2	7	6	0	0	0	0	0	16	31.3

The Stars' defense has given up 5 in each of the last 5 games. Toronto has scored 5, 6, and 7 in their last three outings. Wowza. When you add those two things up it's not hard to tell what the Stars and their spare defensive corps and poor penalty killing are going to be expecting on Tuesday night. Murder north of the border is likely.

Brad, Stars.HockeyAnalysis.Com

How beat up are the Stars? Very.

Dallas Stars Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Joel Lundqvist	shoulder	12.23.2008
Nicklas Grossman	flu-like symptoms	12.23.2008

Doubtful

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Brian Sutherby	groin	12.23.2008

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Sergei Zubov	to undergo left hip surgery	11.29.2008
Brenden Morrow	right knee surgery	11.21.2008

Toss in Marty Turco's struggles:

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Marty Turco	29	1694	12	12	5	3	94	3.33	784	690	.880	0

And the Leafs have a pretty good opportunity here to pick up their sixth win in seven games. Normally that would mean that the Leafs would proceed to get blown out (and they still might) but I am feeling an odd thing: confidence.

Overall, I think it's likely that some of the older forwards are "auditioning" for jobs elsewhere, as their upside is near it's peak. But until they're sent on their way, it's nice to know that the Leafs have 3 seriously threatening lines to throw over the boards at any given moment, and the f4th is far from horrible in the offensive end.

Steve, Leafs.HockeyAnalysis.com

The emergence of the Beamer Line has helped take some pressure off of the Man Grabs Stemps line and Antropov's Army. The fifth goal last night showed what John Mitchell can bring to the table so it would be nice to see him and Kulemin hit it off.

On a sidenote, you can't copy and paste from HockeyAnalysis sites which is a massive pain in the ass.

UPDATE:

It's unclear if Wilson will keep Pogge in the net or start veteran Curtis Joseph on Tuesday as top netminder Vesa Toskala continues to deal with a groin problem. Joseph has only made one appearance since a Nov. 25 loss to Atlanta.

It has to be Pogge right? WOO-HOO!!

UPDATE TWO:

While there was some speculation Pogge might get another start or veteran backup Curtis Joseph would face the Stars, Toskala was the first goaltender off the ice, which is the custom for the starter. Joseph did not take part in the skate.

What the hell Toronto media! Can't you just ask a freaking question?

0 recs | Comment 20 comments

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Comments

Is Pogge

in?

Sports And The City

A Toronto sports blog, where we unequivocally and unapologetically support the home team...

by eyebleaf on Dec 23, 2008 3:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Well...

Ronny said it was a one game thing and then Pogge won and he said he’d talk to Burkie and the coaches and then he said the plan was always to have Toskala play tonight but…the official preview said it was between Pogge and Old Yeller.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Dec 23, 2008 3:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

thx dude

Sports And The City

A Toronto sports blog, where we unequivocally and unapologetically support the home team...

by eyebleaf on Dec 23, 2008 3:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't realize you can't copy and paste from our site...

You have my permission to, since you obviously reference me properly every time (unlike SOME people… who have since apologised).

If it’s an issue with the site itself though I suppose the person to ask about that would be DJ, since I’m not exactly sure how he has it set up…

I’d like to see Pogge get another kick at the can. If he gets hot, we might as well ride him for a bit, and let Toskala’s wonky groin rest some more.

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

- Sir Winston Churchill

I'm pretty sure he's talking about the Leafs.

by Steve@Leafs.HockeyAnalysis.com on Dec 23, 2008 3:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’ll send DJ an e-mail because I was surprised that I couldn’t do it.

I just added an update from Sportsnet but it would certainly seem that Pogge is going to get another shot tonight.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Dec 23, 2008 3:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Test:

A funny thing happened on the way to the Leafs sliding into the basement to look for John Tavares and Victor Hedman… they discovered they have a lot of depth. Unfortunately this might mean the trip down to the basement takes longer than some people expect… or the rate of the drop will need to be helped by a few bricks, anchors, and anvils.

PPP probably just doesn’t know how to use the internet.

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Dec 23, 2008 4:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I can use it just fine

Turns out that it just takes a ridiculous amount of clicking to keep it from highlighting everything on the page.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Dec 23, 2008 4:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Or

PPP probably just doesn’t know how to use his mice

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Dec 23, 2008 4:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Let's practice

Move mouse to manage blog and click
find Winkle
click on screenname
click on ban
click confirm

Yup, looks like my mouse is working :P

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Dec 23, 2008 4:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I love you too man

MAN HUGS

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Dec 23, 2008 4:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

re: Skaters off the ice...

didn’t we learn last night that Pogge has to be the last guy off the ice…

i pay attention to those little fluff pieces. i’m a fount of useless information because of it…

"You do dat, you go to da box, you know, uh, two minutes by yourself, and you feel shame, you know, and then you get free."
The Left Coast Lock

by blurr1974 on Dec 23, 2008 4:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yes but...

Is that just during games? I guess we’ll find out at 730pm.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Dec 23, 2008 4:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I have no PVR and

the game is on Ted Rogers’ Memorial Sportsnet, hence no replay…(yep, TSN2 is awesome).

I’m going to see the last pre-tourney World Junior game here in the Hammer – and while yes, that is sweet it’s killing me to have to sacrifice hockey for other more different hockey, especially considering how exciting these feuilles have been this week.

Meh, i’m greedy, it sounds like a lot of folks around here happily do the justin.tv thing for most games. But it is nice to be in market.

Anyways have fun the game PPP, should be a high scorn affair.
Coming home to an interview with Hagman, in his awesome accent, saying how happy he is to be a Maple Leaf, while downplaying his hat trick as all-around team effort would work for me.

Go Leafs Go /
Slovakia, more like So-wackia

by Ando Rich on Dec 23, 2008 5:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I will also be in attendance

and I brought my camera! I will be watching from the Gondola tonight! Will have a full report ready tomorrow!

http://sportsjamer.blogspot.com

by Jamer on Dec 23, 2008 5:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Nice!

I hope that you didn’t jump!

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Dec 23, 2008 11:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

TSN sez

Toskala’s the man, for some reason.

by Pat Verbeek on Dec 23, 2008 6:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That would sadden me.

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Dec 23, 2008 6:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I would

prefer Pogge to start…. I’m not quite sure of the logic behind having Toskala start.

by Karina on Dec 23, 2008 6:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Would it really be fair to throw Pogge in back to back? This should be good for Toskala, to not only have gotten a rest, but to also have seen a solid performance from a competitor for his job, something Raycroft never did, and Cujo has yet to do. Hopefully Pogge gets another shot.

by general borschevsky on Dec 23, 2008 7:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

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