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Leafs 7 v. Sabres 4: Coca-Cola Delivers Win

Coca-Cola "Zero Fans First" night delivered the fans actually got what they deserved: a win. Ron Wilson's first game was a coaching gem, Justin Pogge gave Cliff Fletcher the thumbs up to deal Vesa Toskala at the deadline, Dominic Moore signalled his intent to lead the league in goals, and Carlo Colaiacovo showed that he's past his injury problems. Ok, that might be overstating it based on one game.

What can't be understated is what a difference a year makes. Last year the Leafs' home exhibition game was an unmitigated disaster. Little did we know but that game was a portent of the problems that the Leafs would face all year long. If this game ends up serving as a similar harbinger then it is going to be an exciting season.

Star-divide

The Leafs were not without their faults. Ian White was directly responsible for two goals with his terrible decision making in front of the net. On the second Sabres goal he faced a two-on-one down low. Earlier Mike Van Ryn played a similar situation perfectly as he tied up the open winger and allowed Pogge to handle the shooter which he did. White chose the lesser known option of sitting in the middle doing nothing as a pass slides through his leg for a tap-in. Pogge almost saved his bacon but the puck bounced in off of his pad. Later, while penalty killing, White apparently missed Jeff Finger's great example because rather than tie up Hecht's stick he decided to tickle his calves allowing another tap-in. Hopefully Ron Wilson takes those two plays as a sign that White is not up to snuff.

Meanwhile, on the good side of the ledger Robbie Earl did his best to counteract his burgeoning reputation with a well taken breakaway goal after White picked him out (hopefully Wilson forgets about this great pass). Justin Pogge stopped 15 shots in the second period and looked every inch the goaltender of this February. Dominic Moore made it his mission to make Chemmy look bad with his speed and surprising finishing. John Mitchell boosted his NHL credentials Mark Bell marked his desire to stick with the big club with a nice setup of Boyd Devereaux after he pounced on a turnover.

In the bigger picture, the blue team on the ice was the antithesis of last season's squad. On the penalty kill, while they still allowed a trio of goals, they pressured the puck and played a much more passive box. They forechecked aggressively and created a number of turnovers, a coupld of which led to goals. They even blocked shots including Tlusty's great block that led to his empty net goal. All in all, they competed in a way that they rarely did last night. Name any seemingly insignificant play and there were Leafs making sure that it was done because that is how games are won.

Obviously this is just one pre-season game but it was an important first step. If the team couldn't do the small things after two straight days of practice then Ron Wilson was really up shit's creek without a paddle. As it stands, they passed the first test of 9 before the real games begin. If they can make it 8 more then we can talk about new leaves being turned over. But until then, it was a fun start to the season. Hockey's back!

The Game Thread was a pretty good start to the season as well. We had 11 commenters and 102 comments. Hopefully we can continue to build on that as the season continues. Thanks to everyone that came out:

Name# of Posts
PPP 36
Chemmy 19
JaredFromLondon 16
AlecB 10
LeafFanInVan 6
Down Goes Brown 4
leosc 4
Karina 2
eyebleaf 2
mf37 2
article1 1

Comment 43 comments  |  0 recs  | 

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Go Dominic Moore

This resident Avs fan will be around for the Leafs vs. Flames game. Dominic has a serious grudge with Bertuzzi. (Can you blame him. He ended his brothers career for crying out loud).

InYoFace Hasek! InYoFace

by InYoFace on Sep 23, 2008 12:43 AM EDT reply actions  

Yeah, it would be great to see someone catch Bertuzzi with his head down in that game…

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions  

D for C

I’m still of the mindset that Dom could make a really good captain. He plays hard every shift, regardless of what it calls for. He’s thoughtful and intelligent and he’s a hometown boy. Sure, he’s not the most skilled player even on this team, but skill does not equal leadership.

Just my two cents (american, which I think makes it worth just over two cents back home and worth just north of nothing in europe…haven’t paid much attention to the exchange rate.)

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Sep 23, 2008 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions  

Interesting

I think that you can make a case for a guy like Moore. But ultimately, you can make the same one for guys like Kubina and Mayers as well.

I’d rather see no captain than settle. Moore doesn’t need a letter to be an example.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions  

Can we all agree that Stajan with an “A” is horrifying?

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

by Chemmy on Sep 23, 2008 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions  

yes. oh yes.

Sports And The City

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

by eyebleaf on Sep 23, 2008 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions  

Why?

He’s our next captain :|

If he has it on October 9th I’ll be worried. Especially since he’ll probably be centering the fourth line if Moore has his way.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions  

moore read what chemmy wrote about him. and now it is his mission to show him just how ILL he is.

Sports And The City

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

by eyebleaf on Sep 23, 2008 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions  

I’ll continue badmouthing him then, just so he can prove me wrong.

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

by Chemmy on Sep 23, 2008 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions  

Badmouth more players.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions  

Norte said it best...

I think the word that will wrap up this entire season’s discussion regarding the “C” is…huzzah.

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Sep 23, 2008 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions  

Reverse Psychology

I dunno…using reverse psychology, in my experience, is usually pretty hit-and-miss

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Sep 23, 2008 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions  

We wuz here

Nice Recap. You guys were doin’ such a great job, it was easy to just watch from the bench.
Nice hustle.
Highlight for me was when Buffalo made it 5-3 with 6 and a half minutes to go, I didn’t get an “oh no” feeling. I know it’s only pre-season, but there was no sense, absolutely none, that the Leafs would choke on a 2-goal lead in the third period.
“Mr. Wilson, I am already grateful”.
I’m gonna put that on a sign and bring it to the next game.

by general borschevsky on Sep 23, 2008 8:40 AM EDT reply actions  

Highlight for me was when Buffalo made it 5-3 with 6 and a half minutes to go, I didn’t get an "oh no" feeling.

Seriously. Last year I remember watching one game after we had all decided that it was time to lose and the Leafs had a two goal lead and my sister saw that I was upset and she said “Don’t worry, it’s a two goal lead. They’ll blow it.” Even casual fans knew what a curse a two-goal lead was for the Leafs last year.

Imagine if Wilson changes just that?

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions  

I would have posted more but was busy pimping us out on Mirtle’s live blog. As the game wound down I slipped in a ton of links to us. :)

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

by Chemmy on Sep 23, 2008 8:56 AM EDT reply actions  

Yeah

Stellar effort last night. Biggest day ever for pageviews.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions  

Hey guys, sorry I missed it. It sounded like fun. :/

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Sep 23, 2008 9:02 AM EDT reply actions  

How was your postmodern take on My Fair Lady?

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

by Chemmy on Sep 23, 2008 9:23 AM EDT up reply actions  

She could have like totally danced all night or whatever.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions  

Postmodern? BAHA!

I’m a daringly innovative pseudo anti-neo post modern deconstructionist!

(bright shiny +1 for whoever knows where that’s from…)

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Sep 23, 2008 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions  

What Did I Win?

Darkwing Duck?

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Sep 23, 2008 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions  

Well, a character on Darkwing duck…

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Sep 23, 2008 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions  

it was what’s her name…the Phoenix something or the somethign Phoenix…come on, that was like how many years/beers ago? Cut me a little slack here…

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Sep 23, 2008 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions  

well, she was only on one episode, so yeah.

+1.

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Sep 23, 2008 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions  

just because I’m such a sucker for approval and gold stars, I googled it…

Splatter Phoenix.

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Sep 23, 2008 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions  

wow

I loved DD and I would never have gotten that one…

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions  

Splatter Phoenix

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Sep 23, 2008 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions  

Obviously, you have a life, and that is ultimately your downfall…

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Sep 23, 2008 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

Oh yeah

Buzz this shit up gents.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 10:49 AM EDT reply actions  

PPP

do you have email addresses of those people who sign up around here?

Sports And The City

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

by eyebleaf on Sep 23, 2008 10:53 AM EDT reply actions  

I do

But I can’t give them to you because of privacy issues. If it’s about payment for the injury pool you can edit the post to include instructions at the top but I can’t give you their e-mails.

Unless you are MLSE trying to make a targeted marketing list. Kidding ;)

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions  

ok, that’s cool bro, i’ll make another fanpost re: payment

Sports And The City

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

by eyebleaf on Sep 23, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions  

Not only the game and the score were different from last year's

I read all the comments you got last year after the counterpart game against the Sabres: it took me all of 0.00001 nanoseconds

congratulations again on Pension Plan Puppets.

by leosc on Sep 23, 2008 12:07 PM EDT reply actions  

Yeah

It’s a big jump from 0 to 102. I can’t wait to see what we get for a real game.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions  

Wait we need to do last night 82 more times? I’m pretty spent this morning.

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

by Chemmy on Sep 23, 2008 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions  

Not just 82, but add in all the rest of preseason and it’s even more

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Sep 23, 2008 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions  

Well...

most nights you won’t be over at Mirtle’s too but just here.

And actually, it’s at least 90 more times.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions  

Oh man I’m beat. My blogging finger is sore. :(

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

by Chemmy on Sep 23, 2008 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions  

Too much hunting and pecking?

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions  

….PLAYOFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Sports And The City

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

by eyebleaf on Sep 23, 2008 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions  

hahaha

I love how the DJF whip that out.

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

by PPP on Sep 23, 2008 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions  

I can’t wait to see the rest of the team play the Pens. I’m really curious about how Hagman will look on the ice. He may make guys like Devereaux and Moore obsolete.

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Sep 23, 2008 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions  

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