When I was a kid, there was a lot of corporate and fan support for the Winnipeg Jets. Haha, not really - I was a kid in the 90s, a time when Winnipeg's barn could only be filled by talented teams coming to town, and still averaged two thousand empty seats a night. Sure, nowadays you could probably find someone who remembers the "glory days" of the WHL and the Winnipeg Jets - someone who'll talk your ear off about Dale Hawerchuk, Bobby Hull, and four years of Keith Tkachuk - but their stories will probably finish with "and that's why their banners shouldn't be in Phoenix."

As the Jets of old continue the franchise tradition of fan-free hockey in Phoenix, the NHL decided to replace the lost franchise with a losing one. Today's Jets have inherited a history of Patrick Stefan, of Marc Savard's futile career high, and of, uh, eighteen games of Keith Tkachuk. The team seems to like playing in Winnipeg, probably because it's the highest home attendance they've been able to attract without appealing to local demographics. The AHL arena gets loud when the crowd boos opposition players at random - begging for a rivalry, natural or otherwise.

For its own sake, I hope the fan base keeps up its random hate-on for threatening opposition players; if the fans stop booing, they might notice that the greatest accomplishment their inherited on-ice product has ever accomplished was being swept in the first round of the franchise's lone playoff appearance. To this, they added players like Kyle Wellwood and Nik Antropov - castoffs from the Leafs' six years of post-lockout futility - and felt like they could talk about history. And if the fanbase ever stops booing long enough to notice that these Jets have a worse playoff record than the pre-Phoenix Coyotes did, they might stop coming to the games. Again.

Continue reading this post »

In life, we are all forced to do things we really don't want to do. Take me for example. As a board-certified massage therapist, every day I have to work on people from all walks of life who think that just because I'm "comfortable" with their nudity, suddenly I must be their psychiatrist or something. Like this one client I have, I'll call him "Howard B." Petulant and with eyes swimming with unfulfilled dreams, the moment he gets his towel on he begins to drone on and on and on about being a professional laughingstock, swearing his ass off the whole while. I just try and get through it. The whole time he's ranting, all I'm thinking is, "Please God, don't let him get wood" and, "Really? A Goatee? In 2012?!"

The point I'm making is this, we all have things we dread but have to face. Yesterday it was the Leafs having to play the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second night in a row. Wednesday's game, coming off as a diabolical stream of "if only's" which allowed the Pens to come all the way back from 4-1 in the 3rd to winning in overtime, only stoked my anxiety. To say that after the collapse in game one I was dreading game two would be an understatement; I haven't had such mixed feelings about a back to back since the final scene in "Requiem for a Dream."

Continue reading this post »

I don't want to say that this was an important win for the Leafs, because the same could be said for all the Leafs remaining games, but it was, nevertheless, critical for my own peace of mind. Yesterday's tough loss was marked by a rash of bad luck and some shoddy goaltending (and a brutal no-goal), and today, things just happened to go the opposite way.

Continue reading this post »

In the first of their back-to-back games against the Islanders, Jonas Gustavsson and the Toronto Maple Leafs shut out John Tavares and the New York Islanders. The shot total was a meager 25, but Gustavsson looked strong through a series of tough saves late in the second, and a flawless stand against the 14 shots in the third. It's great to see Gustavsson continue to work against his detractors, as he has a .927 over his past 16 starts, and it'll be great if he can sustain this performance through the rest of the season. Maybe he draws his inspiration from goalie-controversy PPP threads.

Continue reading this post »

First off, a tip of the hat to the good folks over at Hockey Wilderness for having us over for a good natured, ribbing filled field trip. Sorry about the whole getting trounced thing. We totally didn't see this coming.

Second, a wag of the finger to the Columbus Blue Jackets who signed Brett Lebda somewhere around the second period. Not a smart move because they'll end up failing for Nail and then probably lose the draft lottery.

Third, a tip of the hat for the Toronto Maple Leafs for ending a three game skid and beating a team they would otherwise have no business losing to.

Jonas Gustavsson pulled off his signature move, stopping every shot he faced, save for one laugher. Joffrey Lupul had an assistrick which catapulted him into the team scoring lead with 51 points, 1 more than Phil Kessel and only 3 back of league leader Evgeni Malkin. Not too shabby for a salary dump.

More after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

For all the hand-wringing over the lineup alterations made by Ron Wilson before tonight's game, things went remarkably well. The Dion Phaneuf - Luke Schenn pairing wasn't on the ice for a goal against, Jonas Gustavsson nearly had himself a shutout, and both Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul found their respective ways onto the scoresheet (Lupul actually took over the Leafs' scoring lead with 51 points), despite being split up for the first time this season.

Now, as any sensible Leafs fan will be quick to point out, given the young average age of this team, things could certainly have gone another way. It's true that the Leafs were playing the Minnesota Wild which doesn't hurt, and we may see a completely different kind of effort put forth when Ron Wilson (likely) decides to go with a very similar lineup in the Leafs' upcoming game against the Canadiens.

For now, let's focus on some positives. Jump for more.

Continue reading this post »

I didn't watch the third period, and from the box score it doesn't seem like I missed any Leafs hockey. I'd like to be clear that tonight's game wasn't a terrible one for the Leafs; they generated a lot of shots (final tally Leafs 39 Sens 21), they generated a lot of chances, and they didn't win.

The game tonight is a terrible example of what's wrong with the Leafs. The second goal on Reimer should probably have been goaltender interference and that's probably the only thing representative of the Leafs: harping on bad bounces.

The Leafs have a team PDO well over 1000. They've been getting the bounces. They're ahead of where they should be. The Leafs get outshot and out puck possessed most nights and sometimes win anyways. This is the opposite: sometimes you're better than the opposition but it doesn't matter because Craig Anderson shuts the door.

Continue reading this post »

It's restaurant week here in DC, but I could've just stayed at home and eaten some of the delicious crow that Gustavsson was serving up in Toronto. He's stopped 93 of the last 96 shots he's faced, and has two shutouts in his last two shutout - the last goalie to shutout the Sabres at the ACC? JS Aubin. While his recent performances don't erase his early season play, it's fair to say that November, December, and January have represented the best stretch of play by Gustavsson as a Leaf, posting a .917 over 14 starts, pulling his season SVP up to .908. Not bad for a guy whose career was on death's doorstep just two months ago.

Continue reading this post »