Leafs Doppelgangers

In the spirit of Doppelganger week I thought that along with my oh-so-precious-Leaf-fan girlfriend, I would put together a collage of fantastic Leafs Doppelgangers.

First off, Grabo along with Charlize Theron in Monster. Grabo may not be a killer prostitute, but he does score for money...

Second off, Rosie O'Donnell and XLB. This one speaks for itself.

I still think it would be more frightening to hear Donald Trump's catch-phrase "You're Fired" from Brian Burke.


For those of us who watched the epic show Prison Break, Charles "Haywire" Patoshik played by Silas Mitchell along with Gustavsson. It's always been my understanding that goalies have some sort of "quirk". If Haywire were to play hockey, like Gusto, he would definitely be a goalie.


This might be the most spot on. I was going to put up Radulov but seeing Colton Orr with a black eye called for a brown bear. Follow my logic? Nope.


Two major parts of my childhood. Bert taught me life lessons and Kaberle... well... passed to McCabe.

Thanks for bringing your buddy, Gustavsson.

I Bleed Blue and (Ian) White - Leafs/Caps Post Game

Sorry for the long hiatus in posts, it's been a long week with a whole lot happening. Plus I was tired of writing "yet another disappointment from our Leafers". Instead, after a crazy game against Ovie and the Capitals I can say "Finally a win for Toskala and the Leafs". What a game it was. Ron Wilson seems to have a new idea for all his disappointing players - put them on the same line. Grabovski and Blake, who have been nothing but mediocre this season were grouped together with Hagman who can dazzle at times but was a healthy scratch approximately a month ago. Grabo and Blake were brought onto the team to be our offensive strength but Blake, a former 40 goal scorer is at 2 goals right now and Grabo is at 4. The speed on this line was able to keep the Caps stuck in their zone for shifts at a time, shifts that Ovechkin was on the ice for and couldn't get close to our goalie.

When Ovechkin did get the puck, White was almost always there to shut him down or save yet another goal by blocking a shot behind Toskala. White is every goalie's best friend - other than the post, which bailed Toskala out late in the 3rd period as well. The difference between the shots that Varlamov and Toskala faced is that still, Leafs shooters are taking shots that mostly are at the crest rather than making him move laterally. Toskala had to throw himself at Ovechkin more than once to cut down the angle on him and shut him down. In the first period, Laich had a shot that, if shot harder would have been in the net because Backstrom passed cross-ice. However, also in the first period Stajan made a cross-crease pass to Kessel who couldn't finish the play and hit the post.

I still can't give the upper hand to the Leafs in this game because of the type of chances that the Caps got compared to the Leafs. When the Leafs play elite teams like the Caps, you can see how real scorers look for openings in the net, but thankfully Toskala had a great performance to shut it down. Ponikarovski, Blake and Grabovski are still shooting at the goaltender and need to make the goalie scramble for the puck.

But I digress, there are certain parts of last game that must also be discussed. For example, Beauchemin getting over 27 minutes of ice-time and Ian White's 26 minutes. This defensive pairing was on for the goal against and it was a mistake on Ian White's pinch and Beauchemin being caught with his pants down around his ankles. I have no idea what Beauchemin was doing, but he had no idea where Ovechkin was when he committed to taking Greene. Too bad the pass was wide open and the Leafs went down 1-0. I guess the argument can be made that when you're on for more than 26 minutes each, you're bound to make one or two mistakes, but that can't happen when Ovechkin is on the ice and ends up getting a wide open shot. He never misses those.

November has unfortunately been a month filled with easier teams to play against standings-wise and we haven't gotten the wins we need. Yes we've beaten the Caps but losing to Minnesota and Carolina is unacceptable. December is quite a frightening month, playing 12 teams that currently have a playoff spot. That includes both Washington and Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and most excitingly because I get to go see the game on December 19th, Phil Kessel's old team the Boston Bruins.

Something that I must leave you with, as I stated in my biases in my first ever post, is the beauty and skill that is Steven Stamkos.
Go Leafs Go.... and Stamkos.

I've Had Phaneuf Of This

Last night's game against Calgary was another disappointment. Taking 20 shots in the second period alone, there should not have been a one-goal deficit going into the third. The Flames were giving turnover after turnover in goal-scoring areas but it never amounted to a tie-game. Miikka Kiprusoff played a stellar game but nothing close to the extent that was celebrated by the game's commentators. We did with Kipper exactly what we did with Luongo in Vancouver, Niittymaki in Tampa Bay and a few other goalies this year - make them look good.

Granted, Kiprusoff played a great game and Luongo... is Luongo, but it doesn't help that our shooters play target practice with the other team's crest. Shot after shot from Ponikarovsky, Stempniak and Grabovski being placed in exactly the same place - the goalies chest. This has to stop. Poni had 3 great chances from point blank without a defenseman hindering his movement and he shot right at the 'Flaming C'. Kiprusoff is a good goalie but with shots like that, he's going to stop 19 out of 20 shots, like in the 2nd period. One thing is to celebrate a high number of shots but another is to start asking yourself why they aren't going in. Kessel, the only player on the team who has any glimmer of hope as an offensive player, is doing his job hitting post after post and taking shots from anywhere that make the opposing goalie sprawl for the puck.

That's the kind of shot that we need, shots from anywhere that will make the goalie move and get out of position. For example, on Stajan's goal last night the rebound came from a Phil Kessel shot that was taken as he was falling to the ground. He got the shot off and Kiprusoff was too far out of his net to get the rebound. Beauchemin's goal was just a blast from the point with a screen in front. Too many times, Gunnarsson or Ponikarovsky were shooting right at the goalie after he's gotten set for the shot. It's not effective hockey and it's not going to win games.

As a Leafs fan, I'm tired of using the excuse that a goalie just had a good game when really we're forcing the good game on to him. Make the goalie move, force him to make mistakes and maybe we'll win a couple games. Even against their best pairing of Phaneuf and Regehr, we were capitalizing on their turnovers with scoring opportunities but not doing anything about it. I've had Phaneuf of this.