Six straight and a-happynewyear. Pretty good, huh? Where are the Senators when you need them?
Leafs dump Sidney Crosby's Penguins last night in a good one. Shoulda beat Sidney Crosby's Penguins long before the OT kicked in, but Jocelyn Thibeault (all I've heard this year is how he hasn't been able to stop a beachball) was pretty excellent in the Sidney Crosby's Penguins net.
"Toronto was much better than us," said Mark Recchi. "We were fortunate to get a point."
True that. Not that we shouldn't expect this. Of the six wins: 2 against Sidney Crosby's Penguins, 2 over just-as-pathetic New Jersey, one over Boston and the only real test was the shootout victory against Buffalo. Next week will be a different story with the trip out west and games in Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton. Those teams can really skate.
McCabe has 15 goals now, just one of those coming off his chest by my count, and we have ourselves a white-and-blue hot hockey team. Streak lifts them out of the 7th-8th place danger zone, tied with Rangers for 5th overall in the East. The injury angle is still odd and interesting as the Leafs keep sucking it up and winning. For details on Darcy Tucker going down last night and possible returns of other limping Leafs, read Paul Hunter.
Before we do Crosby, a shout out to Chad Kilger and two goals from the man with the big helmet. Have to admit, I wondered why Quinn claimed him off waivers in 2004 (why do they need another forward who doesn't score?) but he's been very good in his "role".
Read any paper for all the details on the NHL's darling rookie. He did deliver -- how 'bout the behind the back pass for Gonchar's goal? Nice. Damien Cox was watching and wondering why Shane Endicott got more shifts than Sid the Kid.
Leafs off 'till Friday but we get Chris back in this space tomorrow. We've got a couple things planned to get us through the week, including our hockeydirt.com mid-season awards. Oh, and I thought of asking this question after Harry Neale told us last night that Tie Domi was playing his 739th game as a Leaf, tying him with Bob Baun. Is Domi a Maple Leafs legend? (SW)
I'm calling wins against the Oilers and Canucks, simply due to the fact that they don't have NHL calibre goaltending at the moment. The Canucks also don't seem to be showing up right now either. Hopefully they won't right the ship in the mean time. The Flames will probably get us, 2-1
Posted by: Ninja | January 03, 2006 at 11:06 AM
Well, I suppose it depends on what you mean by "legend"... If "legend" = "extremely well known; famous or renowned" and "renown" = "the quality of being widely honoured and acclaimed; fame" (both definitions from Houghton Mifflin online dictionary) then, yeah, I guess Domi is a legendary Leaf because he is certainly famous.
But when I think of what it is he's famous for--racking up even more PIM than Tiger Williams, various cheap shots that got him vilified in public--I'm not sure I'd put him in the same category of Leafs "legends" as Bobby Baun... That being said, Tie Domi is definitely legendary for the good work he does for the community and I reckon that trumps any elbow to the head he has delivered, right?
Posted by: Carla | January 03, 2006 at 02:11 PM
Leafs will lose to both Calgary and Canucks. The west dominate the east this year and will win the cup for sure. We had better beat hawks though.
Posted by: Fly | January 03, 2006 at 03:42 PM