Leafs/Stars Preview Nov 25th 2011

Leafs are in Dallas tonight, and unless you have been living under a rock the last 48 hours, you would have heard already that Reimer is back practicing with the team.  They had an early practice yesterday and then jumped on a bus and went to the Cowboys game.  Which the Cowboys won 20-19 on a field goal with 3 seconds left. 

The Leafs find them selves almost instantly hot again, going 2-1 in their last 3 games outscoring their opponents 16-5 in those games.  Two convincing wins, over Tbay and Washington, has the Leafs bandwagon bulging out at the sides again.

Leafs are 12-8-2 with 26 points good for 2nd in the North-East Division
Stars are 13-8-0 with 26 points good for 2nd in the Pacific Division

Gustavsson will get the start tonight. In his last 5 appearances he has 2.48 GAA and a .920 save%.   Gustavsson also is 1-0-1 in his career vs Dallas, with a 2.44 GAA and a .914 save%

Also, in a press release today, it has been announced that The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan is not selling it's 79% stake in MLSE.  Probably so they don't miss out on the playoff revenue this year when the Leafs make it.

I think tonight, the Leafs win 4-2.  Kessel, Lupul, Steckel, Connolly.

Check out some Leafs stats here: Leafs Stats

Random Stats

 I was bored at school today so I thought I would check into some stats for you guys.  Check them out!

• Last season the Leafs were at 19 points through 22 games (8-10-3)
• This season they are at 26 points through 22 games (12-8-2)
• They didnt get their 12th win until Dec 14 last year. 
  Leafs are on pace for 96 points this season, which would be their highest total since 03-04 when they set a franchise record for most points in an 82 game season.
• Wilson's record as the Leafs coach 113w 115l 40otl.
• Formula for the next three goalie stats is (minutes played)/(60) to get games played.  Then (goals for)/(games played) to give you goals per game.

• Leafs score 3.17 goals per game for Reimer (based on minutes played) over the last 40 games.
• Leafs score 2.83 goals per game for Gustavsson (based on minutes played) over the last 30 games.
• Leafs score 2.12 goals per game for Scrivens (based on minutes played) over his  7 game career.

• Kessel didnt get his 16th goal until Jan 6 and 30th point until Jan 10th.
• Kessel is on pace for: 59g 52a 111p, passing both his career highs of 36g, 32a, and 64p.
• Only once in Kessel's 5 full seasons in the NHL has he finished with more assists than goals. 

• Lupul took 40 games last year to get his 26th point of the season, he already has 26 points through 22 games this year.
  
• Lupul is on pace for: 41g 55a 96p beating his careers highs of 28g, 26a, and 53points

Leafs/Lightning Preview Nov 22nd 2011

It's turning out to be a dog fight for the division..  The Leafs are now fighting Buffalo and Boston for top spot in the North-East.  It's the Leafs own doing.  They have 4 wins in their last 10, and 4 of their 8 losses are against division rivals. 

So, last year, the Leafs were 0-3-1 against Tampa, being shut out twice in those 4 games by Roloson and Ellis once each.   Kessel has 13 points against Tampa in the 19 games that he has played against them.

Leafs are 2-6 in their last 8 and Tampa  4-4 in their last 8.

Leafs: 11-8-2 good for 1st in the North-East division (tied)
Lightning: 9-8-2 good for 3rd in the South-East

Looks like Lupul has a point per game pace for his last 34 games.  I dont think Lupul gets enough credit.  Since he came to the Leafs, Kessel has become more consistent.  In fact, since Lupul came over, Kessel has only been held off the scoreboard in consecutive games once!  His average point streak runs about 3.5 games, and his longest is 15 games (spread over the end of last year and beginning of this year).

Prediction:  Leafs 4-1 - Kessel, Frattin, Steckel, Phanuef

Leafs have to go with Gustavsson tonight, he deserves it the most.

Leafs/Canes Preview Nov 20th 2011

What a win last night for the Leafs!  7-1 over the High Scoring Capitals!  I think all the Gustavsson haters can sit down and shut up for a few weeks now.  It's another game to add to his well played list, and when you compare his well played games to Scrivens well played games, Gustavsson comes out on top.  The Monster has beaten New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and now the Washington Capitals.  Scrivens has only beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the St Louis Blues.  At the time, both teams were not in the playoffs.  Gustavsson deserves to start tonight, but we will see who Wilson goes with.  Since Gus hasnt played much lately, he should be plenty rested for tonight's game in Raleigh, NC.



Leafs:11-7-2 good for 24 points and 2nd in the North-East Division
Canes:6-11-3 good for 15 points and 5th in the South-East Division

Leafs are 2-2-1 in their last 5 and the Canes are 1-4-0 in their last 5.

Kessel and Lupul lead the way for the leafs with 27 points and 24 points respectively.



Its been a while since the Leafs had 2 players high up in the scoring race.  Infact, Henny tells us that its been since the 32-33 season that they had two players in the top 2 in scoring.  Kessel sits 1st Lupul sits tied for 3rd.








Tonight the Leafs can take over the Division lead again if they beat the Canes.  Connolly got his 400th and 401st career points last night, congratulations goes out to him.

The Canes have 5 ex-Leafs on their roster.  Tim Brent, Alexei Ponikarovski, Thomas Kaberle, Jiri Tlusty and Jay Harrison.  They have a combine points total of 25.
The Leafs need to beat this team good tonight.  They need to beat them by 2 or 3 goals and put it away early.  The Leafs can not afford to lose this game.  Every game now for the rest of the season is a must win game.  Tonight, Leafs win 4-1 - Kessel 2 - Lupul - Frattin.

Leafs/Caps Preview Nov 19th 2011

Leafs face the Washington Capitals tonight in Toronto at the ACC.  The Leafs and the Caps are both coming off losses, and are only separated in the standings by 1 point (Leafs 22, Caps 21).

Washington: 10-6-1 21 points, good for 1st in the South-East division
Leafs: 10-7-2 - 22 points, good for 2nd in the North-East division

Both Toronto and Washing are struggling, winning only 1 game in both their last 6 games.  For the Leafs, its only the Kessel/Lupul line that has been producing.  They need to have more production from their 2nd and 3rd lines.
The Leafs are missing Komisarek, Lombardi, MacArthur, Grabovski, Reimer, and Armstrong.  If the Leafs want to win this game they are going to have to shut down Ovechkin right from the start.  The kid has 23G and 16A in 23 games played verses the Leafs.

Looks like Gustavsson Gets the start tonight and rightly so.

My prediction is the Leafs win this game 5-4 Kessel 2, Kulemin, Steckel, Connolly. (0-1 is my record)

Connolly is looking for his 400th career point.  He is currently at 399.
This game can be seen on CBC or streamed live from http://www.cbc.ca/sports/

Leafs/Preds Nov 17 2011

The Leafs are in Nashville tonight taking on the Predators.

Leafs: 10-6-2  for 2nd in the North-East
Preds: 9-6-3 for 2nd in the Central

Leafs have won 1 of their last 5 games and the Preds have won 4 of their last 6 games.

In order for the Leafs to win this game they need to get secondary scoring and great goal tending. Last time they faced off, the Leafs came back from a 4-1 deficit to win the game 5-4 on goals from Versteeg (2) Grabovski, Kulemin, and Luke Schenn.

My prediction is Leafs over Preds 4-2 Kessel (2) Lupul, Gardiner.

Also, a report has surfaced that Jake Gardiner might be playing the role of a forward tonight.  I don't understand why they never did that with Kaberle.