tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Leafs Break Losing Streak With 3-1 Win

The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their domination of the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 3-1 win at the St. Pete Times Forum. The Leafs own a 3-0 record over the Bolts, outscoring them 17-5. There were three things that really stuck out for me last night. The first thing is how the Leafs played in the third period. Despite taking some penalties the Leafs were disciplined and played a solid defensive game. This was totally missing prior to Randy Carlyle. As we look to next season, this philosophy should help to move the Leafs up the Eastern Conference standings.

The second thing that got my attention was James Reimer. Coach Carlyle made the observation that the Leafs young goalie appeared nervous in the game against Florida. Full marks to Carlyle for coming back with Reimer and the 24 year old responded well with a 34 save performance, that included some big ones. As the game went on you could see Reimer's confidence grow. It will be interesting to see how many games each goalie will play in the remaining 11 games left in the season. The key thing to remember is Reimer is under contract for next year and Jonas Gustavsson will be an unrestricted free agent.

Finally, what can you say about Jake Gardiner. His goal was a highlight reel special but his overall play was just as impressive. The young 21 year old defenseman logged over 23 minutes of ice time which was second only to Dion Phaneuf among Leaf defenseman. There was an interesting camera shot during a stoppage in play that showed Gardiner over at the bench talking to Carlyle. The youngster couldn't have a better teacher than the former Norris Trophy defenseman. I have said it before and I will say it again: Jake Gardiner is the best young Leaf defenseman since Borje Salming broke into the league.

Leaf Notes:
* Interesting stat: The Leaf goalies' save percentage under Randy Carlyle is .920. Under Ron Wilson it was .903. Wonder if that has something to do with better defensive zone coverage.

* With Nikolai Kulemin done for the season, it will be interesting to see if the Leafs bring up anybody from the Marlies. With the Marlies heading for a playoff run, Brian Burke may be reluctant to move anybody up to the big club.

* Any interesting article by Damien Cox yesterday suggesting that the Leafs should move Phil Kessel. I am a huge Phil Kessel fan. In my opinion, the Leafs have not had a sniper like Kessel since Alexander Mogilny. However, if the Leafs could acquire a top notch center or big scoring winger I might make a trade. For that matter, other than Jake Gardiner I'm not sure there is anyone who is untouchable, depending upon what the Leafs would get in return.

* As part of the article, Cox bases his premise on the notion that Kessel is not a player that will fit in Carlyle's style of play. I'm not sure that is a fair assessment. It's important to remember that Joffrey Lupul being out has hurt Kessel and it is evident that the team's recent losing streak has taken its toll on the 24 year old right winger. By the way, weren't people saying the same thing when Ilya Kovalchuk when he went to the defense-first New Jersey Devils??