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

Another Saturday Night, Another SO Loss!!!

Not sure I can remember the last time the Leafs won on a Saturday night.  Last week's 1-0 shoot out loss to Ottawa was tough but Craig Anderson stood on his head.  But yesterday's 6-5 shoot out loss to the injury-depleted Pittsburgh Penguins is a tough one to swallow particularly since Carolina lost and Buffalo lost in a shoot out to Detroit.  What also makes it difficult to take was that the Leafs 4 times had one goal leads that they could not hold onto.

Last night, James Reimer struggled as three of the Penguin goals were stoppable.  Reimer seemed to be too deep in his crease and fought the puck most of the night.  The kid did make several big saves late in the game and in the overtime period, none bigger than the one on Mark Letestu.  What will be interesting to see will be who Ron Wilson has in the nets this afternoon against Atlanta.  If it's Reimer we will get a good look at the development of this kid and his ability to bounce back.  Every good NHL goalie has bad games but its the ability to put it behind you that the very good ones are able to do.  If Wilson goes with Giguere, what does that do to Reimer's confidence??  Not sure if that will be an issue since the kid seems to have a good attitude.

It was nice to see Joffrey Lupul score a couple.  He has made a difference on this line with Kessel and Bozak.  I couldn't help but thinking last night that every time they were on the ice that they were a threat to score.  I thought Dion Phaneuf played one of his better games last night delivering some big hits and scoring a big goal after his giveaway which led to a short handed goal for the Pens.  Mike Brown and Colby Armstrong played a strong game once again.  However, when the team needed to repeat what they did late in the game against Montreal on Thursday, they were unable to hold on to a 5-4 lead.

Am I down on the Leafs?? No, not by no means.  What we are seeing is the growth of a young team involved in a playoff chase which for some may be the first time in their young NHL careers.  Today's game with Atlanta will be a good test for this young team and I think we will learn a lot about how these youngsters are progressing.  The game starts at 5pm in Atlanta.