No Emilio Bonifacio to ruin everything on the Leafs, as they beat the New York Rangers 4-3 with a crushing blow to the Rangers chances. Although, not really.

Here are some thoughts on the game:

• Ryan O’Byrne plays his first game of the season for the Maple Leafs. I think O’Byrne is an upgrade over Mike Kostka defensively (Kostka’s offensive skills made redundant by Jake Gardiner and John-Michael Liles’s returns) and barely cost Nonis anything. It’s a low risk, low reward move that ultimately makes the team better. O’Byrne is immediately slotted into the Leafs PK unit tonight, something I was wondering would happen since the Leafs’ unit had been in a groove with their current unit.

• In what world does the Jays’ season opening totally overshadow the Leafs, especially during the impending return to the playoffs? The scene near the Skydome and the ACC is rife with Jays paraphernalia. I don’t think Torontonians quite understand how to celebrate actual success, and are instead all psyched up for the likely success of the Jays. Or maybe Jays tickets are just significantly cheaper.

• The Rangers have played significantly better recently. A lot of people are attributing it to the removal or Torterella whipping boy Marion Gaborik being unceremoniously shipped to Ohio. It’s probably more connected to Henrik Lunqvist playing like a man on fire. It could still be connected to Gaborik, if he was subtly undermining Henrik’s confidence through his passive aggressive insults that he reserves for the natural enemies of the Slovaks: the Swedes. At least that’s how it works out in the far more HBO-like alternate reality in my mind.

• After the Rangers hit their second post of the night, the Leafs scream into the Rangers zone and jam one past Lunqvist via James van Riemsdyk to take the lead. The man could not look any more sad-sack terrible a week ago now has two goals in three nights at point blank range.

• The reign of Ryan Hamilton comes / came to an end with the call-up of Joe Colbourne. I’ve never been a big fan of calling a scorer up from the AHL to play on the fourth line, where the hopes of scoring a goal are slim to none. It’s not like Colbourne will be getting any PP time either, so why not have a guy who can at least kill penalties in a pinch like Hamilton? Heck, I’d even use my fourth line to keep my shootout specialists on (see Jussi Jokinen).

• Through some sort of witchcraft, Ryan O’Byrne scores on a great pass from Nazem Kadri, scoring his fifth career goal. It came off of the Rangers spending an extended period of time in the Leafs zone but not quite getting a shot through the Leafs defence.

• Whenever a call goes against the broadcast team’s side, they never fail to inform the audience who the referees for the game are. You know, so they can send them a fruit basket. However, the Anton Stralman dive and limp off the ice was a little ridiculous, with JvR tapping his shin pad and taking a penalty.  

• Rick Nash scores two power forward goals almost single-handedly, flying down the ice and muscling the puck through Cody Franson on the first one and flying by Mark Fraser and coming back out in front on the second. Nash has 17 goals on the season, despite spending a lot of it injured. You kind of forget that Brad Richards is even on the team when Nash is rolling.

• Phil Kessel scores on a wrister, with JvR’s ass basically being all Lundqvist being able to see on the shot. The Leafs PP seems to thrive on the low pressure kills, and the Rangers’ PK seemed to be more focused on shot blocking than on forcing a pass.

• Derek Stepan scores the tying goal after a bad play at the end of a PP by Leo Komarov. Reimer gets beat on his glove, although this time I don’t think many goalies would have stopped that shot.

• Right after the Stepan goal, Kessel scores again to go ahead after another great shift by the top line. Kessel wins a fight on the boards, and the puck squeaks out to Tyler Bozak who makes a nice pass back. Hilariously, if Kessel actually completes that deke move, Lundqvist stops it no problem. Instead he sort of loses the puck mid-deke which completely fakes out King Henrik. If this line gets hot just before the playoffs, the Leafs will be a tough out.

UP NEXT

The Leafs are oh-so-close to the playoffs, and another win against the Rangers on Wednesday would pretty much lock it up.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Quick shout out to Milos Raonic and the Canadian tennis squad, who beat the heavily favored Italians in the Davis Cup Quarter-Finals to advance to the semis against the Serbians.

After a forever break, the Leafs come back, promptly lose their best player, and then lose the game to the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-3. Since I was mostly watching the Jays game, this will be an abbreviated post.

Here are some thoughts:

• Nikolai Kulemin, the forgotten man on the Kadri – Lupul doom squad, scores the tying goal as Ilya Bryzgalov apparently read somewhere that rebounds were illegal, sliding a mile out of the net after a Dion Phaneuf point shot. It turns out the reason Kulemin couldn’t score goals was because he wasn’t on a line with the two hottest players in the NHL. Who knew?

• Joffrey Lupul took a pretty disgusting double hit early in the first, one that almost certainly concussed him. New Flyers Adam Hall and Jay Rosehill sandwiched him with a double hit, with Rosehill hitting him from behind. It’s pretty clear with those two out on the ice against Lupul that they were basically sent out there to rough him up. Colton Orr took umbrage and started a fight with Rosehill, which ended a bit prematurely.

• James Reimer came up big in the first period, a day after Nonis basically said a guy with a .868 save percentage was a better choice than he. On the second of the two back to back minors, Reimer made a huge save off a rebound that goes in against 90% of the goalies in the league. His stellar play leads to a goal by John-Michael Liles that beat Bryzgalov through a screen.

• Jakob Voracek scores as Carl Gunnarsson fails to block the pass or take the man. Another problem was Frazer McLaren being the replacement for Lupul on that particular shift. I get that Carlyle doesn’t want to make teams think they can just check his stars with impunity, but he probably caused a goal with that thinking.

• Well, apparently all the Maple Leafs were playing so well trying to impress Lupul, because the second period was terrible. Brayden Schenn scores on a terrible giveaway by Kulemin, and then Hall pretty much drags Reimer out of the net allowing the Flyers to score. The Flyers outshot the Leafs badly in the second.

• James van Riemsdyk finally breaks his slump on just a filthy goal. Carlyle put all his eggs into one basket with Lupul out, switching Kadri with Tyler Bozak, and it pays off. JvR gets the puck in close beside the net and somehow gets it over Bryzgalov’s short side.

UP NEXT

The Leafs face the Devils in New Jersey on Saturday. I have nothing to add to this.

The Leafs snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but then snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. That means they won, beating the Hurricanes 6-3.

Here are some thoughts:

• Jake Gardiner sits tonight out after landing firmly into Randy Carlyle’s doghouse by playing terrible defensively, being replaced by a returning John Michael Liles. Gardiner was practically pre-destined for a rough road prior to his return after his agent pretty much incited open mutiny on the Twittersphere with that ridiculous #FreeGardiner nonsense. His actual play on the ice also hasn’t helped matters. He’s going to have to unseat either Liles or a Carlyle favorite in Mike Kostka to even get a chance to remain a regular in the lineup.

• James van Riemsdyk, who was reported to have been demoted to the third line after an underwhelming month, ended up remaining on the top line which immediately produced a goal. Tyler Bozak tapped in a Phil Kessel set up after hemming the Canes in their own zone. JvR’s first few shifts are notably at a higher tempo after this reprieve from the big man. The line as a whole got a number of excellent chances in the first period.

• I love it when an enforcer gets punched to his knees and manages to stand right back up. Frazer McLaren gets a pummelling from Kevin Westgarth, opening him up again, but somehow continues to extend the fight 30 seconds longer than it should have been. I think McLaren has found the best way to play his game without being a detriment on the ice: start a fight right off the faceoff. Also, this is at least the third time I’ve seen McLaren get busted open this season.

• The Leafs dominate the first period, but failed to open up anything more than a one goal lead.

• Not wanting to start a 5 on 3 early, the Leafs refuse to touch the puck and almost pay dearly for it as Eric Staal is absolutely robbed by a sprawling James Reimer. Reimer has been on for the past couple days, which is why the talk of trading for Mikka Kiprusoff is a little puzzling to me. When Reimer is playing well, he can carry the Leafs past a lot of their problems, and everything is going to have to go right for the Leafs to go on a deep playoff run anyways. Why bother selling the farm or even some crops when players are going at a premium at the deadline?

• The Leafs get the second goal of the game against an entirely ineffective Carolina PK, as Cody Franson gets the puck at the faceoff circle and fires it past Justin Peters. Peters played pretty good in the first and the early second as the Leafs were threatening constantly, but you can see why the injury to Cam Ward has coincided with the plummet down the standings for the Canes.

• I’m not sure why Alexander Semin is on a PK, or how Eric Staal got so far behind Franson, but it ends up in the net for a shorty. As soon as Staal got that pass, it was practically a guarantee that he was scoring. Staal’s ability to anticipate plays before they unfold looked downright prescient on that goal.

• I remember a few nights ago when the color commentator mentioned how good Carl Gunnarsson was at clearing the puck. That had to be the stupidest comment I’m heard this year, as he is terrible at it. It cost the Leafs tonight, as he failed to clear the puck on the PK and Semin put it past Reimer with a precision shot. And so, despite dominating the first thirty minutes of the game, the Leafs end up with a tie at the end of the second.

• Nazem Kadri collides with Gunnarsson in their own zone and Jordan Staal drives the net and scores. And the Canes, who looked hopeless early on, take the lead on maybe their fourth real scoring chance all night. Gunnarsson was staring daggers at Kadri after the goal, as Kadri sort of gave him a shove on the collision. It wasn’t a great night for Kadri, who had some bad neutral zone giveaways.

• I haven’t seen a hand pass related delay of game call for a couple months, but Eric Staal ends up getting one midway through the third. As is the norm with incredibly goofy penalties, the Leafs capitalize (albeit 5 seconds after the PP was over). Dion Phaneuf scores on a blast after Semin loses his stick, shooting it right through Peters’ glove. Earlier in the season, Phaneuf would have missed the net by thirty feet or broken Lupul’s arm. The Leafs kept the puck in the Canes zone the entirety of the two minutes and should have scored on two occasions before the goal.

• Joffrey Lupul plays hero again, going coast to coast, flying past Joe Corvo and tucking it past Peters. Having the entire season off is making Lupul into some sort of superhuman, given his powers to carry the Leafs right into the playoffs. Lupul has scored a goal in every game since his return.

• Jay McClement scores on the empty net after Nikolai Kulemin selflessly gives him the pass on the two on one, insuring that the Leafs would score. Like the gentlemen he is (I’m sure he helps old ladies across the street), McClement sends Kulemin ahead of him on the bench high fives. But then Kulemin scores on another empty net (somehow just barely), so karma is a real thing I guess. The Leafs put themselves 10 points ahead of the Canes with the win tonight.

UP NEXT

The Leafs compete in some sort of battle taking place in Ontario, facing the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The Sens refuse to die, their players unwilling to face the wrath of their coach’s quivering mustache.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• The Canadian Club Whiskey commercial is trying to rip off Parks and Rec’s Ron Swanson, who would never endorse anything he didn’t truly believe in. I don’t think he would endorse this terrible fraud.

• Looks like those visors really ruined the Staal brothers game, eh? They only did score a goal apiece tonight.

The Leafs fall to the Bruins in a shootout, 3-2. Look at it this way, Leafs fans. This is the last we’ll have to see of the  goddamn Bruins this regular season.

Here are some thoughts:

• Does anyone else watch “Louie” or FX (if you only get FX Canada, Louie is the only fucking thing on that channel)? There’s a story arc in which Louis CK tries to become the new host of the Late Show (with David Letterman). He’s not the main choice, as he’s just an alternative to a much more expensive better choice which is Jerry Seinfeld. He’s another option. That’s basically what Mike Kostka was early in the season: a cheap, risk-free option to the more expensive defensemen on the Leafs roster who basically had all the leverage back when the Leafs were seen as thin on the blue line. Kostka played on the first pairing with Dion Phaneuf and played in all situations, and other than a stretch of bad games Kostka has more or less proven that the Leafs could use him if they want to, but he still isn’t necessarily the best choice available (as seen when Kostka was still playing with a healthy Jake Gardiner in the wings). With three starting defensemen with Restricted Agent contract negotiations coming up, Kostka is probably doing the Leafs more good in the negotiation room than the ice. He’s gets a start tonight against the Bruins as John-Michael Liles got injured on Saturday.

• Nazem Kadri took a pretty obvious dive after stealing the puck on the first shift.

• It looks like Matt Frattin is the odd man out with the return of Joffrey Lupul after his two game suspension. Frattin’s knee injury a month ago might have doomed him for the rest of the season, as he was on fire playing with Kadri up to the point. When Frattin was out, Carlyle had to find someone else who could play with Kadri and it turned out everyone could. Now with arguably the best player on the Leafs finding some chemistry with The Dream, Frattin is not likely to return there for the foreseeable future.

• With regular penalty killer Leo Komarov out with an upper body injury, Marlies captain Ryan Hamilton gets the call for at least the first PK. I feel bad for Hamilton (or as bad as I can for a guy living my fucking dream) since he would probably need to go on a prodigious scoring streak to stay in the lineup past Komarov’s return or Frattin’s exit from the doghouse. Playing good isn’t good enough in his case.

• Lupul scores, something becoming an awesome nightly occurrence, on the powerplay after a nice feed by Gardiner, who waited long enough to make all the defenders get caught looking for a shot. The puck was thought to be out of the zone just before the goal, at least by every member of the audience and Bruins team, and the replay showed it getting just barely over the blue line. So, some luck for the Leafs, which I’m quite frankly JUST FINE WITH.

• Holy jeez, Nikolai Kulemin scores a goal reminiscent of his first goal against the Detroit Red Wings as he gets a breakaway feed from Kadri. That violent deke to snap shot hasn’t been seen since that glorious goal, when it looked like Kulemin was going to be a thing. Kulemin is living the Dream.

• Milan Lucic scores a pretty goal, dashing right past Cody Franson with Hamilton getting caught as a defender. Lucic’s goal was destiny, as the TSN broadcast mentioned Lucic’s slump at least a dozen times.

• Shit just got crazy after the Lucic goal, as the game opened up like a Chinese restaurant on Christmas. The Kostka – Gardiner duo is equally terrifying and exciting to watch as neither one of them seemed all that interested in playing defense at all.

• I’m a little surprised that Claude Julien didn’t match Zdeno Chara with the Kadri line, instead opting to send the big Slovak out against the Kessel – Bozak – JvR line all night. Phil Kessel generally plays terrible against the Bruins and somehow plumbs even darker depths when playing in Boston, so I don’t think you need your man-tank against his line. Then again, Kessel might only play badly against the Bruins because he’s always matched against Chara, so it’s a bit of a chicken-egg situation.

• Dion Phaneuf desperately needs a night off, as his brain seemed to just completely shut down in the third period. He gave the puck away twice on one shift early in the third and didn’t look all that great all night. Hopefully the Leafs are actually on the positive side of a blowout early and Phaneuf can sit some of the later periods out, because he just looks burnt out, a total lack of focus and energy. He got completely frozen in front of the net on the Patrice Bergeron goal.

• I liked Andrew Ference. He has very good instincts on when to pinch and when not to, and also can do more than just chip it back in.

• James Reimer has easily his best game since his injury and maybe his best game all season. He stood on his head during the second period when the Bruins were just storming the beaches, and played solid all night. Will Nonis still consider picking up Mikka Kipprusoff at the deadline? I really hope not, because Reimer is at times inspirational. At other times, however, he is ulcer-inducing.

OH DAMN ITS OVERTIME THOUGHTS

• If you were to tell me that the Leafs got three points in this home and home series with the Bruins back after that loss against the Jets I would call you a liar and probably kill you for mocking me so outlandishly, ‘cause papa don’t make small scenes.
• The eternal debate for whether the shootout is dumb rages on, as the Leafs continue to be terrible at it. I for one think four on four sudden death hockey is a thousand times more exciting, and an overtime goal is way more satisfying than a shootout win.

OH DAY-UM IT’S A SHOOTOUT THOUGHTS

• I feel this shootout is just a chance for Tyler Seguin to burn us after being quiet all game. And he does as the first shooter, going roof on Reimer.
• Tyler Bozak comes in a goes blocker side on Rask to score. Why is he a good shootout guy?!
• Patrice Bergeron dekes Reimer out of his pants and scores.
• Kadri shoots second, but gets denied by Rask. He couldn’t get it high enough.
• Brad Marchand comes in with a chance to win but is denied by Reimer. All three Bruins went glove.
• Kulemin goes third? It would sound absurd a week ago, and it holds true today as he’s stopped.

UP NEXT

The Leafs play tomorrow night against the worst team in the league: the Florida Panthers. Sounds like as good a time as any to go totally flat.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• In non-Leafs related news, Alexander Semin ended up getting a $35 million five-year deal from the Hurricanes in what is probably the most wildly success audition anyone has ever had. $7 million a year for a guy who has spent his entire career riding coattails is just plain crazy. That’s more than Jeff Skinner AND Jordan Staal will make this year. His agent deserves way more than 10% on that deal.

• I definitely prefer the organist option over the dreck that envelops the Air Canada Centre between whistles. But seriously, did they play the song “Stand Up” from the Mark Wahlberg movie “Rock Star”? Because that would be dope. 

• Shakira being on The Voice is sort of stupid, but I guess The Belly Dancer isn’t a show yet. 

• The new Molson Canadian beer commercial is a thousand times less atrocious without that ridiculous opening now. THE BEST PART WAS HE’S CANADIAN, MATE!

• Could TSN be promoting their Trade Center bullshit more? They were pushing it during a frigging game update.

• The Chevrolet commercial is incredibly confusing. Imagine it ten years ago. That’s iPad swipe shit would be mind blowing. As it is, it probably cost twice as much as any Chevy commercial has a right to.

• Joffrey Lupul got sentenced to a two-game suspension for his hit on Victor Hedman last night. When I first saw it I didn’t think it was a suspendable hit, but watching it again today I can understand it. I didn’t realize the puck was so long gone.

• DOUBLE FIGHT DOUBLE FIGHT! The return of Frazer McLaren to the lineup led to a double fight on the fourth line’s first shift, as McLaren threw down with John Scott and Colton Orr squared off with Patrick Kaleta, if you call get absolutely mugged a fight. Orr got about a hundred penalties resulting in 29 penalty minutes, which in hockey math ended up being a double minor. The penalty for instigating a fight after there is already an “altercation” occurring is apparently huge.

• I think Tyler Bozak might be Atlas reborn, as his long flowing locks have apparently granted him some sort of scoring touch this year. The Leafs get a powerplay from a Steve Ott unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and they capitalize with another tic-tac-toe play.

• Nazem “The Dream” Kadri scored immediately after the Bozak goal after yet ANOTHER tic-tac-toe passing play. He redirected a pass by returning linemate Clarke MacArthur, who probably hopes that Lupul gets into a motocycle accident during his suspension so that MacArthur can stay on this line instead of being sent to Grabovski-Siberia.

• The Sabres PP hems the Leafs in their own zone for a minute and a half, ending in a Tyler Ennis goal. It was an awkward looking goal, as James Reimer sort of gets frozen on the shot. So the Sabres PP, who’s odds to score a goal are worse than rolling up the rim and winning, beat mathematics and the hope of a world that makes sense.

• After a failed PP, Mikhail Grabovski tips a Jake Gardiner knuckleball past Ryan Miller. It was Grabovski’s first goal in eleven games, yet even after this I fail to see why he’s still playing on the PP.

• Did the ice seem terrible tonight in Buffalo? People were blowing tires all night. Marcus Foligno lost his edge on a breakaway, only to get the puck back after a Mark Fraser giveaway to score. What’s happened to Fraser lately? He seems incredibly prone to brain farts these last few games.

• The four on four duo of Cody Hodgson and Jason Pominville dominated the Leafs line and ended up with a goal. They controlled the puck for at least a full minute. With Phil Kessel in the box after being tripped before a faceoff by John Scott, it was James van Riemsdyk paired with Bozak on the first 4v4 shift. It clearly didn’t work.

• The Sabres score immediately at the start of the third, as Christian Ehrhoff blasts a shot through Reimer. And so, the woeful Sabres PP scores twice in one night against the sixth ranked Leafs PK.

• Two stats from the ticker today: Sabres are 30^th overall on the PP and they’ve given up 40 goals in the second period this season. Tonight, the Sabres score two PP goals and outscore the Leafs in the second period 2-1. This happens ALL THE GODDAMN TIME!

• This had to be a perfect storm of ill timing, as the Leafs played back to back nights and shorthanded. Orr was ejected in the first minutes of the game, Leo Komarov was injured mid second period and didn’t return, and Lupul was out with a suspension and replaced with a guy who plays maybe 5 minutes a night. So yeah, the Leafs fading late in the game isn’t all that surprising.

• With JvR writhing in agony after taking a shot off a Cody Franson slapper, Kadri scores his second goal of the night off a far less ankle breaking shot by Franson on a redirect. Isn’t it funny that it could be Tim Connolly instead of #43 there? It’s funny because nobody is laughing!

• I’m not sure where Yannick Weber learned to play one-on-two defense, but I don’t think playing the pass against a ghost is the way to do it. He at least managed to get the puck just before the shot, but everything before it was sort of brutal.

• The game opened up after the halfway point of the third period like a hooker in Saigon, after each team apparently decided the giveaway was a sound hockey strategy. However underwhelming both Miller and Reimer may have been at earlier points in the game, they certainly made up for a lot of it at this time as they both made a couple of big saves.

OH DAMN IT’S OVERTIME THOUGHTS

• The Leafs get a desperately needed point, making it to overtime against a team that probably isn’t going to make them pay by making them take a three point game. Unless they lose, in which case it’s still not great.

• It’s pretty great and also super depressing how much louder a Leafs game is at First Niagara.

• An extended overtime does sound like a great idea. Four on four hockey is just bananas.

OH DAY-UM IT’S A SHOOTOUT THOUGHTS

• I’m pretty sure James Reimer will be going very gray very soon at the rate the Leafs are getting into shootouts these days.

• Kanye’s “Power” is the greatest pre-shootout song ever, hands down.

• Pominville shoots first for the Sabres and is stopped by Reimer.
• Kadri’s impression of blasting a goalie into the net a la “Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey” almost works. Bu doesn’t.
• Ennis tries to go five-hole and is denied.
• I guess Bozak really is a good shootout shooter? He scores on a good fake shot.
• Stafford just barely gets it past Reimer, getting through his glove and in.
• JvR shoots and is denied. He lost the puck mid-flight.
• Hodgson shoots and is barely stopped by Reimer. He has looked behind him after the save like three times this shootout.
• Phil Kessel goes wide right but is denied by Miller.
• Leino goes fifth for the Sabres and is stopped by Reimer after trying to change speeds.
• Grabovski gets a chance to prove Carlyle wrong.  He doesn’t.
• Steve Ott goes sixth. He blazes in and scores.
• Clarke MacArthur, 0/10 career in the shootout, goes 0/11. Leafs lose in the shootout again.

UP NEXT

The Leafs face the Bruins on Saturday. If history serves, it will not go very well.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN! OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN! OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN! Whoever cut that trailer probably doesn’t realize how terrible that line sounds, because he used it three fucking times in a span of twenty seconds.

And lo, the post-Komisarek era Leafs are undefeated, as they took a blowtorch to their slump and stopped the bleeding, beating the streaking Lightning 4-2.

Here’s some thoughts:

• Jake Gardiner got called up on Tuesday as Mike Komisarek’s days as a Leaf seems to be over. Korbinian Holzer got sent down to the AHL as well, as he’s the only defenseman who wouldn’t have to clear waivers and has also underperformed lately. Gardiner was paired with John-Michael Liles tonight, and when the latter was questioned about how he felt about a shift to his off-side, Liles made it seem like it was his life’s dream to play out of his position. A month as a healthy scratch will do that to you. Gardiner, meanwhile, has a great return. It’s looking like he might develop into a young Mike Green, you know, before Mike Green was riddled with injuries.

• Dana Tyrell of the Lightning sticks out in my mind because he injured his knee just before the 2009 IIHF World Juniors and never got to play a single game. Canada ended up winning in incredible fashion, highlighted by this mind-blowing last minute Jordan Eberle goal. I tuned in like two minutes before it happened, and those two minutes were the first bit of hockey one of my friends ever watched. Can you imagine that? One other thing I remember about that tournament was the god-like goaltending performance by Slovakian and Lightning prospect goalie Jaroslav Janus, who according to one American player was “like the second coming” after making 44 saves against them.

• The Leafs score a heckuva tic-tac-toe Joffrey Lupul goal after Sami Salo failed to clear the puck. Gunnarsson to Kadri to Lupul and past Mathieu Garon. Great puck movement by the Leafs, with all five Leafs touching the puck on the play.

• Dion Phaneuf scores on a blast from the point to start the second. It was a hard shot, but it’s a shot that most goalies in the NHL would save. I guess Lightning GM Steve Yzerman never really needed a great goalie back when he was winning cups with the Red Wings, which might explain the duo of Anders Lindback and Garon.

• Tyler Bozak is gifted a goal as he gets the puck without a Bolt within 3 feet of him and with Garon’s leg literally the only thing remotely near the net.  Nikolai Kulemin benefits from being part of The Dream Team, as Nazem Kadri gives him a nice feed. Kulemin shows some offensive flair for probably the first time all season, deking out a trailing defender and snapping it past Lindback.

• For those of you who might be wondering why Mikhail Grabovski is in the doghouse right now, just look at Matt Frattin and Clarke MacArthur now on his line compared to when they were with Kadri. Tonight Grabovski didn’t even have to worry about shutting down the other team’s stars, but he was utterly ineffective. He just refuses to distribute the puck, essentially rendering MacArthur and Frattin invisible. The one good chance the line generated, a two on one with Grabovski and MacArthur, was ruined by Grabovski getting a shot easily blocked. On a night in which the Leafs basically ran right through the Lightning, this line was struggling mightily all night. When you replace Grabovski with Kadri, Frattin is suddenly a revelation and MacArthur is indispensable. By the way,  Kadri had a three assist night.

• Carlyle matched the Kadri – Kulemin – Lupul line against Tampa’s big guns tonight, using them against Stamkos – St. Louis – Purcell for much of the night.

• Lupul hit Victor Hedman high to the head, knocking the latter out of the game. I doubt that’s a suspension, as Hedman just finished passing the puck and there wasn’t an elbow thrown. It definitely wasn’t a wise decision by Lupul, though, especially since he’s had nothing but positives since coming back.

• Radko Gudas scores his first NHL goal on a point shot that deflects off Gardiner’s stick. I don’t have a lot to say about it, other than the broadcasters talked about Gudas way more than they talked about Stamkos tonight.

• My analysis of James Reimer tonight: he didn’t have to do a whole lot but was solid when he needed to be. Regardless, with another game tomorrow night it’s a safe bet that Ben Scrivens is going to get the call.

UP NEXT

The Leafs have another one of those back-to-back games as they face the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow. Watching what their season is doing to Ryan Miller is eerily reminiscent of Breaking Bad.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• My favorite thing about the Olympus has Fallen commercial is how Morgan Freeman’s only scene is him walking down a hallway slowly for a second. Also, they use the same terrible sound bite of “OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN” twice in a row. I thought terrible movies were supposed to have good trailers or something to hide its terrible inadequacies.

fuckyeahburmistrov asked: ''Colton Orr throws down immediately with Nicholas Thorburn a couple nights after they first scrapped. '' why do you keep calling Chris Thorburn, Nicolas Thorburn?

Because this was a test that you, like, just totally passed and not because of a glaring lack of even rudimentary research on my part. Obviously.

The Leafs lose in one of the most blood pressure raising games in recent memory, falling to the Jets in a shootout 5-4.

Here are some thoughts:

• Ben Scrivens gets his second consecutive start after basically having no chance on either of the goals against the Pens.  This is saying a lot, as it means that Scrivens can potentially play his way back into being the number one goaltender after James Reimer had a couple underwhelming games.

• Joffrey Lupul returns off the IR in a rather surprising last minute move, and scores on a weak backhander on his very first shift. He was on a line tonight with Nazem Kadri and Matt Frattin as Clarke MacArthur returned to the Grabovski – Kulemin line. Frazer McLaren takes a seat as the healthy scratch as David Steckel gets shipped away to the Ducks for a seventh rounder and a minor leaguer.

• Colton Orr throws down immediately with Nicholas Thorburn a couple nights after they first scrapped. McLaren might have made it easy for Carlyle in decided which of his enforcers to sit. Since the Dave Dziurzynski knockout, McLaren hasn’t fought once.

• I don’t know why Korbinian Holzer thought Evander Kane would want to fight, but it somehow works out.  Holzer drops his gloves, has to try and pick them back up but then Zach Bogosian storms in and basically denies the Jets a powerplay. Maybe if Holzer actually threw a punch at Kane I’d understand his train of thought, but Holzer basically took a penalty and was literally about to pick his gloves up. Kane also shoves Scrivens who was mouthing off at him and takes another penalty. However, everything ends up being mitigated and it ends up as 5 on 5.

• Terrible interference call, as Ron Hainsey somehow gets a penalty after James van Riemsdyk steps around him and dives for the puck and misses. Referees are going crazy with that call this season. It’s probable that the Lupul interference penalty right after was to make up for that call, as it was almost as ridiculous.

• I always found it an impossible conundrum as to what to do with Dustin Byfuglien on the powerplay. Byfuglien had a legendary playoff run when he was a forward with during the Blackhawks championship run, where he’d basically sit in front of the net and dominate. With the Jets, Byfuglien got moved to his original position as a defenseman and has one of the hardest shots in the league. So what to do? I personally don’t think there’s anything more valuable than having a big screen in front of the goalie.

• After five minutes of absolutely atrocious hockey at the start of the second period, the Jets finally score a well-deserved goal after dominating the Leafs. James Wright receives a great cross ice feed from Kyle Wellwood and just gets it by Scrivens who had already made multiple good saves in the period.

• Antti Miettinen knocked in a puck high for the second goal. It was an incredibly close looking one as his stick looked like it made contact right as the puck came down to the crossbar. A little later Blake Wheeler banked in a shot out of mid-air after a Mikhail Grabovski giveaway. The Jets were playing like superhumans compared to the Leafs who were giveaway and battle-losing machines in the first half of the second period. They were also making just absolutely brutal decision without the puck, giving the Jets acres of space with the puck. Wheeler scored again on a great individual effort that made me sick to my stomach.

• Nikolai Kulemin stops the bleeding after a nightmarish second period, scoring on a great wrister off a faceoff win by Jay McClement. It looks like Grabovski got stapled to the pine after the brutal giveaway on the Wheeler goal, as he didn’t show up for the last part of the second.

• Lupul gets another goal with a great pass by Kadri to make it a game again. Frattin actually took a seat on that shift as Orr gets to play on that line. It looked like Carlyle was just sending a message to absolutely everyone who made a bad play in that second period. After those two late goals, what does Carlyle do in the second intermission? Does he yell at them still? Does he just go into his office to cry? I was honestly half out the door after that fourth goal.

• Scrivens gets pulled tonight as Reimer ends up starting the third period in his place. Just a tough night for Scrivens, as he was thrown to the wolves in that awful second period.

• Phil Kessel evens the game back up with a partial break goal. These are the kind of goals you expect from the premier scorers of the league, where they are given a small chance and they capitalize in a big way (so what is Kessel doing scoring one AMIRITE?). Tyler Bozak made just a ridiculous backhand cross-ice pass right on Kessel’s stick that was either magic or the result of Bozak selling his soul to the devil.

• Someone needs to get Reimer and Scrivens some catching gloves that friggin’ work. I feel my heart explode every time they bobble a shoot-in.

OH DAMN IT’S OVERTIME THOUGHTS

• Overtime… WHICH SOLVES NOTHING! I’m in favor of the soccer point system, where there are three points up for grabs and an overtime win only gets you two points.

• Kadri misses a tap-in after a ridiculous sequence of passes by the Leafs. To be fair, he didn’t have a ton of room to redirect it.

• McClement got a lion’s share of overtime minutes, taking a lot of defensive zone draws and then flying off to the bench if he won them.

OH DAY-UM IT’S A SHOOTOUT THOUGHTS

• Neither team had won a shootout before tonight. Tyler Bozak must be the greatest practice shootout player ever, because he shoots second again tonight. I always thought Mikhail Grabovski  was a pretty good shootout shooter, but I guess Carlyle poo-pooed that notion.
• Kadri hits the inside of the post and misses. He had Ondrej Pavelec beat.
• I guess Wheeler can do everything but score on a shootout against the Leafs. He misses as it’s the first stop in a shootout for Leaf goaltenders this year. (EDIT: Wait, did he score? I guess I totally missed that somehow?)
• Bozak shuts me right the hell up and scores with a nice head fake five hole shot.
• Bryan Little hits the post on his shot and misses. I remember when Little was awesome.
• Lupul shoots last for a storybook ending, but gets stopped.  “There is no happy endings in the Czech Republic!” screams Pavelec, probably.
• Ollie Jokinen, certified wily vet, gets stopped on a five-hole attempt.
• Kessel is stopped as he can’t get it up on Pavelic.
• Frattin misses, I wasn’t watching.
• Andrew Ladd is barely stopped by Reimer.
• JvR shoots and hits the post. My heart is exploding in agony.
• Miettinen gets stopped, because shooting right at the goalie is bad.
• Cody Franson?
• Byfuglien decides hockey is dumb and just shoots it off the side of the net.
• MacArthur tries to go five-hole and is denied. He tried the magic wand shot.
• Wellwood is stopped on the classic Jason Allison Zamboni shot.
• Dion Phaneuf is stopped.
• Nik Antropov fails to make Leafs fan hate him even more, not scoring.
• Kulemin tries the same move as Phaneuf and gets the same result. That’s the definition of insanity.
• Bogosian finally ends the madness going top shelf on a stop-and-go.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• This Molson Canadian commercial never fails to infuriate me. WHY IS BEING CANADIAN THE BEST PART, GINGER? THAT MAKES NO GODDAMN SENSE!

• Calling The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey “The Event of the Year” is pretty funny. It’s like calling me eating breakfast “the adventure of a lifetime”.

• The commercial for the GSP – Nick Diaz fight on Sportsnet set to The Animals seminal “House of the Rising Sun” is awesome. Unlike these terrible Durex condom commercials. I guess it’s difficult to difficult to make a humorous condom commercial. It’s not like you could get Louis CK to write, direct, and star in one for you, although that would be pretty amazing.

• Looks like CBC’s staff have been watching a lot of Zack Snyder’s movies, with all the normal speed – slow motion – back to normal speed replays they did tonight.

The Leafs get plain clobbered by the Jets at the MTS Centre, losing 5-2.

Here are some thoughts:

• Matt Frattin starts on a line with Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski. He was rusty against the Penguins on Saturday. Leo Komarov returns to the Kadri – MacArthur line. In the end, Frattin moved back to the Kadri line as the first lineup was failing miserably.

• Colton Orr and Nicholas Thorburn throw down in the third shift of the game. After losing pretty much all his equipment, Orr got a bunch of good shots in on Thorburn. Frazer McLaren hasn’t fought since ruining Dzuircyznski.

• One of those wacky goals on the powerplay for the Jets. Dustin Byfuglien takes a shot from the point after the Jets controlled the puck magnificently which bounces off of Nik Antropov. Great process leads to a lucky goal. You know it’s a bad sign when a Leafs broadcaster says something along the lines of “The Leafs are great at X while the opposition is terrible at Y”. I was reading an article in the Globe and Mail regarding possible trade options at the NHL deadline and it mentioned Antropov as a prime candidate for a Stanley Cup team. I lol’d.

• It’s a little shocking that Winnipeg ever lost a hockey team seeing how crazy full the MTS Centre is all the time. Since Hell’s Kitchen was on instead of actual television all goddamn night I decided to do some research as to why the original franchise moved to what was clearly a hockey utopia in Phoenix. Apparently, back in the ancient times of 1996, the Canadian Dollar was doing about as well as the Toronto Blue Jays were that year and the Canadian teams had to pay salaries with the USD while making revenue with the CAD. That, coupled with what apparently was a terrible arena, led to the team’s relocation. So now you don’t have to just scream out “BETTMAN” whenever you are asked why. You can scream out “BETTMAN AND THE ECONOMY”. It’s, like, educational all up in here.

• Dion Phaneuf was unhappy about Andrew Ladd running him into the boards, leading to Phaneuf just clobbering Ladd in a fight. Phaneuf gets an instigator for starting a fight while wearing a visored helmet, probably. The instigator rule is incredibly stupid. Maybe if its McLaren forcing Evander Kane into a fight I’d understand it, but if I guy is mad that he got run into the boards, it’s dumb.

• Nazem Kadri draws another amongst numerous penalties as soon as Frattin is returned to his line. I love the chip into the corner by Korbinian Holzer rather than trying a shot through a half dozen guys, risking a terrible giveaway. That’s Dallas “motherfucking” Eakins at work there. Unfortunately, Phaneuf was still in the box during this PP, so instead of him shooting from the hashmarks its Mike Kostka’s wrister being snagged by Ondrej Pavelic.

• Phil Kessel scores on a partial break, but his stick doesn’t live to tell the tale. Kessel shows some hustle to block a pass in the neutral zone and rushes in to take the shot. His stick breaks and beats Pavelic with the change up, the stick dying a hero.

• The Jets get one right back as a series of crazy bounces leads to Blake Wheeler having a wide open net on James Reimer. Pavelic makes a huge save on Grabovski just before that goal that leads to the transition goal as all the Leafs forwards get caught deep and never get set back up.

• A couple of incredibly boneheaded penalties by the Jets at the midpoint mark. Antropov chops the stick out of Kadri’s hand when neither of them are in control of the puck, and then another Jet fires MacArthur into the boards right at the start of the PP. Cody Franson probably needs a wooden stick as yet another one of his sticks broke while in position A. Good penalty killing by the Jets who managed to kill a very long 5 on 3 with a couple of key blocks.

• I’m still of the belief that Nikolai Kulemin is a decent NHLer who, despite being rather overpaid, still contributes a great deal that goes unappreciated. However, he has just absolutely developed brick hands this year. He doesn’t have a soft touch with the puck anymore. Without the puck, he is a good to great player. With it, everything he does can be described as “crude at best”. Any time he’s challenged for a puck, he puts too much on the puck and it gets past his own linemates.

• Ex-Leaf Kyle Wellwood scores on a great effort by Byfuglien and a terrible effort by Reimer. It may have been a cross ice feed, but it was a very slow play that Reimer should have easily gotten across on. After a bad game against the Penguins, I thought Ben Scrivens might have gotten a start and gotten a chance to for a win (which wasn’t happening against the Bruins). I find it hard to believe he won’t be starting the next game after Reimer’s second consecutive struggle in goal.

• Atrocious giveaway by Frattin leads to Evander Kane getting a clear breakaway goal. The Jets didn’t take a lot of chances in the third with a two goal lead, and the Leafs basically seal their own fate early. Scrivens comes into the game and gets burned by Wheeler immediately.

UP NEXT:

• The Leafs get the Pittsburgh Penguins again back at the ACC on Thursday in what is turning into a rather important game all of a sudden.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• That new Lotto 649 commercial is sort of hilarious. “Guess what, fellow ladies on this safari paradise beach? We just won the motherfucking lottery! Time to buy more racetrack hats!”