The final line in my pre-game post “The Canucks at the ACC” yesterday was, “The Leafs should compete well. It may just be time for Kessel to break out.”
The Leafs did compete well, but couldn’t hold on. Two goals by Kessel to start the game should be a confidence boost, obviously. As I’ve mentioned, though, even if Kessel breaks out down the stretch, it won’t do anything of significance for the Leafs in terms of the standings this season. But it may help Kessel set a confident tone for next season.
I didn’t like the pass from the side boards that led to the first (shorthanded) Vancouver goal. Ponikarovsky couldn’t do much with it. The puck could have gone to a safer place. The un-finished back check on the last Vancouver goal was a problem for me, too.
As for the Canucks—boy, can Burrows skate.
I haven’t been a big fan of the Sedins over the years, but they are obviously gifted players. Their careers may be tracking like that of Mats Sundin, who just got better and better as his career evolved. Unfortunately, Sundin didn’t have another Sundin to play with during his elite years in Toronto.
We’ll see how the Sedins perform come playoff time. If they continue like this, even the close checking of the playoffs may not be enough to stop them. That said, Luongo will likely be the determining factor as to whether the Canucks are successful when it matters.
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A quick update on how our site is doing: We’ve had more visits in the last week than ever before. In fact, Vintage Leaf Memories has now been visited by readers from 46 countries since we launched the site this past September.
In the past week, we’ve included stories on Dave Keon, LA Kings trivia, how the Leafs helped save hockey in 1976 (though Montreal deserves most of the credit!) and one-time Leaf “Cowboy” Bill Flett.
Readers may be interested in some earlier stories including “Four Bruins and an elevator”, “Johnny Bower, the beginning and the end” and “Dick Duff, he should have always been a Leaf”.
We try to post new stories every day, though that will not always be possible.
Coming up in the next days, we will release one of our “vintage” interviews from our archives: a 1978 chat with the legendary Ted Lindsay, then the General Manager of the Red Wings.
We always welcome reader feedback and guest posts!
If you’d like to send an e-mail, you can contact me at Michael@prospectcommunications.com
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