Islanders hammer the Leafs: that’s not what I was expecting….

Before the Leaf-Islander game on Thursday night, I “tweeted” that I saw the Leafs winning Thursday night.  Why?  I was certain that the players would have looked at themselves in the mirror over the previous 48 hours, recognizing they had “lucked” out a win Monday against the Devils, before being taken out handily by the Capitals in Washington Tuesday night.  With a playoff berth at their fingertips after a lot of hard work this season, I also figured Carlyle would have provided the right combination of chalk talk, inspiration, roster juggling and disapproval to right the lilting ship.

I anticipated that, as a result, the Leafs would come out flying and take the game to the visiting Islanders, themselves on the nervous edge of the playoff picture as they began a tough road trip.

I was right—but only for the first few minutes of the contest at the ACC.  After killing off a two-man disadvantage, accruing a 2-0 lead and engaging in the requisite Orr/McLaren fights only seconds apart, it all went downhill from there.

It was not that dissimilar to what happened in Washington.  Once the Isles started to score, the Leafs had no answer.  It would be easier to name the Leafs who stood out as playing really well in the final 53 minutes of that game as opposed to those who cut corners and generally did not distinguish themselves.  I won’t name names.  If you’d like to, go right ahead.

Listen, I’m not especially concerned or downhearted about this little mini-skid.  Now, I think we all recognize the team has not been at its best for a while, though they hammered the Habs last Saturday when Price struggled in goal.  We can all count, so we know the Leafs have been outshot too many nights this season (not that that is always an indicator of territorial advantage, etc.).  And yes, Reimer’s good play (and earlier, that of Scrivens) along with some good breaks has helped our record.  But goalies are expected to play well, eh?  The Leafs were winning games and showing plenty of good qualities in their overall play, as well.

If most of these guys were playing pretty well before, let me state that these guys are clearly not bums all of a sudden.  If you loved the way Kessel, JVR, Lupul, Phaneuf, McClement, Kadri, Franson, Fraser et al were playing a couple of weeks ago, for example, are these individuals all suddenly lousy players?  Of course not.

Still, a collective mini-malaise has kind of settled in this week, I’d say. Carlyle may feel—as he said in his post-game presser Thursday night—that fatigue is an excuse, but the guys have looked tired at times. And sometimes it’s extra hard to regain lost momentum when your legs just aren’t there any more (as in three games in four nights…).

That said, let me make a couple of minor points.  You may remember, if you’ve visited VLM over the past few weeks, that even in “good times” I have consistently said I was not “worried” about the blue and white, because they weren’t “good enough” just yet to really worry over, in fan terms.  That is not a criticism, simply an assessment that this team, while building toward hopefully a bright future, may yet be a ways off from being close to the teams of, say, the Quinn era.  You remember those days, when we were an automatic playoff team and when, some springs, we honest-to-goodness believed we had a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup.  And in 1999 and 2002, why wouldn’t we think that—especially given the teams we were playing those years in the semi-finals?

But my second point is that it has indeed been nice for the Leafs to do something few of us “expected” before this mini-season began—that is, make (surely we will…) the playoffs.

The Leafs are poised to do that while playing well enough to win games and entertain us many nights along the way. And with that has come, for me at least, the admittedly heady feeling that, hey, if this team plays hard and to its “potential” (and Reimer plays in the playoffs as he has at times this season), we could well surprise someone in the first round.  I’ve been saying forever no one in the East is unbeatable.  All teams have gone through their rough patches, all the Eastern teams have weaknesses and it is possible (though it's only two losses) that the Leafs are getting this lethargy out of their system before the playoffs.

So nothing has really changed for me.  Beyond the things I often mention here, like leadership and experience (which our young players will get in the playoffs) I’m not worried about this team.  In addition to what I just said above, I also believe they will rebound and play better at some point before the season ends. And I still think the Leafs can surprise people in the playoffs, despite the fact that some Leaf fans will be highly critical of Carlyle, particular players, and a host of related things in the days ahead. 

I may be critical as well at times because, when you post every day, you need something to write about.  But I just don’t see this is some big drama.  It’s two games. Yes, of course it would be nice to have officially wrapped up their spot by now, but that will come.

Maybe my more telling comment, and I’ll try to make it in the form of a question, is this:  if we fans were generally happy will all the players I listed above, and many others, including Reimer (of course, you say, given his play most of this season and notably after the trade deadline…), and if you think the team is not playing well now, who is struggling?  Someone must be.

Clearly we can see that not everyone is playing as well as before or, we wouldn’t be losing 10-3 over the last two games.  So who is off their game, and needs to find it, for the Leafs to get back to what they were: a hard team to play against, one that can create on offense and limit at least some of the high-end scoring chances for the opposition.

Again, I have some names in mind that may be struggling a bit, but I’ll leave it to you if you’d like to wade in on that topic.

From my perspective, I sense we’ll be fine.  Teams struggle at various points in a season, and I‘d rather see this now than two weeks from now.

How about you?