Isles v. Toronto

Live from the Isles v. Leafs game.
End of the first - Leafs 1, Isles 0
Here is a pic of one of the Leaf's fan right before the game. He said something about wanting someones Ponikarovsky??

First Period:
Anyway -- for the first 10 minutes or so, Isles looked sloppy and slow. Lot's of chasing Leafs in their own end. Joey Mac is in goal and he doesn't look sharp. Flopping around a lot. Maybe Gordie should have stayed with the hot hand of Yann Danis. In fact, at about the 15 minute mark Mac almost put the puck in his own net!! Egad.

Ian White got the goal for the Leafs. Fortunately, for the last 8 minutes of the period the Isles picked up the tempo and looked like a completely different team. Some really good scoring chances -- at least 4-5 -- and the lines of Okposo, Bailey, Comeau and Bergenheim, Hunter, Nielsen looked real good. I was also impressed with the hustle of McAmmond as well.

Hopefully they can carry this into the 2d period.

Got the 1st period stats --- Isles had 14 hits to the Leaf's 3. Hilbert led all Isles forwards with ice time and # of shifts -- so either Gordon is insane or Hilbert's being showcased for trades. Let's hope its the latter.

Second Period:
Well.... this sucks - less than a minute in and Leaf's get a shorty. Isles came out flat despite having a power play. They did nothing with it.... except give the Leaf's another goal. Joey Mac is giving up too many rebounds.... smells like trouble.

Bergenheim is given a chance at the most exciting spectacle in the sport -- a penalty shot. And.................. he chokes, right into the pads.

OUCH - Kubina just took a Streit slapshot in the wrist or forearm. That's gonna leave a mark! He limps to the bench holding the arm - when the puck hit him you could hear a crack. Let's see if he comes back on the ice.

McAmmond cuts the Leaf's lead in half with a nice goal. He is playing well and setting himself to probably be moved again before March 4th. Teams trade goalie interference penalties but don't do anything with their respective man advantages. kubina is back out there -- so the Streit shot must not have caused any permanent damage.
End of 2 periods -- Leafs 2 - Isles 1.
Second period stats -- Isles continue to dominate in the physical play stats - Isles 23 hits to Leafs measly 8. Pansies. Teams are even on shots and Okposo now leads in ice time - makes more sense than Hilbert. One interesting stat - Leafs blocked 21 shots so far - so Isles have had their chances.

Third Period:
Isles need to come out showing a little more if they are going to stay in this game. Uh oh -- Witt just got a 5 minute major & game misconduct for elbowing Niklas Hagman. Hagman had to be helped off the ice -- no clue where he is -- bell was seriously rung. Not sure this was a good call - I missed the hit. Nice long PP for Toronto. Blake is out - continues to be a selfish puck hog. Took another shot from a ridiculous angle instead of passing. Bergenehim just razzle-dazzled on a breakway shorthanded and buried one. Its all TIED UP.

Leafs still have the man advantage..... and........... they score. It's now 3-2 Leafs with a little more than a minute left in Witt's major. Leaf's just took a stupid tripping penalty. And while teams are four-on-four, Leaf's bury another one. Now its 4-2 with about 13 minutes left in the game.

Prediction - final score Leafs 5, Isles 3.
I'll finalize recap after the game.

Later:
WOW - the Isles made a dramatic comeback. Old reliable Streit slapping one through Toskala and into the back of the net. Then Sim - hopefully a tradebait showcase, makes a nice wrist shot & beaks Toskala - who quite honestly he should have made the save on this one.

Lots of action in the final minutes -- but looks like OT. The overtime had some nice action but nothing too scary, and on to the shootout. Is it possible to keep Tambelli as a shoot out specialist???

Okposo keeps trying those fancy moves but has nothing to show for it yet... yet. It's only a matter of time before he starts to bury a few. In the end, my prediction was close - and the Isles put on a nice show for the fans, got one point, and did no harm in their march toward the first pick.

Next up: Tracking Trades
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