“And with that, a mighty cheer went up for the good people of Shelbyville. They had banished the awful lemon tree forever….because it was haunted. Now let’s all have a nice cool glass of turnip juice.” It wasn’t quite that surreal last night here in Toronto, but adjectives anywhere from “surprised” to “shocked” were uttered around the bars and pubs as the Maple Leafs skated away with a 3-2 win over last years (and the consensus pick to win this years) champions. “Astonished” is another word that was heard floating around quite a bit.
The Leafs went into Detroit last night and flexed what little muscles they have and played one of those games where you’re probably not supposed to really win, but you do and it’s good if you never mention it again. Only this time, it will be mentioned. It is one of the biggest surprises to begin a season in recent memory. This was supposed to be the ideal match up for the Red Wings. Raise the Stanley Cup banner, pose for a few pictures, wave to the crowd, skate around the rink, pop in a few pretty goals here and there and then finish celebrating into the night after a four or five goal victory and then even celebrate down the street with Def Leppard. Only it never materialized.
The night began according to plan. The team brought in the Wayne State Symphony Orchestra to play during the ceremony. All time Detroit greats like Steve Yzerman, Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay were on hand to help unveil the Stanley Cup banner. All seven of the teams individual trophies were on hand as well. In short, it was a kingly celebration for arguably the most decorated team in history. The banner went up, the team posed for one last photo behind the Cup, and with that last season became essentially last season. 2008-09 was about to begin.
The Leafs game plan was simple enough. Protect the puck, attempt to finish the play, and plug up the center ice area whenever possible. In that respect, they did an adequate job. The Leafs didn’t turn the puck over in their own zone at all during the first period. It was very much a “dump it out” type of defence, but hey whatever works. Their forward lines are no match for the Wings in terms of puck control, speed and general hockey intelligence, but last night the Leafs did a better job of finishing their checks and cycling the puck down low than Detroit’s did. They also allowed only three odd man rushes during the first period and two of those were four on threes. But there is one thing that might not have been on the blue print for victory but is definitely something that was vital to any kind of success this team would have in Detroit: They had to weather the storm.
Simply, if the Leafs got down early, they were done. In a David vs Goliath match up like this, confidence and atmosphere can make or break a team. Leaf fans will remember playing in the old Chicago Stadium back in the 80s and early 90s. It was the kind of place where if the ‘Hawks scored early, they more than likely scored often; the crowd would be into the game for the entire 60 minutes and your only hope of survival was to play catch up. Last night could have gone the same way for the Blue & White. With over 20,000 fans screaming and cheering for their Stanley Cup champions, one Detroit goal within the first seven or eight minutes would have sent the place into volcano mode.
With every shot Toskala saved, and with every minute that ticked off the clock, the crowd became less enthusiastic. It is like in NHL ‘94. If good things continue to happen, the crowd gets more and more energetic and noisy and eventually the crowd meter breaks. The longer in between goals or hits or near misses and the crowd loses that level of intensity. The Red Wings had every opportunity to capitalize on the Leafs early game jitters, what few ones there were, and made good on zero of them. A power play for the Wings under four minutes into the game should have sent Detroit up 1-0 and given the fans a reason to start heckling Toskala. The Leafs didn’t panic, stuck to their defensive game plan and killed it off. The Wings then hit TWO posts within a matter of a few moments which could have sent things into a frenzy. Neither went in, and again the score remained tied. The Wings outshot the Leafs 8-3 over the first nine minutes of the game and out chanced them 6-1. The Leafs remained calm and collected and then after the mid way point of the period, things died down and Ron Wilson knew that his team had a chance in this game.
For Detroit to be successful last night, they needed to score early and pound the Leafs into the ground right from the start. Last night was a party for them. An opportunity to showcase their new team in front of a collection of second rate players that were either cast offs from other teams or unproven youngsters just looking for a shot to play in the league. Opening night for them was about having fun, not necessarily working too hard for the first two points of the season. For the Leafs, it was a chance to show grit, heart and determination. It just so happened that for this one night, the Wings showed none of those traits.
It became clear that near the end of the first period the fans and the team were getting restless. Detroit all of a sudden had little to no interest in actually playing this game anymore. The flair was gone. The Leafs on the other hand, sensed this and set out to do the unthinkable: Shut Detroit up and send their fans to the concession stands shocked. There are two things that can absolutely demoralize a team. Taking a stupid penalty and getting scored on late in a period. The Wings took care of one, and the Leafs the other.
The Leafs found themselves on the power play late in the first period last night and for the first minute didn’t do much with it. Everything changed however when a scramble in front of Chris Osgood failed, but he inexplicably tried to clear the puck ever so slowly right onto the stick of a pinching Pavel Kubina who tucked it neatly into the corner of the net. 1-0 Leafs. That goal accomplished two things. First, it gave the Leafs an instant sense of “Hey this is fun, let’s keep this up.” From that point on, this team believed they could hang with the Wings and nobody wanted to be the one to screw that up. It’s like in March Madness when a major Cinderella gets the lead in the second half and the good vibes begin going from one player to another. The rest of the team feeds off those vibes and for one reason or another they begin playing like a team and that’s exactly what happened to the Maple Leafs last night. Nobody, probably even themselves included, gave them even a punchers chance in the opener (the odds for a Toronto win last night were around 3.00) and for them to have the lead in the dressing room after period one was a huge deal. Huge.
The way they scored the goal was also a factor. It wasn’t a pretty goal, it was a nitty gritty type goal; one that was half manufactured and half given to them on a lucky play. But the fact remained that they capitalized on a broken play and a Detroit mistake was integral to the feeling they had skating off the ice. This was a team that was loose. It didn’t matter that the Wings had done the celebrating. It didn’t matter that there were 20,000 fans in attendance that came to see a blow out. It didn’t matter that the Wings easily could have (and more than likely should have) been up two or three goals by that point. All that mattered was that the first goal was theirs and for the time being the WINGS were going to be the ones playing catch up.
The second thing that late goal did was sink the Wings ship. There was a hole in the Titanic in or around the time of the second puck hitting the iron (the shot where Toskala did his best Tommy Salo impression but luckily for him it ricocheted off the crossbar instead of into the net) but when Kubina shot that puck into the net that was it. The wind was officially out of their sails and the Wings showed no real interest in the game from that point on. Watching the game on TV, you almost got a sense after that first period the game was over. The Wings had expended all their energy in that first ten minutes or so, the ten minutes where they had all the chances, showed off their speed and puck passing abilities and basically took it to the Leafs only to come up empty. They were supposed to win big and to this point it just wasn’t happening for them.
Detroit fell further into indifference during the second period. Gone was the zip and lustre of the opening celebration. The crowd was quiet, the Wings were coasting, and the Leafs were growing more and more confident as the period played on. The Leafs second goal was similar to their first. Another broken play. Another scramble in front of Chris Osgood. The fact that the Leafs had what must have been six or seven whacks at the puck from close range only bolsters the point that the Wings by then were drained emotionally and physically: They just didn’t care anymore. The Leafs went up 2-0 and you could sense the party starting.
Toronto fans no better than to celebrate too early, even when expectations are at an all time low, so it is not an understatement to say that nobody in the stands was thinking Toronto win at that point, but you can be sure the players were and I know I was. The Leafs did allow Detroit a goal late in the second to bring it back to 2-1, but I remember thinking during the second intermission that this is going to be one of those games that the better team is going to lose on the basis of they just didn’t want it bad enough. The loss would mean little to the Wings; the win everything to the Leafs.
Never was it more evident than on the Leafs third and game winning goal. Nikolai Kulemin’s first ever goal in the league was a pretty move, as he went in all alone and beat Osgood top shelf to give the Leafs a 3-1 lead midway through the third. But the reason he was in all alone was because of a lazy pass ACROSS HIS OWN BLUE LINE by Daniel Cleary. It was like a birthday present. He still finished the play, but under no circumstances should he have ever had the puck in that situation given to him like that.
The Maple Leafs showed grit and determination last night and took control of the game when they sensed they could. They played a perfect road game. They weathered the storm of the crowd, didn’t take any dumb penalties, attacked well and didn’t give up a lot of scoring chances after the initial barrage. They also took advantage of sloppy plays by their opponent and gave themselves a chance to win the game with every shift. They didn’t let early game jitters get the best of them and got solid goaltending by the guy who will be counted upon quite a bit throughout the season. The Wings on the other hand were clearly less interested in having to actually play a hockey game than they were in attending a party for last season’s accolades. But that’s the way it is sometimes. Good teams sometimes play down to bad teams and bad teams play up to good ones. The Leafs last night played the Wings as if it was THEIR Stanley Cup game. It wasn’t pretty and it more than likely won’t happen again this season, but for one night only the Toronto Maple Leafs were the toast of the Hockey Universe. Congratulations.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment