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Gobble Gobble, Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. Tronna is in town.
Enemy blog: There really are so many. Check out my favorites:
And check out this gem of a post by Archimedies I missed the last time we played the Leafs, analyzing the suits that our boys wear as they walk into the arena. I agree with him/Wrap on Hedman's suit analysis.
I hate when people call the Leafs the Laffs. It just sounds stupid and kinda redneck. I'm not a Leaf fan or anything, though I may know 2 or 3 (or realistically maybe about 10 of them), and of course, I like toss out a few Leaf jokes when they come in to town, but the people who call them the Laffs, they are just terrible and not creative at all. Plus, I don't hate on the Leafs just because they suck, hell, we sucked more for the last 2 years, and if we don't stop losing games in OT we might be in the same position in a few months. In fact, I may have a soft spot for some of their players: The Monster, Schenn and Stalberg.
So positives for the Leafs? They now have Phil Kessel playing. Unfortunately for the Leafs (and my hockey pool), they can't clone like 30 of him.The not so positives? They still have Jason Blake et al. on the team.
Vesa Toskala is back on the IR after tweaking his groin, along with John Mitchell (on the IR that is, not involved in the going tweaking) so they can hang out with Mike Komisarek and Mike Van Ryn. They have recalled Joey Macdonald and Christian Hanson from the Marlies yesterday as replacements. And the Leafs are tied with Carolina in points for the bottom of the East at 15 a piece.There's some Thanksgiving tailgate party you can go to in Tampa tonight, where for $25 you can have unlimited food, beer, wine and soda! Did I seriously write that? Unlimited beer and wine? Where I live, I think that $25 may cover your parking, and that's not even talking about food and drinks. Back to tailgating: I've never been to a tailgate party, they don't have those here where I live, so I don't really understand what goes on at them, but I would really love to go. Click here for details on the one going on tonight in Tampa.Line-up Notes:
Game time: 7pm ET SUN and TSN!!
I found this while looking up Lightning/Leaf picture for my preview, and came across this from last year when the Leafs and the Lightning played. It's from the Believe in The Goal Foundation that was founded by Todd Davison (WHL player) who was diagnosed with cancer. He started the foundation to help in the fight to end cancer. Check out some pictures of the Lightning hanging out with12 year old cancer survivor, Mason Sesak who got to hang out with some of the team last year in Toronto. Love this.
Brian Burke and Co made an appearance in Tampa today. Bring on the press conferences!
The day started out as usual. Pre-game skate. Grabovski gets in a fight with his own team...
What?
So for the second time this month (second???), Grabovski and Blake get in an altercation. Today's took place during their practice before the game tonight. Grabovski hit's Blake in the back and then a scrum ensues....see the Toronto Sun for the whole article. At first I though it was a bit of a joke, but after reading it, it makes me question Grabovski. Does this guy not understand that you don't hurt your own player? Hitting him in the back during practice? I understand that during practices, frustrations do arise. It can help a team when it challenges a team or player to play better, but I don't know what to think of this guy, but I don't imagine that helps his team in any way.
The Lightning went up 3-0 early in the second periord. Starting with a goal on the PP by Lecavalier in the 1st, then two quick goals 10 seconds apart in the 2nd by Stamkos and Pettinger.
Stralman get's a clean hit on Lecavalier. Lecavalier doesn't like this too much, so decides to slash him, then tries to pick up a fight with Stralman. Kubina steps in to quiet things down. Nothing comes of it, and Kubina stepped in at the right time. I thought the check was clean, but I also understand Lecavalier slash. It is good to see that this didn't turn into more than just a minor penalty as some clean hits seem to elicit these days.
Late the 2nd Mitchell gets a goal for the Leafs. Now this is all good heading into the intermission, the Lightning are up 3-1.
Intermission (The Lightning fall apart)
Jason Blake scores in the opening of the 3rd through Ramo's 5 hole, it's now 3-2. The Lightning fights off a penalty, in fact they fought off all 5 penalties that they took this game. Jeff Hamilton ties up the game for the Leafs. They then get two power plays during the end of the 3rd, but can't get the go ahead goal. This game will go to overtime, Ramo makes some huge saves. It doesn't matter, we move to the shoot out.
St. Louis has a nice spin-o-rama, but hits the post!
Lecavalier has a great goal on Cujo...and it reminds me why I appreciate hockey...
The shootout goes to 6 shooters each team, and in the end Mitchell ends it for the Leaf's. The cheer from the rink sounded like the Lightning were playing in the ACC instead of being in Tampa. Man those Leaf fans travel well (almost as well as Hab fans)..
Notes:
-Lashoff played his first game with the Lightning
-Cory Murphy got a lower body injury, and missed the 3rd period
-The Lightning let on 39 shots on net...ouch.
-The Lightning only got 22 shots on Cujo
Welcome to the centre of the universe. I'm watching the Sportsnet Ontario feed. These announcers are awful. I hear nothing but:
"Stom-kos"
"SONT Louis"
"LecavaLLLLLierr"
Just awful.
But I got no choice. The things I do to catch the game.
The second period consisted of countless powerplays given to the Bolts. Tampa got a goal by a puck that was pushed in by the Gerber's leg. St. Louis shook his head a little at Stamkos for not giving him the puck when he was at the point on the PP. Then a couple shifts later, a great pass from Stamkos to St. Louis on a rush and GOAL! We're up 2 to 1 heading into the third. Sweet. That just made me forget about how bad our powerplay was.
Ramo was great in the third period. Huge saves. One of the commentators kept yelling
"Romo!!!!"
How do these guys have a job? Goals from Malone added to the lead. And you can tell that by the time that Szczechura scored that they gave up. Man that guys needs another vowel in his name. Nice to see him get a goal in front of his family (being from Brantford, ON).
Bolts win. Leafs still suck. Losers since '67.
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