Back To Reality

The team on the ice tonight against the Bruins certainly looked more like the team that in recent years I have learned to know and love. A disappointing game all around, especially for Kessel in his first game back in Boston. He was booed every time he touched the puck and it got to him, with no points and a -3 rating. But with his recent play, he deserves a mulligan on this one... next time we're in Boston the initial shock of returning to play against his first NHL team will be gone and he'll come through.

Really tough to find positives in this game. The Leafs penalty kill continues to struggle - they allowed 2 goals tonight while shorthanded, ranking last in the league with 72.5% kill rate. The 7-2 loss certainly did not help the goals against statistics, where the Leafs again rank last in the league with allowing an average of 3.57 goals/game.

Grabovski, Schenn, an Blake had good games on paper. the only Leafs with a +1 rating and Hagman continued his recent offensive touch with another goal.

The goaltending situation only seems to be getting worse. Joey Mac was pulled after playing well over the last few games, and Toskala made his return from injury, allowing 3 goals on only 10 shots.

As I said... looks like we're back to reality. Leafs take on Nik Antropov and the Thrashers on Monday night.