maple leafs

For now, what you see is what you get as management has no immediate fix for this frustrating and forlorn season. For tonight anyway, the group that has bumbled through the first 20 games and is on pace to being one of the worst editions in franchise history will be left to rescue themselves against a league powerhouse. There is little hope for the present, with management unable or unwilling to pull the trigger until it decides there is no alternative other than putting an underachieving veteran on w

We seem to have hopefully hit bottom   -Jamal Mayers

 

The Geneseo boys' basketball roster may not have a wealth of starting expereince, but it has a plethora of height and athleticism. "With the guys we have here, we like what we have," second-year Geneseo coach Dave Martin said. "We have a lot of guys who played last year and got in the mix."

With the guys we have here, we like what we have   -Dave Martin

 

An anonymous comment over at my blog Bitter Leaf Fan raised the question of how exactly the Leafs arrived in their current mess. There's not a single cause or easy explantion. This franchise has gone through three, maybe even four, different phases since 2000, however; with the exception of one small window, all of these phases have focused on the short-term, sacrificing picks and prospects for a supposed fix.  

Michael Ryder scored twice, Patrice Bergeron had the only goal of the shootout and the Boston Bruins snapped Atlanta's four-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory over the Thrashers on Thursday night. Boston halted a three-game slide, which included two overtime defeats. The Thrashers at least picked up a point when Maxim Afinogenov scored with 41.4 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.  

The Toronto Maple Leafs have 30th place in the NHL all to themselves. Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen scored in the shootout as the Hurricanes rallied from three goals down to beat the Maple Leafs 6-5 on Thursday night. "We definitely let one get away there," said Maple Leafs forward Matt Stajan.  

Watch the shootout between Carolina and Toronto from November 19, 2009.  

Chris Phillips scored twice in his 800th regular-season game and Pascal Leclaire made 25 saves, leading the Ottawa Senators to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night. Phillips, who entered with one goal in 18 games, scored goals 2:03 apart in the third to put Ottawa up 5-1 and chase Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Milan Michalek got his 100th career goal and Matt Carkner, Chris Kelly and Jonathan Cheechoo also scored for Ottawa, which won its second in a row.  

Mike Santorelli and Martin Erat scored shootout goals, and Jason Arnott had two goals in regulation in the Nashville Predators' 3-2 home victory last night against the New Jersey Devils. Pekka Rinne stopped two of New Jersey's three shooters in the tiebreaker for his fourth consecutive victory. New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur took the loss after winning his first three shootouts of the season.