Sunday, April 08, 2007

Islanders have the hammer.


Toronto Maple Leaf fans have yet one more day of nail biting to endure, before they know if they should start reading up on the Raptors and Blue Jays or that shiny new toy the soccer club.

The Leafs took care of their part of the bargain on Saturday night, but edging the Montreal Canadiens 6-5 and sending the Habs home to pack and plan for the summer might not be enough.

Toronto took to the ice in the first period and appeared ready to chase Montreal right out of the Air Canada centre and down the 401. At one point in the first period the shots on goal favoured the Leafs by a ridiculous measure of 19-2.

Christobal Huet was left to fend for himself for a good ten minutes of the first before Montreal could mount any form of effective counter attack. And for the Habs, Huet proved to be large he single handedly kept them alive in the first period, as he faced an onslaught of Toronto attacks.

Surprisingly by the end of the first period Montreal was still battling to knock out the Leafs, and by the second period they were ahead providing a glimpse of playoff elimination for Toronto. The Leafs would battle back to tie the game at 4-4 by the end of the second and took control in the third building their way to the 6-5 decision.

They now await news from New Jersey on Sunday afternoon as the New York Islanders attempt to put away the Leaf's dreams for this year. The Islanders need a regular time victory to ruin the Leafs aspirations for this year.

Should the succeed, it will set up a Long Island Buffalo playoff series, which would provide much in the way of high drama and sub plots for the first round of the playoffs.

Of course, Toronto would have other preferences, a nice little cross border showdown with their southern neighbours is what they're hoping for. To get it, they'll need a little help from the swamps of Jersey.

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