NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update:
Monday May 1, 2000 12:27AM EST
Sunday April 30 2000 Boo birds descend on Leafs power play
Mats Sundin sounded as if he wanted to join the capacity crowd in booing the Maple Leafs power play last night.
"The way the Devils play, it's tough for the fans to get involved," the Leafs captain said after his club's 1-0 loss to New Jersey at the Air Canada Centre. "Both games in this series, they have tried to kill the emotion in this building."
In the end, there was still one prevailing emotion in the joint -- frustration. Sundin felt it, his teammates felt it and the fans felt it.
The locals finally made their feelings known late in the third period when the Leafs flubbed a four-minute power play. The jeers rained down on the Leafs from the purple seats near the rafters when Devils forward Jason Arnott returned to the ice with 7:40 remaining in the period after serving a high-sticking double-minor.
"That was a big kill," Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph said. "We have to do better than that."
Easier said than done, especially for a Toronto team that has gone 2-for-33 on the power play during the playoffs. The Leafs were 0-for-5 last night.
For the past eight games, the Leafs have vowed to put more bodies in front of the opposition net in order to create traffic and screens. Yet they still have not practised what they have preached.
"Our power play just isn't working right now," Leafs winger Steve Thomas said. "They have very good penalty killers who play aggressively.
"They force a lot of pressure. That means we have to move the puck quickly. But we're not getting any speed through the neutral zone and that's a big problem."
The result was a relatively easy night for Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, who spent more time shooting pucks around the boards than stopping the few the Leafs managed to send his way.
"We had some chances on the power play but we couldn't convert," Sundin said. "Twenty shots at home in the playoffs is not nearly enough."
Sunday April 30 2000 Fans give Berard warm welcome
The ovation lasted about a minute. The memory will last forever.
Bryan Berard returned to the Air Canada Centre last night for the first time since suffering a career-threatening injury to his right eye on March 11 in Ottawa. And the capacity crowd gave him a warm welcome home. As Berard's image was flashed on the JumboTron above centre ice with 13:11 remaining in the first period, the crowd rose. With players from both the Devils and Leafs tapping their sticks on the ice, well-wishing fans held up signs that read Get Well Soon, and We Miss You Bryan.
While Berard opted not to hold a news conference last night, he told Hockey Night In Canada that he still maintains hope of playing in the NHL again. And given the progress he has made, nothing is out of the question.
"I am counting fingers, two or three within five feet," Berard said. "But I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much."
Berard also clarified his opinion on visors.
"If I went back, I probably would wear a visor," Berard said, adding that "the decision to wear one should be up to each individual player."
Friday April 28 2000 Cujo dogs Devils
Curtis Joseph is getting up there.
Forty career playoff wins as of last night. A 33rd birthday tomorrow. A calf muscle bruise added to his grizzly black and blue souvenirs.
But the number he cares most about are shrinking. Eleven goals against in seven games. Three wins to eliminate the New Jersey Devils. Seven victories to make his first Stanley Cup final.
"I never take anything for granted," the Maple Leafs' goaltender said last night after 32 saves in a 2-1 win to open the Eastern Conference semi-final. "They hit a couple of posts tonight (two and a crossbar to be exact), but I remember in Ottawa things like that were going the other way."
On a night at the Air Canada Centre almost identical to his Game 1 shutout in the Senators' series, Joseph held the fort until a huge Darcy Tucker goal put the Leafs in command.
Joseph was busy until the final horn, as the Devils attacked with a vengeance with Martin Brodeur on the bench. It was also turn-back-the-clock-night again for ex-captain Wendel Clark, who hit with gusto and assisted on Tucker's winner.
"The only time you're a Stanley Cup hero is when you win the Stanley Cup," Tucker said of keeping his best ever post-season in perspective. "I'm not stupid enough to think I'm going to score pretty goals."
Clark, with ice time up to almost 12 minutes after starting the game with Tucker and centre Dmitri Khristich, fired a puck towards the net on his first third-period shift, hoping for fireworks.
His wish was answered when the puck hit Devils' Steve Kelly, bounced high for Tucker, who teed it up, shot and then got his own rebound for his third playoff goal and second game-winner. Jersey had gotten in trouble with a bad change on defence.
Dmitry Yushkevich and Devils' Petr Sykora had traded second period goals, with Yushkevich's banking in off Sergei Nemchinov for the first by a Leafs' defenceman in these playoffs.
The Leafs remain undefeated in five games this season against Jersey (4-0-1), one of the biggest teams in the NHL, who had four more days rest than Toronto to start this series. "I thought we outchanced them and I thought we outplayed them," Toronto native John Madden said in the Devils' room later. "But it's a seven-game series. We just have to play our style of hockey and keep going to the net."
When the Devils did try to screen Cujo, the Leafs cleared them aside, though scrappy old Claude Lemieux had a team-high five shots and nearly forced overtime.
After his assist, Clark changed gears and caused Kelly and Scott Niedermayer to collide, before clanking his shot off Brodeur's post. The crowd of 19,337 rose in a standing ovation during the TV timeout, ruining the Devils' hopes to lull Toronto to sleep and pounce on an error.
"They are a different team when they are tied or behind than they are with the lead," Jersey's Bobby Holik said.
Jersey's goal was the result of Kevyn Adams getting caught when he wheeled back into a pack of Devils instead of dumping the puck on a solo rush. That, an 0-for-5 power play and the seventh scoreless first period the Leafs have turned in grated on general manager/coach Pat Quinn.
Jersey had great success latching the defensive pairing of captain Scott Stevens and rookie Brian Rafalski onto Toronto first liners Mats Sundin, Steve Thomas and Jonas Hoglund.
Tuesday April 25 2000 Leafs slam door to House of Pain
If they were going to win, which they ultimately did last night, there certainly wasn't a better time for it to happen. And there definitely wasn't a better place.
Finally, there is closure for the Maple Leafs.
At long last, the doors to the House of Pain, which the Corel Centre had become to them this season, swung shut for good this spring ... and they didn't hit them on the butt on the way out.
With a spirited 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators, a game in which the Leafs came back from a two-goal deficit and looked a lot like their old firewagon selves in doing it, they won their NHL Eastern Conference quarter-final in six games.
And after the fractured ankle suffered by Mats Sundin at the start of the season, the horrible eye injury to Bryan Berard in early March, the foot Danny Markov broke later in the month and the knee Nik Antropov blew out in the third game of this series, what transpired last night didn't erase all that pain, and especially not the lingering fears that remain for Berard, but at least that is now all behind them, supplanted by a much happier memory.
Hell, even Yanic Perreault, who hurt his knee in Toronto in the series opener, got to watch his personal demon, Senators goaltender Tom Barrasso, take it on the chin, not that he would be the only who would find that an enjoyable concept.
"At least we'll be able to look at this building in a positive light now," Leafs backup goaltender Glenn Healy said. "There have been heavy rain clouds hanging over this place for a while, but now we can look it as being a pretty nice place."
And an even nicer place to see in the rear-view mirror. So it's goodbye Ottawa, the Leafs' personal hell, and hello to the New Jersey Devils.
This was obviously a difficult series for the Leafs, who entered the playoffs with drastically different expectations than a year ago. But in the past two games, after stumbling for a while, they found their way and a way to get the job done.
"That's part of the process we're trying to do now," Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn said the other day. "To be a team that's expected to win and then does it. You get into that position where they have to face the different sorts of things that you have to deal with ... or else."
What the Leafs had to deal with last night was a two-goal deficit in the second period, another two-man disadvantage and the scary prospect of a seventh game tonight. But after falling behind in the second period, it was winger Steve Thomas who ignited his team again, scoring his sixth goal of the series.
"They had us on the ropes at 2-0," Quinn said. "Then all of a sudden it must have felt like a stake in the heart for them."
Just 3:05 after the Thomas goal, Sundin tied the game. A few minutes after that, Sergei Berezin gave the Leafs their first lead here in this series, the three goals coming on just eight shots, in a span of 6:29. And maybe even Barrasso cared what people were saying at that point. Maybe.
Before the period was over, former captain Wendel Clark, who desperately wanted to finish his career with an extended playoff run in Toronto, continued to contribute and made it 4-2, earning his 60th career playoff point, tying him with Frank Mahovlich, Ted Kennedy and George Armstrong for fourth overall in Leafs playoff scoring.
In the end, though, the difference in this series was that the Leafs' best players clearly outplayed the Senators' best. The Leafs' top line of Sundin (three), Thomas (six) and Jonas Hoglund (one) combined to score 10 of Toronto's 17 goals in the series. The line also had 20 points and was plus-24. Berezin also was a standout, chipping in with three goals, while Curtis Joseph, who stumbled slightly midway through the series, regained his form, and Markov, who took a puck in the face last night, battled on, tougher than a two-buck steak. The Senators big line of Radek Bonk, Marian Hossa and Magnus Arvedson didn't register a single point and was minus-20. Enough said. So now the Leafs meet the Devils starting Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre. By winning last night, they at least give themselves an extra day to rest for a matchup they must like. During the season, the Leafs were 3-0-1 against the Devils, who chased away a few demons by sweeping the Florida Panthers for their first series win in four springs. It won't be easy for the Leafs to survive another round without the likes of Perreault and Antropov at centre, and Berard on the blue line, but all of that is something left to ponder on another day. Last night there was closure, to the series and everything else.
Sunday April 23 2000 Stumpy delivers:
Thomas offers up an Easter treat with overtime heroics
Steve Thomas bore a strong resemblance to the Easter Bunny last night. No floppy ears sticking out of his helmet or a cotton tail, but he brought great joy to town when he delivered two black rubber eggs to Tom Barrasso's house. One at 15:30 of the third period and another at 14:47 of a wild overtime gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators and a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series that seemed to be slipping away.
"Scoring an overtime goal in the first game in this building (Feb. 20, 1999) was big," Thomas said, "but this could be the biggest. This is the top."
Thomas, who tipped a Sergei Berezin centring pass for the winner, is the National Hockey League's regular-season OT scoring leader with 11 career goals, but last night's was his first in the playoffs. His five playoff goals leads all goal scorers in this 2000 post-season.
Toronto now can finish off the Senators in six games tomorrow night at the Corel Centre.
"Fear had us by the neck for awhile," Maple Leafs general manager and coach Pat Quinn said of a dead second period with the Senators up 1-0 and the crowd booing his team. "But we had good breaks and good goaltending and it was almost like killing that penalty relaxed us."
Quinn was referring to the evening's shining moment of defensive hockey -- defusing a 38-second 5-on-3, followed by the balance of a double minor to Garry Valk.
The Leafs picked that juncture to crack the Senators' trap and start a series of rushes that paid off in Thomas' first goal. He rifled a Mats Sundin drop pass to the top corner.
The Leafs almost won in regulation and a wild extra period followed with referees Dan Marouelli and Paul Devorski looking the other way after just four minors were called all night. The Leafs had 11 of their 31 shots on Barrasso in overtime, with close calls by Thomas and Darcy Tucker.
Curtis Joseph, burned by one of Dmitry Yushkevich's errors last night on a Joe Juneau goal, made six stops in OT.
"Mats sat down beside me after the game and said 'That why we play hockey,' " a spent Valk said. "We haven't scored (a first-period goal in the series yet), but (backup) Glenn Healy said it doesn't matter if we score in the 59th minute, we can win in OT."
It was the Leafs' fourth OT win under Quinn and Toronto's second against Barrasso in two years. The latter's strong play through the night helped take the crowd out. Ottawa's road losing streak in playoffs is extended to 10 games, but the Leafs can't feel safe until they capitalize on some of those chances they missed in Games 3 and 4. When Adam Mair hit the crossbar last night, it was the eighth time in three games the Leafs have rung the iron.
"There is no quit in our team," Valk said. Lineup newcomers Mair and Wendel Clark, the latter a logical choice to play in a big home game, were sniffing around the Ottawa crease all night.
"That is what is great about playing hockey in Toronto," former captain Clark said. "I wish I could've buried more of my chances, but I am happy for a guy like Stumpy (Thomas).
"When we first started in the playoffs in 1986 against Chicago (a best-of-5 upset for the Dan Maloney-coached Leafs), he was getting some big goals on a line with Rick Vaive and Tom Fergus."
Quinn used Mair on the wing in almost 18 minutes of ice-time. The Sens still are without any meaningful offensive output from their recognized contributors such as Radek Bonk and Marian Hossa.
"In the next game, we just have to keep getting in behind their defence like we were doing late in the game," Tucker said. "If we could bottle what we had going tonight, we'd be okay."
The Leafs are trying to avoid blowing a 2-0 series lead, which they last fumbled in 1995 against Chicago. If a seventh game is needed here, it will be played Tuesday, skipping the usual off day.
Saturday April 22 2000 Veteran Clark rejoins Leafs for big game
When in doubt, go to the icon.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, who have dropped the last two games of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Ottawa Senators are turning to crowd favourite Wendel Clark to try and turn things around.
The veteran winger will go into the lineup for Saturday night's crucial Game 5 at the Air Canada Centre. The winner of the game will have a chance to wrap up the series Monday in Ottawa at the Corel Centre.
Clark will go into the lineup along with rookie Adam Mair, who had some success with the Leafs last spring in the playoffs. He scored against Senators goaltender Tom Barrasso, who was with the Pittsburgh Penguins last spring. Both players give the Leafs more grit after they were outhit by the Senators in Games 3 and 4.
Forwards Kris King and Alyn McCauley will come out of the lineup.
"We've got some extra guys and it's time to do something," said Leafs coach and general manager Pat Quinn after Saturday's morning skate.
"Wendel brings experience and there's legs and enthusiasm on Mair's part. Clark will get some power play time. We'll be flexible as far as the line combination. They'll give us a different look. (Clark) can still shoot the puck.
"He's not a saviour. We just hope he comes in and helps the team win."
This will be the first game this playoff season for both Clark and Mair.
"It's always good to get a chance to play," said Clark. "I think we've played well in the two games we lost. If we had gotten a couple of bounces earlier rather than later, could have been up a goal rather than down one.
"I don't think we need to change the way we've been playing. We've outshot and outchanced them. One area we need to bear down is burying the chances."
McCauley, who went into the lineup for Game 2 after Yanic Perreault was injured, wasn't happy about having to take a seat.
"When you're going out on the fourth line, you've got to get it deep, hit guys and not get scored against," he said. "I thought we did a decent job.
"When your only getting eight or nine minutes, you don't want to be the difference in the game, especially with a goal against.
"Who are really going to change? You can't pull Mats (Sundin) or (Darcy) Tucker or (Sergei) Berezin. It's somewhat a numbers game. He's changed it up and hopefully it will make a difference in the game."
Thursday April 20 2000 Leafs post tough loss
Lady Luck doesn't just frown on the Maple Leafs at the Corel Centre, she mocks them.
For the second consecutive game, the Leafs clanked three goal posts en route to losing a one-goal game at the seemingly cursed home of the Ottawa Senators.
Talk about getting too many irons in the way of your fire.
As a result, the Battle of Ontario is all even after the Senators 2-1 win over the Leafs last night in front of a noisy sellout throng of 18,500. The best-of-seven NHL Eastern Conference quarter-final, tied 2-2, resumes Saturday night the Air Canada Centre.
On the positive side, the Leafs didn't suffer a serious injury this time. Mats Sundin (ankle), Bryan Berard (eye), Danny Markov (foot) and Nik Antropov (knee) -- were injured in Toronto's four previous visits to the Corel Centre this season.
That is little consolation to Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn, who must regroup his troops for a series that has become a best-of-three affair.
"I don't believe in witchcraft, hexes, or anything like that," Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph said. "But we have had a tough time in this building, that's for sure."
That's an understatement. Along with everything else that has happened to the Leafs at this glitzy Ottawa-area barn, forward Alyn McCauley's wedding ring and watch mysteriously disappeared from the Maple Leafs dressing room yesterday.
Cue the Twilight Zone music.
"At least we're going home now," Joseph said. "We're a tough team to beat there."
This series was supposed to be one in which Joseph would give the Leafs the edge. And the veteran goalie did just that in the first two games, allowing only one goal as the Leafs breezed to a 2-0 series lead.
But the past two games have seen Senators goaltender Tom Barrasso supplant Joseph as the star. According to the experts, that wasn't supposed to happen.
While Barrasso and his goal posts were spectacular the past two games, Joseph has looked rather ordinary. He was beaten six times on 37 shots in two games in Ottawa -- a shot total he often faces in one game, not two.
The first Senators goal, by Andreas Dackell at 8:15 of the second period, dribbled through him. Dackell's second of the game, at 3:23 of the third, went through his legs.
Joseph did not feel he had a chance on either goal, a claim that was not shared by everyone.
"No," Joseph said. "I just thought he made a couple of really good shots. I thought I had the first one, but it just slithered in.
"Any time you lose, it's frustrating. But it's nothing we can't come back from."
Meanwhile, Barrasso hardly was being the gracious victor in the Ottawa dressing room. He snapped at reporters when asked about the goal posts that Toronto hit.
"Why, you want me to stop the ones that are going wide, too?" Barrasso said.
Leafs captain Mats Sundin issued a classier response on the subject.
"That's hockey," Sundin said about the posts. "What concerns me more is the fact that we usually come back harder when we are one or two goals down. We must play harder Saturday night."
The Leafs had better heed their captain's words. Sundin was part of the Leafs team that blew a 2-0 series lead to the Chicago Blackhawks during the 1995 playoffs, losing in seven games.
No one in blue and white wants that history to repeat itself.
Tuesday April 18 2000 Dog-gone funny:
After escaping a suspension, Cujo able to laugh at incident
For a man who doesn't like people getting in his face, Curtis Joseph was remarkably upbeat with the 50 reporters jammed around him yesterday.
The Maple Leafs goaltender didn't throw a tantrum when he was nudged by a television camera. He laughed when he was asked if he should be suspended. He chuckled when told some Ottawa Senators felt that maybe, just maybe, the NHL should take action against him.
"I don't think I should be suspended," Joseph said. "I lost my balance and fell on (referee Mick McGeough). I wouldn't want him falling on me.
"It was comical."
After reviewing the case, the National Hockey League decided against punishing Joseph, who snapped during the third period of the Leafs' 4-3 loss to the Senators at the Corel Centre Monday night.
"There will be no further action," Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn said.
Suspension or no suspension, Joseph's antics in the game have become the hot issue of debate in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final, which the Maple Leafs lead 2-1. Game 4 goes tonight (7 p.m., CBC) at the Corel Centre.
Office chatter yesterday centred on Joseph's ballistic response after Rob Zamuner's winning goal on Monday night. Joseph, normally one of the coolest cats in the game, turned into a mad dog when the skate of Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson inhibited his chance of making the save on Zamuner's shot.
Joseph chucked his blocker and trapper behind the net and angrily pursued McGeough. When he got close to the referee he slipped, sending both men sliding to the ice.
Joseph was given a 10-minute misconduct. The league reviews all misconducts to determine whether a suspension is warranted.
"I thought it was pretty funny," Joseph said. "I didn't mean to fall. I wish I didn't fall. I saw (McGeough) point (to signal a goal). I wanted to get him to change his mind."
Joseph was asked how he could have altered the decision.
"(McGeough) could have gone upstairs and reviewed it," Joseph said.
Even Leafs officials were chiding Joseph about his blowup. He joked with team doctors when they suggested Joseph pose for a photo while strapped down and tranquillized.
Whether Joseph will be in such a good mood tonight remains to be seen. The Senators are making no secret they plan on storming the Leafs net in order to rattle him again.
"I don't understand the rule, so I just have to play and stand in there," Joseph said. "Hey, if you can get away with it, just slew-foot the goalie and put it in.
"When I phoned my wife in the morning, I asked her 'Did you watch the game? What did the kids say?' "
Joseph's kids probably were saying more than Quinn was yesterday. Quinn, outspoken all season about opposing players running his goalies, was more tight-lipped than usual about the subject.
"Don't try to get me back there," Quinn said. "I've put my foot in there enough.
"How do we prevent it? Maybe I could arm all our players."
Perhaps concerned about being fined by the league, Quinn stopped himself from going on.
"I'm going the wrong way here. I don't want to reach in my pocket and start digging out money."
Tuesday April 18 2000 Cross, Alfredsson play blame game
Daniel Alfredsson blamed Cory Cross.
Cory Cross blamed Daniel Alfredsson.
Not even Judge Wapner of the People's Court could settle this dispute.
Alfredsson and Cross were doing battle at the side of the Toronto net at 14:17 of the third period when Rob Zamuner scored the controversial winning goal in Ottawa's 4-3 victory last night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final.
Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph's attempt to make a save on the play was squelched when his left pad was blocked by Alfredsson's skate.
Alfredsson said Cross shoved him into the crease.
"I wanted to get in front of the net," Alfredsson said. "I think my leg hit Curtis a bit. I was trying to screen but was unable to because Cory Cross pushed me a bit into (Joseph)."
Cross hinted that Alfredsson stuck the skate out on his own.
"It looked like maybe his leg went into the crease and blocked Curtis," Cross said. "I was pretty sure we were out of the crease at that point."
Leafs forward Darcy Tucker agreed with Cross.
"I was standing right there," Tucker said. "I was there with (Senators forward Vaclav) Prospal when the puck slid by. And I watched Alfredsson blatantly stick his foot in the crease.
"If I could see it, why couldn't (the officials)? It was an easy save for Cujo. The whole thing is disheartening."
Keep in mind that the Leafs -- specifically Joseph and general manager/coach Pat Quinn -- have garnered a reputation this season for constantly complaining about goaltender interference. Less than two weeks ago, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that the rest of the teams in the league do not mirror the feelings of the Leafs on this issue.
"Yes, it has been said," Joseph said. "I'm not saying we're special or anything. But I saw a goal against Buffalo the other night that shouldn't have counted, either."
Joseph was referring to a goal scored by Philadelphia's John LeClair against Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek Friday night. The goal counted despite the fact replays showed the puck went through the mesh in the side of the net.
"That was one person's comments and they probably weren't true," Leafs goaltender Glenn Healy said of Bettman's statement. "We know.
"This has happened to Curtis numerous times. There have been a number of abuses. This is not a single incident."
Tuesday April 18 2000 Leafs sign college prospect
Boston College forward Jeff Farkas signed a two-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Farkas, 22, had 32 goals and 26 assists in 41 games last season for the Eagles. He was third in U.S. college hockey in scoring and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker award as American university hockey's top player.
Financial terms were not available.