NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update:
Saturday February 27, 1999 10:00PM EST
Saturday February 27, 1999 Costly scrap for Big Mac
The NHL last night slapped Maple Leafs defenceman Chris McAllister with a two-game suspension for laying a beating on the New York Islanders' Rich Pilon.
McAllister also will forfeit $3,489.58 in salary.
The incident occurred during Thursday's second period in Uniondale, N.Y., after Pilon dropped his gloves during a play stoppage and invited McAllister to rumble.
Pilon's participation was okay, since he had been on the ice prior to the stoppage. But the 6-foot-7 McAllister had just hopped over the boards.
Referee Rob Shick hit McAllister with an automatic game suspension for leaving the bench to participate in a fight before play had resumed.
Pilon, whose face was bloodied during the fight, received a five-minute major.
"It is unacceptable for any player to leave the bench, even on a legal line change, for the purpose of either initiating or becoming involved in an altercation," NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell said.
Leafs coach Pat Quinn defended McAllister's actions.
"The aggressor was Pilon. He dropped his gloves first and he got accommodated," Quinn said with a chuckle.
"(McAllister) knows how to handle himself. He's a big man. He does pretty well."
The Leafs recently acquired McAllister from the Vancouver Canucks for centre Darby Hendrickson.
Thursday February 25, 1999 McCauley bounces back
The realization was immediate.
Alyn McCauley didn't even bother to try and get up. He knew already. He just slammed his stick in disgust, knowing his worst fear had been realized.
A few seconds earlier, he had collided knee-on-knee with Carolina's Gary Roberts and crumpled to the ice. Not two periods into his return to the lineup after a seven-week absence as a result of a sprained ligament, he had reinjured the same hinge.
Before medical help could get to his side, the fiery centre rose to his skates and headed for the runway that leads to the Leafs dressing room, tossing his stick aside in despair like so much kindling.
There wasn't a person among the 18,460 in the Air Canada Centre who didn't think the worst.
Gone for the season, right?
Well, at least for the rest of the shift.
When the third period began, McCauley was back on the bench and not two minutes into the period he was carving in off the right wing, foiled by Hurricanes goalie Arturs Irbe on a good scoring opportunity.
And then, with little more than five minutes remaining in the game, there he was again, stepping into a slapshot in the high slot and drilling it past Irbe to tie the game for Toronto.
Talk about inspiration.
The Air Canada Centre had been disguised as an empty warehouse for the better part of three hours when McCauley lit up the place like New Year's Eve. The suspicion was that the ACC had the potential to be a noisy, spirit-lifting building and now we know.
This was as good as the news would get for Toronto this night. In the movie version, McCauley would have scored in overtime to win it. No such luck, but there will be plenty of nights when he will.
Heady and steady, McCauley was one of the reasons the Leafs got out of the starting gate so well this season and there is every reason to believe that if they are to finish as strongly, he will be a big part of that as well.
The question you have to ask, though, is the same one that has been nagging us all season long: Is this hockey team good enough to make any noise in April, May and, gulp, June?
With March less than a week away, it is still impossible to tell. Games like last night only serve to confuse the picture.
The Leafs have beaten virtually every one of the top Stanley Cup contenders and in their own rinks, to boot. But somehow, perhaps because they can't seem to put together a dominating stretch of games, they can't convince us they are at the point where one or two key additions by general manager Mike Smith can put them over the top.
One thing you cannot fault with this team is its consistency.
The Leafs have not lost more than three games in a row and, in fact, have only lost three in a line once and that was way back in October. Even back-to-back losses are a rarity. They have only been beaten twice in a row three times this year.
Neither does it seem to matter much where they play. Seventeen wins at home. Fifteen on the road. Never too high, never too low.
All of which makes it difficult to get a handle on exactly what kind of a team this is and where it is headed.
For nearly two full periods last night, the silence at Air Canada Centre was broken only by the occasional whisper. Seldom have so many people made so little noise in an enclosed setting. Then, after the Leafs closed the gap to 2-1 late in the second period, the joint started to come alive.
It reached a peak when McCauley scored and most of the patrons went home feeling rather good about their hockey team and especially their hero of the moment.
But while the Leafs offence once again delivered, as did MVP Curtis Joseph, there can be nothing but concern about the many scoring chances continuously surrendered on defence.
This, of course, isn't just a problem for the defencemen. The forwards have to share the blame.
Joseph continuously bails them out and he did it again in this one.