NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update: Tuesday May 25, 1999 8:32PM EST
Tuesday May 25, 1999 Leafs have to get it together
Don't be surprised if the Maple Leafs steered clear of any Victoria Day fireworks last night.
They were too close to an explosive show on Sunday, singed in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final by the surprisingly wide-open Sabres. The Leafs were on the wrong end of a nine-goal total, too dangerous a game for even the NHL's top-scoring team to handle without smart defence to back it up.
"I'm sure the CBC ratings on TV were good," winger Garry Valk said sarcastically of the most offensive-minded playoff game Toronto has been party to this spring. "But that's not what we're trying to do here. We have to go back to being patient and winning the one-goal games as we did in the other series."
If not, the Leafs are will be in an 0-2 hole after two home games, a deficit that only 11 NHL teams have recovered from in playoff history.
"We know we're behind the 8-ball," coach Pat Quinn said. "We've never been down two games and tried to come back, but it's not an inviting situation."
So the Leafs went to the drawing board yesterday, with a practice and a 25-minute meeting, trying to link the two elements of their game.
Four things are in their favour heading into Game 2 tonight: Goalie Curtis Joseph's penchant for bouncing back after a bad outing; the team's 2-0 spring record in Game 2; a better understanding of their foe, not having seen them since Feb. 17; and finally, a good look at Dominik Hasek's understudy, Dwayne Roloson.
"That first game was a feel-out process," centre Steve Sullivan said.
The Leafs don't necessarily think that just because Buffalo got away from its buzzsaw, low-scoring style, the whole series will revert to pond hockey. Toronto had morphed its free-flow game into trench warfare in order to survive the first two playoff series.
"They opened up because we were flat-footed," Sullivan said. "They didn't have to set up their trap."
That's because early on, the Leafs were willing to surrender the puck right in Joseph's backyard, without any involvement of Buffalo's feared forecheckers. Three Sabres goals were generated by turnovers as the Leafs produced 28 giveaways -- their worst showing in the playoffs.
Quinn fingered his defence and Joseph on 17 of them. Yet the Leafs were a post away from tying it in the third period.
"They surprised us because we thought they would sit back," Toronto defenceman Bryan Berard said. "Our defence wasn't sharp on the breakout."
The Leafs' first line was in on all four Toronto goals . But right winger Steve Thomas was not celebrating because he and Lonny Bohonos missed late chances and the line didn't have a strong two-way effort. ( cond't) go to May 25
Monday May 24, 1999 No defence for Leafs'generosity
Give until it hurts. That's usually what you hear during charity drives, and the Maple Leafs honestly can say they gave at the office yesterday afternoon. The NHL's Real Time stats showed the Leafs with 28 giveaways to Buffalo's 11. That's their worst post-season total, as many giveaways as the last two games combined of the Eastern Conference semi-final against Pittsburgh. There could be no question of the culpability of Dimitri Yushkevich and Daniil Markov on the first two Sabres goals. "We weren't very sharp," Yushkevich said. "It's a different game and a different team." Markov came into the game with a plus-8, tops on the Leafs and tied for second in the league. He went home with five GVs beside his name as well as being minus-one, victimized by Buffalo's Vaclav Varada on a weak clearing attempt. Yushkevich had no Jaromir Jagr to track, but was forced to contend with a swarm of Sabres. A passing/clearing attempt by Tomas Kaberle also went astray on a Curtis Brown goal, while the Sabres' Geoff Sanderson outmanoeuvred Sylvain Cote to beat Curtis Joseph one a nifty one-hander. "A lot of their goals came from behind our net," Toronto's Bryan Berard said, not excusing himself from the defencemen's day of dishonour. "They have a lot of good skaters, but we know what we have to do to beat them now. We're still very confident." As was the case with the opening loss to Pittsburgh, the ice suddenly became an issue for the Leafs. "It was pretty bad for the past couple of days," Yushkevich said. "The puck bounced all over. Sometimes the puck was going for icing and you were pretty sure that it was going to be icing and it would hit the ice and (stop)." Centre Steve Sullivan said conditions made it hard to complete passes, but added "it was bad for their team, so it was an even street." Leafs coach Pat Quinn tinkered with his lineup after a three-game winning streak wrapped up the Pittsburgh series. "I felt I owed it to (the previously injured Sullivan and Tie Domi) to start off," Quinn said of sitting Adam Mair and Ladislav Kohn. "The particular guys who were changed weren't the reason we lost. I just felt it was the right thing to do."
Monday May 24, 1999 Joseph rattled by the Sabres
Curtis Joseph was wearing his Maple Leafs cap backward, an odd symbol of an afternoon gone wrong. This was supposed to be his show, his place. He and Dominik Hasek on the big stage, the so-called Cage Match. But one didn't dress and the other didn't exactly play and the Maple Leafs now trail after one game in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final. Joseph smiled one of those awkward, uncomfortable smiles after it was over, the kind that makes you look like you would rather be anywhere else, when asked about his game against the Buffalo Sabres yesterday. It was a game that seemed so out of the character for the Leafs, for their goaltender, for this playoff season. "I have to battle a little more,'' Joseph said softly. The cameras were all around him as they have been on so many nights, but the tone of the questions were different. For once, we were asking what went wrong instead of what went right. "I needed to make some big saves,'' he said. "I know I can be better. I know I can be sharper. I didn't make the big saves at the right time. Normally I put the onus on myself. Normally, if I'm sharp, I can look around and make the saves.'' He didn't look around the traffic in front of him. He didn't make the saves. He didn't do what he has done so often in this season of surprise, taking the heat off the Leafs for giveaways and defensive breakdown. For once, on a rare afternoon of playoff hockey, Curtis Joseph was more victim than savior. "We shot ourselves in the foot,'' captain Mats Sundin said. Had Joseph attempted such riflery yesterday, he would have cocked his weapon and missed. That is the story of Game 1, a story of an opportunity misplayed. This was one of those gimmes. You don't get many in a playoff lifetime. This was one of those short, easy putts that you're supposed to bend down, pick up, place in your pocket and say 'Yeah, I'll take that one.' It was Curtis Joseph vs. Dwayne Roloson, a hockey version of Tyson vs. Spinks, with Dominik Hasek watching in street clothes. Only the wrong team was standing at the end, the wrong goaltender celebrating. It started right in the first period, when Dixon Ward, who was a Leaf for about a minute, passed the puck across ice to Vaclav Varada to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead. "Maybe I could have made the save,'' Joseph said. "Maybe I overplayed it.'' On so many other nights, on so many of those nights when you watch him with awe and admiration, Joseph makes that save. There is no score. Then Ward fired a slapshot from the point off a Daniil Markov giveaway. Another shot, another unlikely goal. That was his day. The Sabres shot. The Sabres scored. Stu Barnes, who last scored a goal playing for another team, scored. Geoff Sanderson, who hasn't been a scorer since Hartford last played, scored a goal with one hand tied behind his back. The way things were going for Buffalo, you half expected a goal from Dean Sylvester, whomever he may be. Five goals on the first 18 shots. You could blindfold Joseph most nights, tie him to the net, and he would stop that many just by being there. And this wasn't just a regular first-game victory for Buffalo. This was enormous. They won without Hasek. They bought themselves time. They now can afford to wait before bringing Hasek back. Dimitri Yushkevich, perhaps unknowingly, spoke volumes about the Maple Leafs disaster of yesterday. He looked across the ice in the pre-game warmup, saw Roloson and Martin Biron dressed as the Buffalo goaltenders, and smiled to himself. "You're sure you're going to win,'' Yushkevich said. He felt that, and maybe all the Leafs felt that. They came out flying, more emotional than for any game this playoff season -- until Varada scored the first goal of the game. It was then the Leafs reverted to somewhat troubled form. Their best defensive pair, Yushkevich and Markov, acted like their worst defensive pair. Lonny Bohonos, Steve Thomas and Markov missed empty nets. Sergei Berezin had a breakaway, thought of shooting or deking and then did neither. It even looked at times as though the referees were wearing blue-and-white stripes instead of the traditional black and white. But none of this enabled the Leafs to win Game 1. Without their leading scorer, Miroslav Satan, and their leading goaltender, the Sabres won 5-4, and lead 1-0. "I thought we were ready,'' Curtis Joseph said before walking out of the AIr Canada Centre, with his hat still on backward, the frustration still evident in his face.
Wednesday May 19, 1999 Get ready for QEW smashup
Lordy, Lordy, Lordy. Board up the windows. Cancel all police leave. Fill the moat. Lay in some canned goods, Molson or Labatt, take yer pick. They'll be comin' down the Queen Elizabeth Way and, damn, where's Laura Secord when you need her? The last time uniforms from Buffalo came streaming across the Niagara Frontier with mayhem on their minds, they weren't just called Sabres, they were carrying them. By the time this Stanley Cup Eastern Conference final between the Maple Leafs and Buffalo is over, it might just make the War of 1812 look like a family picnic. Somehow, over nearly 30 years of more or less peaceful National Hockey League co-existence, the Maple Leafs and Sabres never have met in a Stanley Cup series. That all changes this weekend when this rivalry-in-waiting reaches fruition. The foundation for some serious antagonism already has been poured. Over the course of this season, Toronto's first in the East after wandering for the better part of two decades in the wilderness west of the Mississippi, the natural geographic rivalry between Buffalo and Toronto began to flower. When the Leafs came in to the Marine Midland Arena in March and snatched away an overtime win -- with a largely partisan Toronto crowd in attendance -- the signs of developing enmity all were there, including the obligatory fight between Tie Domi and Sabres tough guy Rob Ray. But that was simply a taste. This will be the real thing. The Sabres have made a living the past few springs by cranking up the intensity in the playoffs and last night's 3-2 series-clinching victory over Boston was typical. While they had the security of knowing that a loss wouldn't eliminate them, the Sabres understood full well that a seventh game in Boston was not a happy prospect. Buffalo came out and set the tone early, buzzing Byron Dafoe in the Boston net and being rewarded with the game's first goal by Mike Peca on a power play, a few ticks more than five minutes in. Not surprisingly, this was crucial. In their past 36 playoff games they had scored first 23 times. Of those 23 games, Buffalo won 19 of them. Make that 20 of 24 after last night. Boston later tied it on a power play of its own, but then Wayne Primeau put Buffalo ahead to stay late in the period, cashing a rebound of Geoff Sanderson's rink-long dash. When Curtis Brown established Buffalo's two-goal lead early in the second period, it was just a matter of time. Much of the fight had drained out of the Bruins by that time. Joe Thornton did score a late goal to again bring Boston close, but the Sabres held firm. Buffalo's goaltender supreme, Dominik Hasek, has not been at his best, as a result of a chronically sore groin muscle, but last night he didn't really need to be his dominating self, with the possible exception of some tense penalty-killing moments in the third period. His teammates smothered what there was of the Boston attack the rest of the way. In Buffalo, the Leafs will be facing a team as different from Pittsburgh as Pittsburgh was from Philadelphia. Indeed, you need to look only at the best players on Pittsburgh and Buffalo for the answer. Jaromir Jagr is perhaps the most spectacular player in hockey. Mike might be the hardest worker in hockey and it is he who sets the tone. They come in waves, one large anonymous mass dedicated to winning. There is no scoring line. There is no checking line. There is just one line after another, relentlessly determined to disrupt and demoralize with their speed and grit. Backstopping it all is Hasek, whose brilliance, not unlike that of Curtis Joseph, allows his teammates to take chances that few coaches beside Lindy Ruff or Pat Quinn would accept. Hasek is the wild card in any attempt to handicap this series. Nobody seems to know precisely how healthy the eccentric Czech is just now. Against Boston, hardly an offensive juggernaut, he was merely ordinary, lending credence to speculation that the groin injury -- which he first suffered in a game against Toronto -- has gotten worse in recent games. But every hockey fan in the world knows that if he is on, both mentally and physically, he could be unbeatable. However it all turns out, it will give Toronto and Buffalo a reason to really nurture their simmering dislike of each other. Short of a Mad Max remake along the QEW, that could be a bit of fun.
Wednesday May 19, 1999 Scheduling woes force series to start Sunday
The Maple Leafs' weekend playoff schedule is crazy like a Fox.
The Leafs and their Hockey Night In Canada TV allies were counting on a traditional, ratings-friendly Saturday night start to the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final with Buffalo. The National Hockey League then would be able to schedule Game 1 of the Western final between the Dallas Stars and Colorado on Sunday afternoon to satisfy the Fox network. But triple-Lutzing in front of everyone is a figure skating troupe called John Hancock Champions On Ice, which months ago locked up the Dallas Reunion Arena for a 3 p.m. Sunday show. It isn't interested in changing the date, so to make sure Fox is fed a game, the Leafs will have to switch places with Dallas and make their first Sunday afternoon start of the season. The game starts at 2 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre. Game 2 of the Eastern final is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Toronto. The Stars and Avalanche will open the Western final on Saturday night in Dallas. Though Leafs ticket holders will work around the time change, ratings will suffer and West Coast viewers will have to tune in early. But John Shannon, executive producer of Hockey Night In Canada, said yesterday that during the conference final it's accepted that at least one of the games will have to be on a Sunday afternoon. "Given our druthers, we would rather have it happen earlier in the series than in a deciding game," Shannon said. "I'm confident at this point that people will watch the Leafs at 4 p.m. or 4 a.m. They have really captivated the country. If Canadians want hockey to grow on both sides of the border, sometimes concessions have to be made." Leafs president Ken Dryden did not think the unusual start time would hurt his team on the ice. "I don't think it would affect us. At this time of year, these things happen," Dryden said yesterday. The Stars and NHL broadcast executives were in serious negotiations with the organizers of the Hancock show yesterday. The show had sold almost 10,000 seats as of yesterday, and features such world-class skaters as Michelle Kwan, Nicole Bobak and Brian Boitano. From Fox's viewpoint, simple arithmetic -- two U.S. teams versus one -- made Dallas-Colorado preferable to Toronto-Buffalo for its Sunday telecast. The Leafs spent yesterday relaxing after their 4-3 overtime victory Monday in Pittsburgh in Game 6 of the conference semi-final eliminated the Penguins. Players who did show up at the Air Canada Centre, such as injured forwards Todd Warriner and Steve Sullivan, ducked out to avoid the media. A delay in opening the next round works in the injured players' favour. Coach Pat Quinn has promised not to forget Sullivan, Warriner and recent healthy scratches Tie Domi and Fredrik Modin, but solid games by St. John's callups Kevyn Adams, Adam Mair and Ladislav Kohn in the Pittsburgh series might limit lineup changes. Dryden was thrilled when the team returned from Pittsburgh in the wee hours and fans still were driving through the downtown streets waving Leafs flags. "Once you make the playoffs, anything can happen," he said. "Let's just challenge the possibilities and see what happens."
Tuesday May 18, 1999 Buffalo or Burnsie? Leafs do not care
After emptying the Monongahela River of Penguins, the Maple Leafs could find out tonight whether they're in for a big-game Buffalo hunt. The first playoff series in history between the Leafs and their closest geographical rivals is a go if the Sabres eliminate the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semi-final -- Buffalo is ahead 3-2. But most Leafs will have their feet up tonight watching Game 6 and hoping for an upset. "I don't have a preference, I just want it to go seven and let them tire each other out," Toronto defenceman Sylvain Cote said last night. A QEW series would fire up hockey interest throughout the Golden Horseshoe, but so would a date with former Leafs coach Pat Burns and the Bruins. It was five years ago this month that Pat Quinn and the Vancouver Canucks denied Burns and the Leafs a trip to the Stanley Cup final, leading to the latter's downfall in Toronto. Regardless of their opponent in the next round, the goaltending will be the story. Toronto's Curtis Joseph, Buffalo's Dominik Hasek and Boston's Byron Dafoe are all up for the Vezina Trophy this year. In winning each of its first two series in six games, Toronto wasn't dominant in any area, aside from Joseph. As with with Philadelphia Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck in Round 1, the Pens' Tom Barrasso gave up some soft goals -- a weakness the Leafs can't count on with Hasek or Dafoe. "Each series is different and it doesn't get any easier," Joseph said as he finally climbed the mountain to the third round after close calls earlier in his career with the Oilers and the Blues. "Wherever we go, it's going to be hard to score." There is a chance the Leafs will start the next series on Thursday, should Buffalo win tonight. A Boston win commits the NHL to follow its original schedule of starting the conference finals this weekend, with Toronto likely home for Games 1 and 2 on Saturday and Monday. "I'm just glad we're going to one more dance," Leafs associate general manager Mike Smith said, as he reflected on his years with the Winnipeg Jets, and their failure to get past the first round. Cote thought fate had dealt him a terrible blow last season when he was traded from Washington just before the Capitals began their improbable run to the Cup final. "Every round they went, I was getting more ticked off," Cote said. "But the chance to reach this level may not happen again for us, so let's give it our best. "We've got the jitters out from that first series when we were scoring only two goals a game. We didn't panic (last night), even though that first 10 minutes they played was probably the best 10 anyone has had against us to start a game this year."
Tuesday May 18, 1999 Maple Leafs Valk on!
The Maple Leafs not only buried a team last night, they also may have doomed a Penguins franchise which is on the cusp of bankruptcy. Then again, miracles do happen -- as if the 1999 Leafs aren't living proof of that. Last year's nowhere team advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the first time since making the final four in back-to-back seasons in 1993 and '94. Garry Valk, who last summer found himself out of work after the Penguins abandoned him, shattered a tie at 1:57 of overtime, crashing the net to knock in a Sergei Berezin rebound for a 4-3 Toronto victory over Pittsburgh. Seconds earlier, Yanic Perreault stripped the puck from Jan Hrdina during a faceoff in the Penguins zone. "It's probably the best game I've ever seen a team pull together and win," said Valk, who also scored Toronto's second goal -- the first of his career in the playoffs. "We fought their crowd, we fought adversity (the Leafs trailed 2-0 after one period) and we came back. Coming from where I've been -- sitting at home with no job -- to get this far in the playoffs is unbelievable." The Leafs captured the conference semi-final 4-2 and will face either Buffalo or Boston in a best-of-seven final, likely opening Saturday at the Air Canada Centre. The Sabres lead the Bruins 3-2 entering Game 6 of their semi-final tonight at the Marine Midland Arena. After scoring just nine times in their first seven playoff battles this spring, the Leafs burned Pittsburgh for 18 goals in the final five games of their action-packed series. But last night's wild bumper-car ride was nothing like the course Pat Quinn had chartered. "Their building is going to be wired," the Leafs coach said hours before the opening faceoff. "We have to be alert so we don't give them any gifts early and hopefully quiet the crowd a little bit." Instead, the snarly Penguins peppered 15 shots at goalie Curtis Joseph to grab a 2-0 first-period lead. But like one of those punching-bag clowns, the Leafs popped back in the second, wiring three consecutive goals behind Tom Barrasso before Jaromir Jagr plugged the dike with his 55th career playoff goal at 14:41. "I'll tell you, that first 10 minutes -- that was old Pittsburgh hockey," Leafs captain Mats Sundin said. "That's probably the best hockey I've seen in my life." The Leafs, who had been 0-4 in these playoffs when allowing a power-play goal, coughed one up five minutes into the game when Jagr set up Rob Brown from behind the net. Toronto already had lost Steve Thomas for a spell after Jagr hammered him twice on the game's first shift. The 35-year-old winger retired to the dressing room before returning midway through the first period. Alexei Kovalev promptly undressed Thomas in the faceoff circle and roofed a slapshot over Joseph's shoulder at 14:06 for a 2-0 lead. Toronto's misfortune spilled over into the second period when Kevyn Adams tumbled into the crease a split-second before Mike Johnson flipped his own rebound behind Barrasso. The video judge wiped out the potential goal. But Lonny Bohonos bailed out his St. John's teammate 68 seconds later with a wicked snapshot into the top corner. Only 26 more seconds expired before Valk tied it. "They play a European style where their defence joins the rush all the time," Leafs defenceman Dimitri Yushkevich said, explaining Toronto's comeback. "They lose so much energy. Guys like (Kevin) Hatcher were playing 27 to 30 minutes that way. Eventually they're not going to be able to stop fast guys like Sundin and Bohonos." Toronto bolted ahead 3-2 at 11:43 when Perreault outdrew Martin Straka in the right circle and Berezin sailed one under Barrasso's glove hand. "As the series goes on you get to know the players you're facing better," said Perreault, a late-season pickup from Los Angeles, who was one of the Leafs' St. John's scrubs during the 1994 playoffs. "You try to remember who you had success against and how you had success." While Yushkevich sympathized with the Penguins' plight, the Leafs didn't dwell on it during the series. "We have to do our job and the businessmen take care of the business," he said.
Monday May 17, 1999 Leafs try to finish off Penguins
If the Toronto Maple Leafs harbour the slightest notion that the Pittsburgh Penguins are finished, all they have to do is recall what happened to the New Jersey Devils two weeks ago.
The Devils were up 3-2 on the Penguins, too, and bit the dust.
So, while Toronto's 4-1 victory Saturday night moved the Leafs to within one win of the NHL's Eastern Conference final, they know Game 6 tonight in Pittsburgh is going to present them with their toughest challenge yet. "They're a resilient hockey team," right-winger Mike Johnson said of the Penguins. "We're going to have our hands full." Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine is hoping the foot centre Alexei Kovalev hurt when he blocked a shot in Game 3 has sufficiently recovered to allow him back into the lineup, and that Aleksey Morozov has regained his strength after also missing the last two games -- both Toronto victories -- because of a flu. Kovalev's absence in particular has been a serious setback for the Penguins. "It's a very even series and we know going into their building, especially if they get Morozov and Kovalev back, they'll be a lot different hockey club and we'll have to be a lot better to beat them," Leafs coach Pat Quinn said Sunday. Toronto can't play much better defensively than it did Saturday night, limiting Pittsburgh to 15 shots. Dimitri Yushkevich did a number on Jaromir Jagr, and Toronto's forecheckers such as Garry Valk drove the Penguins crazy. "The forwards did a great job getting back and closing the gap (in the neutral zone) for our D, and once we got possession we got open for passes," said right-winger Steve Thomas. "We showed great forechecking ability out there. "The third period, though, at a certain point midway through the third it turned into pretty much a river hockey type game -- wide open. That's not the type of game we want to play. That's playing into their hands." Toronto, which jumped to a 2-0 lead on deflections of two of its first three shots Saturday, has outscored Pittsburgh 14-11 in the series. "We knew they would be close-checking games," said Penguins forward Rob Brown. "The lead is so important. "We have to go out and get it, but we haven't been able to." Toronto's defence "has been great since the first game," he said. "We knew they had a good defence. "They have a very mobile defence. They're very quick. If you don't get the perfect dump on them, they're on it right away, and they get it right out. "We're a little frustrated. But we're in the same situation as (the) New Jersey (series). We're a confident bunch. Come Monday, we'll throw everything we can at them and see what happens." Rebounding with two wins in not an impossible assignment, said right-winger Matthew Barnaby. "We have to win two games in a row -- just two in a row," he said. "We have to play a little better, work a little harder and good things will come of it." Barnaby and Tyler Wright stirred things up late in the game by brawling. Barnaby pulled off his sweater, earning a 10-minute misconduct, and tried to throw a few punches at rookie Adam Mair, while Wright was pummelled by Ladislav Kohn. "I just wanted to try and lift us," Barnaby explained. "Sometimes if you win a fight you can get the team going. "Unfortunately, that didn't work. But it was time for me to fight. That's part of my job." Pittsburgh has been limited to a total of only 30 shots on goal in the last two games. "They don't take a lot of shots to begin with but we are doing a great job defensively," said Toronto goaltender Curtis Joseph. "You have to give them credit," said Pens defenceman Jiri Slegr. "They're playing a lot better defensively. "We have to figure what we're going to do to get more shots. Bottom line, it's not over yet." Jagr, the league's scoring champion, has put only two pucks behind Joseph. Yushkevich deserves a lot of the credit for bottling him up. "He did everything to stop me, I did everything to beat him," Jagr said after his team's latest loss. "That's the way it should be. He won the battle this time." Anything can happen tonight, Jagr said. "We had a chance to be up 3-1 three days ago and we didn't do it. I've been on teams when we've been down 3-1 and won the series. And times when we've been up 3-2 and lost the series. This is playoff hockey. Anything can happen. Anything is possible. It's no time for panic. You have to win four games to win and series and they haven't done it." Given the Penguins' precarious financial situation, the possibility exists that the game tonight might be the last for the franchise in Pittsburgh. Will this motivate the team? "Playoff hockey is enough motivation in itself," Jagr replied. "We should have enough motivation."