NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update: Wednesday June 2, 1999 12:10AM EST
Monday May 31, 1999 Down, not out
The Maple Leafs yesterday traded promises like kids trade hockey cards.
The day after their embarrassing 5-2 loss to the Sabres at the Marine Midland Arena, the Leafs promised to skate harder, to keep it simple, to reduce mistakes, to play smarter ... the list goes on.
But the Leafs know the only sure way to win tonight in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final is to summon their best effort of the playoffs.
The Sabres, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-1, are smothering opponents like lava.
Buffalo has jumped on Leafs mistakes, especially in Games 3 and 4 in Sabreland, and for the first in the post-season Toronto lost back-to-back games.
The Sabres have made the Leafs look more like the 1997-98 club, which folded as soon as the opposition took advantage of a blunder.
The 1998-99 Leafs, however, have had a knack for bouncing back.
You only have to review their first- and second-round efforts against the Flyers and Penguins, respectively.
"We're optimistic we can do it again," Leafs centre Steve Sullivan said. "It's not going to be easy. It's up to us, we know that."
With the exception of goaltender Curtis Joseph, who stayed off the ice yesterday to lick his wounds from Game 4, Leafs coach Pat Quinn ran his downtrodden bunch through a full afternoon practice. Prior to stepping on the ice, coaches and players held a 30-minute meeting.
"Everyone was asked to look at himself in the mirror," said veteran Steve Thomas, who despite missing the third period Saturday with a shoulder injury will return to action in Game 5.
The team's reflection in the mirror must have been as frightening as what the Bruins saw when they found themselves down 3-1 to the Sabres in the second round.
Buffalo eventually won the series 4-2 after surviving a furious Boston rally in the third period of Game 6.
"Hundreds of teams have been in this spot before," Quinn said. "The fact is, we can't lose another game."
The Leafs haven't lost three games in a row since Oct. 26, 30 and 31 -- against Pittsburgh and back-to-back to Buffalo.
Only 15 times in NHL playoff history have teams been able to climb back from a 3-1 series deficit, but the trick has been turned nine times in the 1990s.
St. Louis rebounded against Phoenix this spring; Joseph and the Oilers turned the trick against the Avalanche last year; and Quinn and his Canucks won three consecutive games in overtime against the Flames in 1994 and eventually advanced to the Stanley Cup final.
Quinn urged his team yesterday to quit standing around and start skating again, a key factor in the Leafs' ability to lead the league with 268 goals in the regular season.
"All year long our strength has been the quick counter and go," said Quinn, who had his team working on the tactic in practice yesterday. "We have guys staring at (the play) and going the wrong way. So even if you get to the puck, we're heading the wrong way.
"Our movement has been a problem for us. Once you are not moving offensively, you are trying to chase that puck down all night long. We haven't been a club that gets that puck back well."
Quinn's game plan in this series has been to get the puck deep on a dump-in and forecheck. But his players instead have "fiddled" around and got caught in the neutral zone or just inside the Sabres blue line.
The Leafs coach isn't asking for a mistake-free game, just a quick recovery rate.
"We just didn't recover (on Thursday and Saturday)," Quinn said. "We didn't recover fast enough. We are not going to make it an error-free game, but if and when we do make an error, we have to regroup fast.
"We have to be better -- or go home."
Sunday May 30, 1999 Leafs trampled
An old coach once said that sometimes you're the statue and sometimes you're the pigeon.
Last night, the Maple Leafs were dumped on by the hungry Buffalo Sabres.
In a thoroughly dominating performance by Buffalo, the Leafs were blown back home after a 5-2 loss before 18,595 fans at the Marine Midland Arena. Toronto trails the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final 3-1.
A Buffalo win in Game 5 at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow night would push the Sabres into the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1975. The Leafs, no matter what they say, are desperate.
"I hate the word desperate," Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "Desperate guys die. It's a lousy word."
But there was no evidence last night that suggested the Leafs could halt the high-flying Sabres, who are 11-3 in the playoffs and 7-0 at home, where they have outscored their opponents 25-11 this spring.
The Sabres won nearly every one-on-one battle in the first two periods of Game 4 to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
"They beat us to every loose puck and initiated every hit in the first two periods," Leafs captain Mats Sundin said. "Our heads were somewhere else. We were too tense.
"There was no doubt who was the better team."
It was the first time the Leafs lost back-to-back games in their surprising playoff run.
Even though the game stats indicated that the Leafs had 22 turnovers to the Sabres' 21, Buffalo feasted on steady diet of giveaways and poor decisions by the Leafs. Four of the Sabres goals were a direct result of mental mistakes by the Leafs.
Dixon Ward's short-handed goal in the first period -- the Sabres' second in two games -- was the result of Leafs rookie Tomas Kaberle tipping Jay McKee's clearing pass right to Ward at centre ice.
Curtis Joseph was caught coming out to challenge and Ward easily dumped a shot between the goaltender's pads.
The floodgates opened early in the second period as the Sabres struck for three goals in a span of 2:35.
A monumentally brutal Steve Sullivan giveaway from the side boards to Sabres centre Brian Holzinger in the slot gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead.
"It was just a tossaway," Quinn said. "It was kind of an I-don't-want-that-thing-any-more pass."
Rob Ray then luckily batted a waist-high Stu Barnes pass for another goal.
"Obviously you're firing on all cylinders when Razor (Ray) gets a goal," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
Twenty-two seconds later, Alexander Karpovtsev gambled and lost on a pinch as Geoff Sanderson pounced on a Miroslav Satan rebound off a two-on-one.
The Sabres had outshot Toronto 20-8 at that point. The sloppy play continued in the second period, but Joseph made several big saves. Still, the Sabres didn't stop. Sanderson added his second goal after the Leafs failed on three attempts to clear the puck out of their zone.
"We made a ton of mistakes," Sundin said. "There was only one team on the ice. We were outhustled."
Although Joseph was shaky on the first goal, he was left on his own the rest of the way. After allowing five goals on 27 shots in two periods, Quinn gave Joseph the third period off. Backup Glenn Healy saw his first action since April 10 and got in his first playoff game in four years.
Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek is 10-2 in the 1999 playoffs. His shutout bid was busted with 13:01 remaining when Sundin scored the first penalty-shot goal in Leafs playoff history. The shot was awarded when referee Mark Faucette ruled McKee closed his hand on the puck in the crease.
Sundin, who was stopped on a penalty shot by Philadelphia's John Vanbiesbrouck in the first round, also added a late-game power-play goal.
"Offensively, we weren't putting any pressure on them and they were freewheeling on us," Leafs defenceman Sylvain Cote said.
In a scary moment, Leafs veteran Steve Thomas -- who already was nursing a shoulder injury -- missed McKee while trying to finish a check and slammed into the boards in front of the Sabres bench late in the second period. Thomas did not return.
The Leafs gave no word on Thomas' status and he already was on the team bus resting before the game had concluded.
Saturday May 29, 1999 Tonight's the night
Doubt won't win the Stanley Cup this year but yesterday it threatened to eliminate the Maple Leafs from the competition.
"We want to play with the passion and emotion that we needed to win the first two series," Toronto's never-doubting Thomas, Steve, said. "We have to drum that up again."
But enthusiasm seemed in short supply as Toronto prepared to battle the Sabres tonight at Marine Midland Arena. Buffalo is 6-0 on home ice this spring.
Derek King's confidence was flatter than a case of stale Genessee Cream Ale after the Sabres crushed the Leafs 4-2 on Thursday to gain a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference final.
"It does feel a little different (than when we trailed Pittsburgh 2-1) because we're starting to think we don't want to lose this series," King said. "This series is tougher. I think they're playing their game plan really well. They're really taking our game away."
But is it really as bleak as all that?
True, the Sabres dominated Game 3 but the Leafs hammered Buffalo 6-3 in Game 2 at the Air Canada Centre. And Toronto has not lost back-to-back games in these playoffs.
Yesterday, coach Pat Quinn appeared ready to activate gritty centre Adam Mair for tonight's showdown. Six-foot-seven defenceman Chris McAllister is another possibility, along with skilled winger Ladislav Kohn.
"I think when you're going against a hard-working team, you look at ways of nullifying their strength and their strength is their hard work," Quinn said.
"Either you match it with the players you've got or you look for other guys to match it."
The Leafs need a more-determined effort from their incumbents, too, including their big guy, Mats Sundin.
While the Leafs captain and his linemates -- Thomas and Lonny Bohonos -- have enjoyed sporadic success against the Sabres, Quinn wants them to gun it tonight.
"Going into (the playoffs) you want to make sure you don't wear your people out," Quinn said. "I thought the last year we (Vancouver) played Toronto in the (1994 conference final), (Doug) Gilmour didn't have anything left in the tank and he was their best player.
"I don't want to get to the point where our best players don't have anything in the tank. But now we're getting to the point where we can't leave anything behind."
Thomas, who despite a bruised shoulder has been one of Toronto's most tireless workers, said the Sabres gained a psychological edge Thursday when they welcomed back Dominik Hasek, Miroslav Satan and Michal Grosek.
"I think that's a great boost for them to have their goalie and a 40-goal scorer like Satan back along with an agitator like Grosek," Thomas said.
"They played the game they wanted to play. They didn't give us much opportunity to get in their zone. When we did get there, we didn't win the battles for the puck too many times."
If the Leafs continue to lose those battles, this series could be over as early as Monday when the series shifts back to Toronto.
Ultimately, Quinn said it would be up to his players to ensure that that doesn't happen.
"We're in one of the great sporting events -- hoping to go to the fourth round," the coach said. "But it's one of the hardest things in sport to go four rounds just to get a chance to lose the Stanley Cup.
"The emotion to win has to be drummed up every night."
Starting tonight.
Friday May 28, 1999 Blunders bury the Leafs
If Dominik Hasek can rise above a painful groin injury, maybe the Maple Leafs can beat this Homer Simpson thing.
It wasn't a confused Leafs team that fell 4-2 last night to the Sabres so much as a stunned one.
Back-to-back second-period bloopers by Sylvain Cote and Bryan Berard transformed a 1-0 game into a 2-1 Buffalo lead in a meagre 38 seconds.
Buffalo -- which leads the Eastern Conference final 2-1 -- buried another goal three minutes later and if Sabres defenceman Richard Smehlik hadn't scored into his own net, Toronto's night might have ended right there.
Instead, the Leafs nearly forced overtime with a third-period blitz, which reinforced the theory that Hasek, even at 80%, is the best puck-stopper in the universe.
"To get Dom back between the pipes, you could just see the boost of energy in the dressing room -- it just gave us a big lift," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
Hasek robbed Steve Thomas on a point-blank chance before Curtis Brown unwittingly sparked a late-game donnybrook with an empty-net goal.
Toronto coach Pat Quinn countered by putting his Crash Line of Tie Domi, Kris King and Kevyn Adams on for the final 29 seconds and all hell broke loose after Domi bumped into Hasek.
"They don't think they can beat us in the goal-scoring department so they decided to go that way," Ruff said. "(What Quinn did was) classless."
Down one game in the best-of-seven, the Leafs face another lineup overhaul before Game 4 tomorrow at the Marine Midland Arena.
Quinn admitted his second line of Steve Sullivan, Derek King and Mike Johnson "was non-existent."
"Maybe it's time for some changes," Quinn said. "(But) I'm not prepared to make those decisions now."
Buffalo's second-period assault included both a power-play and a short-handed goal, while Miroslav Satan celebrated his return to the Buffalo lineup by triggering the fireworks.
Toronto's troubles started after Cote -- in danger of losing the puck in the circle -- passed it back to his rookie partner, Tomas Kaberle, who was looking the other way. Satan pulled the puck out of Kaberle's skates and beat goalie Curtis Joseph cleanly.
"We all know now that that wasn't the right play but when plays are happening so quickly, (expletive) happens," Cote said. "They made six mistakes (Tuesday night) and they lost the game (6-3). We made more mistakes (last night)."
Play barely had resumed when Sabres penalty-killer Michael Peca hypnotized Bryan Berard at the Leafs blue line -- resulting in Joe Juneau's short-hander.
"I thought Peca was just going to dump it in (but) he fooled me," Berard said. "Nine times out of 10 the guy dumps it in against the power play. But he made a nice move on me."
Peca's drive glanced off Alexander Karpovtsev's stick, forcing Joseph to make a huge pad save.
However, the goaltender was in no position to stop Juneau from burying the rebound.
The Sabres struck on the power play for the 13th consecutive game as Brian Holzinger deked Daniil Markov, who had lost his stick. Joseph made the save, but Stu Barnes chipped in the rebound at 7:38 for his fourth goal of the series.
Toronto's luck turned late in the period when Smehlik stooped to pick up Hasek's stick and accidentally tipped in Karpovtsev's innocent-looking shot.
Hasek still managed to make 24 saves.
While some Sabres accused the Leafs of intentionally bumping Hasek, the goalie wasn't fazed by it.
"It was a playoff game and they are trying to get under my skin, but I felt really comfortable," Hasek said. "They went after me but it wasn't so bad."
Thursday May 27, 1999 Leafs find shortcut to success
When Pat Quinn got this far in 1994, his Vancouver Canucks were well on their way to an estimated 30,000 playoff air miles.
The Canucks criss-crossed three time zones in battling the Flames, Stars, Maple Leafs before losing to the Rangers in a seven-game Stanley Cup final. No excuses were offered, but the travel probably did in the Canucks as much as New York's inspirational leader, Mark Messier.
When Quinn, now coaching Toronto, tries to equate that with the Leafs' short playoff hops this spring, he can only shake his head. With each round his team survives, the travel distance shrinks, from a one-hour flight to Philadelphia, to 45 minutes to Pittsburgh to a bus ride to Buffalo.
"It should make a significant difference (in the Leafs' playoff fortunes)," Quinn said yesterday before heading down the QEW. "When you count the time zones, the airports and breathing that rarefied air in a plane ... after (82 games) it can be a major factor.
"Right now, we're still playing Eastern teams. But if we advance to the next round (21/2-hour flights to Dallas or Denver) it will be an advantage."
With just two games in the past nine days, the Leafs are in great shape to face a fired-up Buffalo club tonight at the sold-out Marine Midland Arena for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final.
For the Leafs' most important commuter, yesterday's 90-minute drive was Greyhound heaven. Before this season goalie Curtis Joseph had spent his entire career in the Western Conference, playing in Edmonton and St. Louis, where changing planes, waiting for bags, clearing customs and killing time took the better part of a day.
"If you're a goalie and you're jammed in a seat or spilling out into the aisle, you can really cramp up after a game," Joseph said. "We charter most places with the Leafs so you can stretch out more.
"People may not have much sympathy for professional athletes, but I can tell you, it's tough to do all that flying, especially three or four times a week. In a bus, you can walk around and it's much more leisurely. Overall, this has been a great year for me, travel-wise."
Not only will the Leafs avoid jet lag this series, they're likely to get a significant cheering section at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo tonight. When the Sabres advanced to the Eastern final, Leafs fans from Port Hope to Port Colborne bought up many of the remaining ducats.
Winger Steve Thomas thinks the Toronto-Buffalo rivalry could adopt the hard edge that the Rangers and Islanders had when Thomas played on Long Island.
"It was 50-50 with Rangers fans (at Nassau Coliseum)," Thomas said. "I hope this rivalry can develop into something special like that."
But the crusty Quinn is not relying on the fans to help his team weather what's expected to be a difficult neutral-zone passage tonight, a Sabres' specialty at home.
"Buffalo isn't home to us," Quinn said. "We've struggled there three times this year (two 4-1 losses and a 3-2 win). "But we've been good on the road all year (26-19-2 including playoffs). We tend to put on less of a show and we do pay much more attention to defence."
Wednesday May 26, 1999 Leafs rattle Rolo
Doug Flutie can replace Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, but Dwayne Roloson will have a harder time subbing for star goalie Dominik Hasek in the Sabres net for an extended run in the Eastern Conference final.
The Maple Leafs did everything in the rule book and even stretched the pages to harass Roloson and stop his Cinderella story before it grew beyond Buffalo's Game 1 win.
The Leafs evened the series with a 6-3 win in Game 2 last night at the Air Canada Centre. They scored five goals on 22 shots -- Garry Valk added an empty-net goal -- and have nine in 59 on Roloson, a career backup from Simcoe.
But if the Sabres can throw this kind of a scare into the Maple Leafs without Hasek, Miroslav Satan and a pointless Mike Peca, this series might go to its June 5 limit.
If Hasek's groin isn't sufficiently healed for the Marine Midland portion of the QEW series, coach Lindy Ruff may turn to the star of his farm team, Martin Biron, in goal.
Buffalo almost rallied from a three-goal deficit last night, before the Leafs finally closed ranks with a Steve Thomas rocket under the crossbar at 12:17 of the third, making it 5-3. Roloson had allowed a weak Yanic Perreault backhander early in the period, putting Toronto ahead 4-1 and severely damaging the Sabres' hopes.
Steve Sullivan, Sylvain Cote and Sergei Berezin also scored for the Leafs, who led 2-0 and 3-1 by periods.
Stu Barnes, with two, and Jason Woolley replied for the Sabres, all three goals coming on the power play.
Barnes struck twice in the third on an otherwise brilliant Curtis Joseph in the Toronto goal, to cut thelead to 4-3. Barnes made Leafs defenceman Cote pay for two minors.
It was the fourth consecutive game the Leafs had at least four goals, as they hacked and whacked at Roloson with surprisingly little retaliation from Buffalo, which sat out tough guy Rob Ray.
Joseph made 11 mostly tough saves in the first period, including a breakaway by Barnes that might have put the home team on its heels. But once again, the Leafs don't have to worry about coming back from an 0-2 deficit at home, something only 12 clubs, including this year's Colorado Avalanche, has managed in NHL playoff history.
There was a reversal of fortune throughout the Leafs bench last night. Sullivan was reunited with Derek King and Mike Johnson, but it mattered little which line he centred as the first-time father-to-be was clearly on a mission.
From an early collision with Roloson that earned him a goalie interference penalty, Sullivan was intent on rattling the Sabres goalie.
Sullivan emerged from a furious shift, during which he ended up playing with Tie Domi and Kris King, to put the Leafs ahead at 10:28.
After Sullivan -- whose wife, Kristen, is expecting their first child this week -- jammed the puck in from the crease, he hung on to the crossbar like Vince Carter until Roloson smacked him and a wrestling match ensued.
Eighteen seconds later, there was some vindication for Cote, burned on what turned out to be the winning goal in Game 1 by Geoff Sanderson. This time it was Cote breaking away from Richard Smehlik on a great Mats Sundin pass for his second of the playoffs to make it 2-0.
Toronto was hemmed in by Buffalo for much of the second period, held to two shots before Perreault improved his playoff- high 61% faceoff percentage at 15:25. Despite being tied up by Barnes on the draw, he kicked the puck to his left to Berezin, who buried his sixth of the playoffs to put Toronto ahead 3-1. That killed momentum the Sabres had created with a Woolley power-play goal.
Perreault came back with his five-hole backhander at 1:57 of the third.
The Sabres do not have a point in the series from captain Peca, though he continues to do a lot of little things right.
Leafs coach Pat Quinn wavered on lineup changes and got an effective game from his fourth unit of Domi, Kris King and Kevyn Adams.
Tuesday May 25, 1999 Leafs have to get it together (Con't from May 17-25)
"We flourished on offence this year because we forwards gave the defence support," Thomas said. "When you play good defensive hockey, you don't have to rely on playing all offensively."
As for the Sabres, they got important contributions from previously frigid shooters such as Stu Barnes, who ended a 33-game jinx, and Geoff Sanderson, who snapped a 16-game drought.
"They had three of their lines scoring, while only one of ours did," third-line winger Valk said. "If there's going to be run-and-gun hockey, then we'd better chip in."
Quinn was not ready to give the Leafs an automatic psychological advantage because they rebounded against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh after losing Game 1 of each of their first two series.
"You can search and search for the answer (to ensure Game 2 success), but clearly we're approaching this next one as its own entity," Quinn said. "I thought we did a lot of things well (three power-play goals), but didn't play defence.
Quinn likely will make changes tonight, after replacing Adam Mair and Ladislav Kohn with Tie Domi and Steve Sullivan for Game 1.