Thursday, November 02, 2006
Hitting the Road
The Maple Leafs begin a 3 game in 4 night road trip in Tampa Bay tonight. The Leafs are looking for their third win in a row, and to lose their inconsistent ways. They have been up and down all season, playing well one night and then not that well the next. Andrew Raycroft will most likely be getting the start in goal tonight after his solid outing on Monday where he stopped 31 of 33 shots. The Lightning find themselves in the basement of the Southeast Division with a 5-6-0 record, trailing 3 teams by only 2 points. Tampa's special teams have really struggled this season. Their powerplay is only clipping along at a 14.1% and their penalty killing is last in the league at 74%. With the likes of Lecavallier, Richards, St. Louis and Boyle, the powerplay should improve.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Leafs Power Play Breaks Out Against Thrashers
After ranking second on the power play last year at 21.4%, the Leaf power play has struggled this year especially when the opposing team is 2 men short. Until last night when they broke out with the 2 man advantage, scoring 2 goals in as many chances and going 3 of 7 on the power play against the Thrashers last night. With the 3 goal performance last night on the power play, that moves their percentage up from 12.6% (8 goals out of 63 opportunities) to 15.7% (11 of 70) placing them 19th in the league in power player efficiency.