DAMN YOU ROLOSON

2 Double Downs, but the Leafs lost. So close to the perfect day

Maybe I’m still riding my Double Down high from yesterday, but I don’t have it in me to harp on the Leafs for their overtime loss yesterday. Instead, I will continue to live in my bubble (sorry, TSN) and look forward to a season that is still providing me some cautious hope and a reason to watch besides following Schenn, and Gustavssons development.

Monday Toronto was bested by Roloson playing beyond his limits (as usual when he’s in T.O.), and though having two goals called back, and a bad penalty call in Overtime certainly stymied the Leafs, don’t forget that it was Roloson’s performance that beat them, not the Refs.


Keeping it relatively brief in the recap, Lebda looked solid right up to his OT penalty. Given the questionable play of Gunnarsson, Komisarek, and I’d argue Beauchemin, there is no reason to pull him out of the lineup, and personally I’d love to see what Gunnarsson and Lebda can accomplish as a pairing.

I’ll spare my attacks on the Leaf forwards as they managed to get off 30 shots, and more or less they be Roloson three times. The top line was as they should be, the top performers, but right through the lineup they were solid, with maybe MacArthur as the exception. Given the previous 4 games, it’s safe to say all is forgiven, but he better score two on Thursday.

Can someone help Mike Brown with his balance when he fights? I love the guy, and he’s quickly becoming one of my favourite Leafs, but after checking out his fight history on Youtube, it appears he takes himself down more than his opponents do. I guess this could be a mixed bag because I don’t want him to stop swinging as wildly as he does.

Looking to the next game, I’m hoping the loss isn’t used as an excuse to put John Mitchell in the lineup. So much of the reason why the Leafs have been better this season is the consistency of the forward lines and defensive pairings. While using Lebda to wake up the defensive unit is useful, I can’t see any Leafs players becoming threatened by the addition of Mitchell to the lineup.

It would also be nice to see the Leafs go back to Gustavsson for this start. No knocks on the amazing job that Giguere has been doing this season, but I’d rather see him up against Philly’s weapons on Saturday, and let Gustavsson take on his hero, Lundqvist, while the Rags offense is still depleted from injuries.

Thursday Night will probably redeem the hiccup faced by the Leafs on Monday, but the game against the Islanders was an unfortunate reminder that there will be loses this season. Hopefully when they do happen, they’ll continue to happen in Overtime.