Sunday, April 12, 2009

BoOBbB 6: The End

Hey, what happened to the Battle of Ontario Blow-by-Blow #5? Ya, well, no one wants to hear about my nightmare on the TTC streetcar, or read excuses about screaming infants and broken laptops. Let's just say it was a terrible game, the Leafs lost 2-1, and somehow I had foreknowledge that this would occur and because the game was on Leafs TV, I decided to boycott it. Apparently the highlight of the night was Cujo allowing the 2,500th goal of his illustrious career. For the full BoOBbB Experience, minus game 5, go here.

So here we are, game 82, neither of these teams headed for the playoffs. The Senators have already clinched 11th place in the East while Toronto will finish 12th. There may yet be some drama in this final game however- here's some things to watch for: Presumably Gerber will get the start and will face his former team. That alone increases the potential that this will be a good game. Meanwhile, Blake is now leading the team in goals, tied for the lead in assists with Stajan, and leading the team in points as well. However, Ponikarovsky is right behind him by just 2 goals, 1 assist, and 3 points. Will Blake wear the triple-crown for offence, or can Poni catch him at the finish line? Finally, both Blake and Stajan are 2 assists away from 40-assist seasons, a remarkable achievement if either can hit that number. Hope I haven't jinxed it. Really what I'm hoping for is a high-scoring game with a few good hits.

Enough with the mumbo-jumbo, let's drop the puck...!

First Period

Alfredsson not in the line-up for Ottawa.

20:00 Blake, Hanson, Stapleton, Schenn, and White are the starting 5 for Toronto.

18:30 Stajan with the puck in the slot, falls over backwards without being hit.

17:53 Stempniak with a nice rush between the defence, draws a hooking penalty. Kelly goes to the box, Leafs go to the powerplay.

17:45 Kubina hits the post.

17:00 Heatley shorthanded break, stopped by Gerber.

16:45 Leafs hit another post on a blind shot through a crowd.

15:53 Penalty expires. Shots are 4-1 for the Leafs.

15:15 GOAL!!! It's Devereaux! Stempniak starts the play cutting through the zone, then Devereaux jumps on the puck and fires a wrist shot along the ice that eludes Elliott. 1-0, Leafs.

12:20 Good save Gerber, as Ottawa presses for the first time.

11:30 Heatley stoped by Gerber.

10:50 Nice pass from Mitchell to May sending him in close but he can't get the shot away.

10:20 Stajan rips one over the net. His line, with Stampniak and Devereaux, have been the best Leaf forwards early on.

9:00 Puck bounces off of Hagman in front and Elliott has to make a tricky save.

7:10 Shannon shot stopped by Gerber, Heatley and Schenn battle in front.

6:20 A weak shot by Schubert, who then decides after the whistle to knock Finger's helmet off.

5:58 Donovan clothelines Hanson for a penalty. They call it "holding".

3:58 Penalty ends as White has a shot on goal from the point, the best chance of the powerplay. Bouncing pucks and a lot of hesitation.

3:20 Heatley trips Mitchell in the nuetral zone. Leafs go back to the powerplay.

2:50 Fisher with a short-handed chance. Gerber sharp so far.

2:40 Blake misses the net from in close.

2:30 Volchenkov takes a slap shot off the arm and lies on the ice for a while.

:20 May has a good chance then gets popped into the boards by Lee.

:11 May and Lee shove and throw punches at one another, but the linesman won't get out of the way. Lee gets 2 for roughing, May gets 4, but meanwhile the reason the whistle went is because Campoli shot the puck over the glass so he gets a penalty for delay of game and all the penalties wipe themselves out.

Period ends, Leafs leading 1-0. Volchenkov is gone for the game. Shots were 16-12 for Ottawa.

Second Period

20:00 Stempniak, Stajan, Devereaux, Schenn, and White on the ice to start the 2nd.

19:00 All Senators for the first minute but no real tough saves for Gerber.

18:20 Nice pad save by Gerber off Foligno.

17:50 Poni and Hagman both would've had good chances if they could control the puck.

16:30 Poni in the slot again can't handle the puck on a pass from White.

15:10 GOAL!!! Devereaux again, with a beautiful one-timer from the slot on a nice feed from Stempniak out of the corner. Great goal. Good for Boyd. Stempniak's tryin' hard, too. That's his second assist. Stajan picks up his first of the night, number 39 on the season.

14:10 Schenn throws some weight around. The building nearly crumbles.

12:50 Ruutu goes around the net, sets up Kuba whose shot is blocked in front.

12:40 May and Heatley share a laugh.

12:23 Kubina trips up Spezza who crashes into the boards pretty good. Ottawa powerplay.

11:45 Kuba in the slot, nice save Gerber. Good rebound control and recovery.

11:10 Leafs with a short-handed chance, just miss.

10:46 Goal. Oh man. Gerber stops the puck behind the net and then fans on it, leaving it there for Spezza who tucks it in for the goal. Brutal. That's a really awful goal. Spezza, unassisted, on the powerplay.

8:18 Goal. Oh no. Gerber gives the puck away again! White misses an easy pass somehow and Kelly steals it and scores. Game tied, 2-2.

7:00 Leafs starting to pick up the physical play a bit. Mayers, May, and Finger all throw hits in the next minute.

6:00 Kubina knocks Heatley down to prevent a scoring chance.

5:00 Pace has picked up.

4:30 Mayers alone in close, shoots over the net.

4:23 May going after Lee. Fisher gets between them. Big scrum. May gets a misconduct penalty? Leafs get an extra penalty somewhere 'cause the Sens are going on the powerplay. 2 for roughing, 2 for slahing, and a 10-minute misconduct for May. Fisher also gets a roughing penalty.

3:25 A shot by Kuba hits Gerebr.

2:35 Hagman blocks a point shot and might be hurt.

1:50 Hanson has a shot on goal, and then Blake just misses on the rebound.

1:10 Stempniak with some nice moves, outside-inside on Schubert, but the shot goes wide.

Period ends, 2-2. Only 20 minutes left on the season.

Third Period

20:00 Poni, Grabbo, Hagman up front, Kubina and Harrison on the blue-line to begin the final period.

18:15 Great save Gerber on Neil, who crashes into the net.

17:50 "Go Leafs Go!" chant, first of the game.

16:23 GOAL!!! Hagman! Grabbo's shot hits Elliott in the shoulder and bounces high up into the air. Grabbo then swoops in, collects the rebound, and dishes to Hagman who one-times it into the net. 3-2, Leafs. Poni gets a phantom assist.

14:25 "Go Leafs Go!" chant again. Not much else going on. Sens try to press but it's all from the outside. Gerber hasn't had to make too many tough saves. Leafs are doing a good job of blocking shots, even if they aren't hitting much.

12:20 Grabbo's speed nearly creates a 2-on-1 but Poni can't handle the pass.

11:44 Heatley trips up Kubina. Leafs go to their 4th powerplay.

10:40 Not much happening on the PP. Devereaux out there looking for the hat-trick but I don't think he touched the puck.

9:30 Nice work by Schenn to stop a break and keep the play in the Sens zone.

8:50 Poni has a big collision with Brendan Bell.

7:20 Blake pass to Stempniak, shot on goal, big rebound, Blake with another shot, stopped by Elliott.

6:35 May and Neil line up. Maybe next year.

5:20 Surprisingly hard shot by Hagman from the boards.

4:40 Leafs 3-on-2, Blake can't finish.

4:00 Gerber comes out to play the puck behind the net and the crowd noticeably buzzes. It sounds like they're saying "GRBRZRKR!", but they could be saying "Get back in your net!".

3:40 Stempniak with a good chance in the slot, tough save Elliott.

3:12 Neil hits Mayers hard and draws a penalty. This is cheese. Neil specifically goes after Mayers with a late hit and then Mayers gets tagged for a little hey-come-back-hook. They call it "slashing". Sens powerplay.

2:49 GOAL!!! Unbelievable! Boyd Devereaux with a short-handed, breakaway goal for the hat-trick on a beautiful backhander! Mats who? MATS WHO?!? Welcome home Boyd! The fans at the ACC shower the ice with hats in appreciation of Devereaux's gutsy effort. Stajan gets the assist, his 40th of the season. He did it. Wow. Nicely done, Stajan. What a season.

2:05 Sens call a time-out. The fans start booing.

2:00 Sens pull their goalie. Why?

1:35 Spezza around the net, Gerber out of position nearly gives up on the play, and Heatley misses a tap-in from the side of the crease, high and wide.

:44 GOAL!!! Empty-netter. Hagman with his second, nails it from the blue line.

:40 May and Neil look like they might go, but no.

:10 Neil fans on a good chance in front.

:00 Time runs out. Leafs win, 5-2.

There's a scoring summary here. Toronto takes the season series with 4 wins, 1 loss, and one overtime loss. Ottawa looked mostly terrible tonight and wouldn't have been in this game if it weren't for Gerber's stick-handling. Not a lot of passion from either side, but a workman-like effort from the Leafs got the job done, allowing them to raise their sticks at the end and salute the ACC crowd before they skated off the ice for the last time this season.

The Third Star, Lee Stempniak

The Second Star, Niklas Hagman

The First Star, Boyd Devereaux
Nice job, Boyd. Thanks for the season, Leafs.

5 comments:

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Atta Boyd!!!!!!1

general borschevsky said...

I wonder if he'll be back next year...

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Would you re-sign him, buddy?

I have no problem with him patrolling our fourth line. He works hard and is a solid penalty killer.

general borschevsky said...

Yes, I would. I'd give him number 19 too and make him play with Blake. I don't understand why that didn't happen already. It seems like a no-brainer.

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