The Maple Leafs can shoot and score

The Toronto Maple Leafs have decided to show some offense this NHL season. The Leafs who have won 3 out of their last 4 games going into tonights match up against the Buffalo Sabres have scored 20 goals in their past 5 games. The have not only moved out of the NHL cellar but also moved out for the bottom end of the goals scored department as well. The Leafs have been getting scoring from quite a few players over this game not just someone named Phil Kessel. Niklas Hagman is now sitting at 13 goals after scoring five in his last three games and earning himself 3rd Star honours this week in the NHL. The interesting statistic with Hagman is that he has scored a whopping ten goals on the road this season. Phil Kessel is on an amazing tear having scored eight goals in twelve games so far this season and would be among the league leaders if he was healthy all season long. Alexei Ponikarovsky has nine goals and Matt Stajan has seven goals with five coming on the powerplay where he sits tied for 10th in the NHL. The Leafs will try to continue their offensive power at home where they have only one victory in regulation and will need to add to that total if they believe in making the post season. The Leafs will need all the fire power they have to get a few goals past a red hot Sabres netminder. The Leafs can shoot as they sit atop the NHL in average shots per game but we are slowly finding out that they can also score and this needs to happen on a regular basis if this season is to be saved and tonight would be a great night to continue the goal outburst.

The Greatest Toronto Maple Leafs Goaltenders

The season has reached its quarter mark and the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to struggle. The Leafs sit in the basement of the NHL with just 4 wins and are on pace to get under 20 wins this season if there futile performances continue. The man question that has been going around Leafland the past few years is the teams goaltending situation. Vesa Toskala, Curtis Joseph, Justin Pogge, Andrew Raycroft, J.S. Aubin, Martin Gerber and now Jonas Gustavsson have all been in the Maple Leafs goal the past few seasons for extended periods of time and all but Gustavsson who has some promise have not been able to steal the Leafs a few victories over the past few seasons. We have to go all the way back to before the lockout to Ed Belfour to find a Leaf goalie who could win us the game on their own almost on any given night. We here at TML Fan Fury have decided to go through the Leaf archives and find out who the greatest Maple Leaf goalies of all time are and have selected nine keepers with their Maple Leafs stats and then would like the fans to tell us who they feel is the Greatest Goalie of All Time.

Click to Enlarge


The 9 Greatest Maple Leafs Keepers
Legend: GP- Games Played, W- Wins, L- Losses, T- Ties, SO- Shutouts, GAA- Goals Against Average


Felix Potvin
Regular Season Stats: GP- 369 W- 160 L- 149 T- 49 SO- 12 GAA- 2.87
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 52 W- 25 L- 27 SO- 5 GAA- 2.75

Harry Lumley
Regular Season Stats: GP- 267 W- 104 L- 106 T- 58 SO- 34 GAA- 2.21
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 14 W- 2 L- 12 SO- 1 GAA- 2.98

Lorne Chabot
Regular Season Stats: GP- 214 W- 103 L- 80 T- 31 SO- 33 GAA- 2.20
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 22 W- 11 L- 9 SO- 2 GAA- 1.67
WON 1 STANLEY CUP

Johnny Bower
Regular Season Stats: GP- 472 W- 220 L- 161 T- 79 SO- 33 GAA- 2.51
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 74 W- 35 L- 34 SO- 5 GAA- 2.52
WON 4 STANLEY CUPS

Mike Palmateer
Regular Season Stats: GP- 296 W- 129 L- 112 T- 41 SO- 15 GAA- 3.43
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 29 W- 12 L- 17 SO- 2 GAA- 3.03

George Hainsworth
Regular Season Stats: GP- 147 W- 79 L- 48 T- 20 SO- 19 GAA- 2.26
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 21 W- 9 L- 12 SO- 2 GAA- 2.30

Curtis Joseph
Regular Season Stats: GP- 270 W- 138 L- 97 T- 27 SO- 17 GAA- 2.64
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 60 W- 32 L- 28 SO- 8 GAA- 2.25

Turk Broda
Regular Season Stats: GP- 629 W- 302 L- 224 T- 101 SO- 62 GAA- 2.53
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 101 W- 60 L- 39 SO- 13 GAA- 1.98
WON 5 STANLEY CUPS

Terry Sawchuk
Regular Season Stats: GP- 91 W- 42 L- 29 T- 14 SO- 4 GAA- 2.81
Playoff Season Stats: GP- 13 W- 6 L- 7 SO- 0 GAA- 2.74
WON 1 STANLEY CUP

We here feel that Turk Broda is the Greatest Maple Leafs Goaltender of All Time followed closely by Johnny Bower.

Who is the Greatest Maple Leafs Goalie of All Time
	Turk Broda
	Felix Potvin
	Johnny Bower
	Lorne Chabot
	George Hainsworth
	Curtis Joseph
	Mike Palmateer
	Harry Lumley
	Terry Sawchuk
	Other
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Is it time for Grabovksi to center Kessel?

The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to stink up the joint as they get closer to the 1/4 mark of the NHL season and sit in the 29th spot in the NHL one point ahead of Carolina and four points behind Florida and Anaheim. The Leafs are averaging 2.5 goals per game this season, sit last on the penalty kill and are a league worst 1-6-2 at home. The team on many nights seem to take a little too long to realize that the game is underway and hence fall behind early as was apparent in yesterdays loss to Calgary and on Friday in Chicago. The fans at yesterdays game were just finding their seats when two goals were scored before the game was even two minutes old, coach Ron Wilson called a timeout to let his team know that the game was underway and that they were already behind once again. The coach and his staff continue to shuffle lines looking for a combo that can produce some consistency for more then a few shifts or a game or two. The time has come now for Ron Wilson to place Mikhail Grabovski with Phil Kessel. These two players are the only forwards on this team that actually have the opposing defense back peddling when they are coming into the zone with the puck. Wilson seems to be worried that both Kessel and Grabovski want to carry the puck but from watching this seasons games it looks like Grabovski is thinking pass first before thinking shoot, while Kessel is a shoot first before pass player. Grabovski has taken 35 shots on net in 18 games while Kessel has 34 shots on net in 6 games. Why not place the two together and see what will come from this? The team seems to be concerned with placing the two together, I for one dont see what the problem is? Do we have anything to lose on this experiment? These are two professional hockey players I'm sure they can talk over how much each will carry the puck and any other matters that may arise from playing on the same line. The Leafs need to start winning, these players need to be placed together and maybe a call up to a young Swede in Viktor Stalberg would compliment the duo. The time to try the combo is NOW! Is there anything more to add?

Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson working way to fans hearts

Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson is slowly working his way into the hearts of Leaf fans as he slides side to side with his arms moving and his head up looking ready for every shot that comes his way. The time is relatively early but the Monster has posted a record of 2-2-3 with a goals against average 2.84 and save percentage of .908 and is set to play in his first back to back games in his short NHL career as the Leafs take on the Red Wings, tonight in the Hall of Fame game. The Monster has made some big saves and if not for his heroics last night to secure the win for the Leafs against the Canes we would still be on a losing streak. The Leaf fans have not seen this type of goaltending since the days of Ed Belfour before the lockout and Gustavsson comes to Toronto after leading Farjestads to the Swedish Elite crown last season posting a 1.08 GAA a .938 SVP and 5 shutouts in his playoff run. The Monster was pursued aggressively by Brian Burke this off season on a recommendation from Leaf scout and former keeper Mike Palmateer (who deserves alot of the credit for this signing) and the Leafs are now off to the races with the keeper. The season is still early, his career is just getting started but "The Monster" is working his way into the hearts of Leaf fans and wouldn't it be nice to see a Monster in the spring and not just at Halloween?

Toronto Maple Leafs Best Goalie Masks

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had their share of goalkeepers over the history of the club and after TSN's Best Goalie Masks in the league contest, I decided that it would be a great idea to gather many of the Leafs Keepers better masks over the years and get them together to display.

Click on the Image to Enlarge and let us know in our comments section which mask or masks are your favourite from the Masks shown. I would say my top 3 choices in no particular order are Mike Palmateer, Ed Belfour and Mikael Tellqvist. What are yours?

On a special note Congratulations to Tomas Kaberle for being named the First Star of the Week in the NHL after contributing 12 points over 4 games last week.