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Hawks are up in Tronna for an Original Six rivalry that ought to be more of a rivalry than it is, but alas, they're done for the year after tonight while we're still looking at four more with the fucking Nashville Predators.
Hawks have been up and down as of late: strong six-game winning streak followed by a one-point-in-six hiccup followed by three more wins with a 19-6 aggregate score. It's been all down for the Leafs, who haven't had a regulation win in twelve games, and have gone from leading their division to being in one of the wild card slots. I'd imagine losing our good friend Dave Bolland hurt them quite a bit; he was having a very good year before he got his tendon slashed. As exciting as it was for the Leafs to make it back to Stanley Cup play for the first time since 2004, this is still a pretty flawed roster past Phil Kessel and his weird fat face. They do have a strong power play, I'll give them that. Like Dallas, they're a bubble team for whom point inflation takes them from a little over .500 to a little under. I believe they led the league in fighting majors last year and do again this year, so they're a team that likes to be stupid on the ice.
And with Dave Nonis at GM, they do stupid things off the ice. Look at how stupid the Bernier trade really wound up being. The trade was Bernier, Frattin, and a second for Scrivens. Bernier has had a good year for the Leafs, yes. But with Quick injured, Scrivens has been even better for the Kings. So basically the two elite backup goalies cross-cancel and what you're left with is "Toronto gives Los Angeles a third-liner and a high draft pick." Way to go, guys. And then there was the time they gave all that money to David Clarkson, whose only demonstrable skill is being a pinball bumper near the opposing crease. I mean, that's more or less what Andrew Shaw is, but he's not getting like $37 million to do it. Oh, and then it turns out he's been suspended two games for a headshot on Vladimir Sobotka, so we won't see him anyway. This after he missed the first ten games for getting into that fight between Kessel and John Scott. Twelve games lost to suspension for their big offseason signing! These Eastern teams are dumb, I tell you.
It's been a while since the Hawks have had a game at the ACC, so if you're struck by how oddly quiet it is for "a so-called hockey town," remember it's just because everyone who can get into a Leafs game is making six figures and no one wants to be caught misbehaving. Toronto money is really, really stuffy. Even in the days of stinky old Maple Leaf Gardens, people wore suits and sat politely, and that was when the Leafs actually had players and teams to be really excited about.
6 p.m. on channel 9 tonight, and the CBC if you're so lucky.
Broken Social Scene is (was?) a really good Toronto-based band.
Hawks: 23-6-5 (51), 19-8-7 adjusted (45), 45.698 expected
Leafs: 16-14-3 (35), 12-15-6 adjusted (30), 29.805 expected
Hawks: 3.676 scored (1st), 2.647 allowed (15th), 1.029 differential (2nd)
Leafs: 2.606 scored (16th), 2.848 allowed (22nd), -0.242 differential (20th)
Hawks: 27/116 23.27% on the power play (5th), 74/100 74.0% on the kill (28th)
Leafs: 24/103 23.30% on the power play (4th), 98/127 77.2% on the kill (27th)
_________________ Molly Lambert wrote: The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.
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