Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Leafs set the table for a two game showdown

The Toronto Maple Leafs battled back to take a hard earned 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. It was a game which was vital to the teams’ playoff ambitions. Taking on the high flying Hurricanes and taking the two points from them certainly should do much to boost the confidence of the folks in Blue and White.

The Maple Leafs benefited from strong play by Jason Allison (who scored the winning goal), Alexander Steen and Alexander Khavanov, they also found dependable goaltending from Mikael Tellgqvist, who once again stepped up and had a strong game for the Leafs.

Heading into play on Tuesday the leafs were guardians of the 10th place spot in the Eastern Division, as they Leafs watched the standings and out of town scoreboards wondering how the Habs, Bruins and Thrashers are doing on a game to game basis now.

The Leafs can do much to aid their situation on Thursday and Saturday when they play the Habs in a back to back series, two wins for the Buds or two wins for les Canadiens could pretty well spell the end of the playoff chase for the other team. This probably means we’ll see the two teams split the series, leaving us to watch the Thrashers make the move up the Eastern division.

Quinn put it best with his comments after the game about the place the Leafs find themselves in at the moment. "We just have to take care of own business and not worry about anything else," said Leafs coach Pat Quinn. "Because we have to climb over two clubs to get where we want to get to."

Thursday night will continue the path to where they want to get to, as it launches the fourteen game countdown for Toronto, as they seek to keep themselves in the thick of the race in the East!

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