Toronto Vs Carolina wrap, as seen from the seats.....

I had the luxury of attending the Toronto Maple Leaf's home game against the Carolina Hurricanes on November 4, 2008.

Period by Period Summary.

So I get to the game early, and get my seat, in row 18, of Section 311, the last row of the upper bowl, and I notice that the speakers in front of me don't work. The sound quality sucks, is ACC becoming crappy up in the nosebleeds? Someone tell the building manager that speakers don't work in the 300s!!

Anyways on to the game. I think the Maple Leafs were more interested in the American election in the first period, their defensive zone coverage was a flop, and they were outworked, outhustled and outscored, by an outrageous 4-1. The Leafs were also close to even in shots, Toskala let in 2 soft goals, and the defence had at least 4 bad turnovers. The ACC was as quite as it should be, you could hear a pin drop, and besides the 3 Carolina fans in the building, all you could hear the collective groan of the Leaf's faithful, and Damian Cox writing a told you so article about how bad the leafs really are.

Since I was at the game and not taking notes, I don't have a box score and time ready.

Second Period.

Ron Wilson must have threatened the team with demotion to the ECHL. The Leafs catch fire and start to dominate and outwork the Canes. This game looks a lot more like Saturday night, with explosive odd man rushes, and they were rewarded for their hard work with 2 goals. The Grabovski, Hagman and Kulemin line were explosive in the offensive end, and they dominated the game with speed and cycling. They scored an excellent power-play goal, then Van-ryn brought them within 1. They were back to their ways of outshooting the opposition by a large margin, and the crowd was hot.These comebacks bring the best out of Leaf's Nation, they get much louder than under JFJ and Maurice. I have yet to hear this much passion in years in the regular season in the building.

3rd Period

3rd Period was just like the second, the Leafs had to score to tie the game, and with the shots on not at 39-20, i said to my friend the leafs have to score on the next shot!!!

They scored to tie the game, and for the most part, peppered Cam Ward with shots, but did not get any really killer chances. They continued to dominate offensively, but their lack of focus on defence led to 5-6 bad giveaways, and 2 stretches that looked like the Canes were on a power-play. The 3rd period winded down, with the Leafs missing a couple of golden opportunities including a 5-3 where Grabovski flubbed a puck he should have buried. There was subtle optimism going into the OT.

Overtime...

Overtime was expected to be 5 minutes of fury, but 1 minute in, and boom a bad blue line turnover and the Leafs lose.....



All in all, it was a great time at the ACC with a good friend, and we had a roller coaster ride way better than any crap ride at Canada's Wonderland. I want to see these guys play again this year, they don't quit, and its even more fun in person to see!