Maple Leafs Win a Game - And All It Took Was The Plague!
The Toronto Maple Leafs held on for a 5-4 win tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, marking the first time in two weeks the team has been able to put a tick up in the win column. The win ended a 5 game losing streak and all it took for the Leafs to pull one out was for their opposition to be fighting the plague. Well, not the plague, but a flu bug that had been going through the team causing many players to be ill to the point of not being able to practice.
The Leafs netted 5 goals against goalies Michael Leighton and Cam Ward. Kaberle, Kilger, Stajan, Ponikarovsky and Ian White were the goal scorers, although Stajan’s goal should’ve been credited to the boards behind the net, as they bounced a missed point shot straight back out and off of Leighton into the net. Ian White’s goal was equally flukey with the puck appearing to ricochet off multiple skates before finding it’s way into the goal. Regardless though, the team did put up 5 goals, and that’s something to be proud of - even though three were scored against a backup goalie playing in front of a team battling malaria.
Vesa Toskala actually looked pretty good in stopping 21 of 25 shots for an .840 save percentage, which, while being laughable for most teams starters is more than acceptable on this Leafs squad. To be fair, a couple of the goals were rough breaks that Toskala couldn’t have done much to stop. We wanted to ask backup ‘tender Andrew Raycroft what he thought of Toskala’s play, but unfortunately he hadn’t yet awakened from his nap.
With all the positives that came out of this game you have to wonder if maybe the players and coaches on the team might have clued in as to what they’ve been doing wrong all year. Throughout this entire dismal season, they’ve been making the obvious error of playing teams that weren’t suffering from debilitating sicknesses! Talk about a rookie mistake!
The team is now committed to ensuring that all of it’s opponents are stricken with - at a minimum - a vomit inducing illness, but preferably one that also includes fevers and, if possible, severe diarrhea.
With this new strategy in place fans should likely see a whole new vigor in this Leafs team and, assuming they can deliver their biological weapons to their opponents effectively, maybe even a playoff berth. If all goes as planned, there may yet be a chance of the Stanley Cup parading through the streets of Toronto this year. Just make sure to get your vaccines before you go to watch.
Stumble it!
