Truculence and arrogance will apparently only take you so far.
Last night in Montreal, a Brian Burke-created team displayed a power play that made the Canadiens look like the mid-80 Oilers. Whatever you might think of this version of Les Glourieux, they are no 1980s Oilers. Their penalty kill doesn't feature Wayne Gretzky and Jarri Kurri or Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson. They are not on pace to score 36 short-handed tallies this year.
Against the Leafs, however, Montreal's penalty killers generated multiple chances, odd-man rushes and a short-handed goal. Jeff Halpern and Tomas Plekanec resembled modern-day Gretzkys and Lemieuxes.
A Montreal Canadiens team that has struggled around the 50 percent mark in the faceoff circle since the lockout won two-thirds of the faceoffs last night. Scott Gomez went an amazing 12 of 18, and Jeff Halpern won seven against Toronto. John Mitchell and Tyler Bozak, on the other hand, were a collective 5-of-17 for the Leafs.
Throw in defenseman Mike Komisarek's errant pass to Mike Cammalleri for the second Montreal goal and the game last night was almost a blanket condemnation of the moves B ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Scott Weldon
Toronto Maple Leafs: Brian Burke Needs to be Fired
November 21st, 2010 by Scott Weldon Leave a reply »
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