What had started out as a pretty good month of January for the Toronto Maple Leafs has ended on a losing note, after being beaten by the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third time this season.
James Reimer has been the reason for much of the success by the Leafs this month. After being called up for the first time in late December, he has gone 6-4 with a 2.24 goals against average and a .933 save percentage.
While Reimer played well again last night (though he was clearly having some issues with rebound control), his teammates simply didn't get much going during the first period and fell behind 2-0 by the end of the opening 20 minutes.
The Maple Leafs offense was so lethargic in the first period that they had been out-shot 17-4 by the 18-minute mark.
The Maple Leafs can score; we've all seen it. Mikhail Grabovski became the Leafs surprise first 20-goal scorer this season last week, and there is a relatively safe bet there will be at least four more. The trouble is, after the top five, there is a serious drop off.
In fact, the rest of the team combined may not score as many as the top five.
While this kind of ratio ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Eric Warren
Toronto Maple Leafs: No ‘Reimer’ Reason for Leafs’ Offensive Struggles
January 26th, 2011 by Eric Warren Leave a reply »
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