Game Preview: Maple Leafs at Rangers

13 years ago

The undefeated Toronto Maple Leafs (going to use that as much as possible) travel to the Big Apple to put their perfect record on the line as they take on the New York Rangers. The 1-1 Rangers are coming off of a 6-4 loss to their local rivals the New York Islanders.

There are a couple of interesting articles worth a read in the build up to the game:

Steve Burtch takes a look at the importance of the early season games against the Rangers. These will go a long way in the fight for the last couple of playoff spots.
Puck Prospectus predicts that the Rangers would be on their way to being the most improved team in the NHL. The most amazing thing is just how thin the line is between the lower and upper tiers of the league.
Damien Cox compares the two franchises and finds a lot in common. The biggest surprise is that both franchises were willing to bury so much money in the minors.
Colton Orr is going to be back in the line-up after his unfortunate run-in with Deryk Engelland’s right fist. Someone should skate and tell Derek Boogaard dat.

Lance Hornby provides the stat of the day:

Lundqvist’s career .899 save percentage vs. Tor is his only sub-.900 mark against any Eastern team.

The biggest sign that things have changed in Leafland? Here’s an excerpt of what the team did in Manhattan:

With three wins in three outings to start the season and a day off in Manhattan, Ron Wilson did what any good father figure would do.
Took the boys to the amusement park.
Oh, they had to practise. But the location was Chelsea Piers on the Lower West Side, a sprawling 30-acre complex where you can play any number of sports and games and houses the set for TV’s Law and Order. The Maple Leafs dressed at Madison Square Garden and bussed south, tromping up to the second floor Sky Rink in full gear except for skates before working out for an hour with the Hudson River and a view of New Jersey as a backdrop through large windows on one side of the rink.

It was a much different case last year when some players organised a helicopter ride in NYC. Phil Kessel summed up the good mood that the team is in this year. As much as I look to stats to explain what is happening with the Leafs – like goalies actually stopping the puck, a penalty kill that shockingly actually kills penalties – there is also a nascent comraderie amongst the holdovers from last year’s opening night and the myriad additions since that fateful trip. The real test will be in handling the first signs of adversity. Hopefully we’ll still have some time to find out how they’ll cope.

In honour of the Leafs’ first trip to Madison Square Gardens here’s a classic fight from 1978:


Record	3-0-0, 6 points	1-1-0, 2 points
PP %	15.4%, 17th	28.6%, 8th
PK %	90%, 6th	70%, 27th
Goals For	12	10
Goals Against	6	9

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