Marlies allow 2 shorthanded goals in 3 seconds in loss to Abbotsford

I think Justin Bourne pointed it out first, Paul Ranger looks absolutely brutal on this first goal. That’s, uh, Steve McCarthy, who had a real uneventful NHL career as a defenceman, who looks like he’s about to dump the puck in, and then sees this wide-open hole in front of him.

Now, officially, the two shorthanded goals were scored in “three seconds”, but counting the time it takes for the Abbotsford Heat players to celebrate and get back to the face-off circle, and then score again, it really takes about 40 or 50 seconds. “Two goals in three seconds” is a slightly misleading moniker, but that doesn’t make the Leafs look all the better for it, particularly the way the second goal was scored.

From the Canadian Press via Puck Daddy:

The Marlies did slightly improve the Heat’s golf game last year, knocking them out 4-1 in the playoffs, but Ben Street, the guy who scored the second goal, wasn’t on that team. He was with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a team that also lost in the second round of the playoffs, but I’d like to think Western Pennsylvania has much better golfing opportunities than British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.

Now is the good time to ask: “Why is there an AHL team in Abbotsford?” As you can see from the map, below (we like maps at The Leafs Nation—think George R.R. Martin wants a job writing with us?) Abbotsford is way out in the middle of nowhere in the Southwest corner of BC. It’s about a 45-minute drive out of Vancouver, straight into rancher territory. Not only is it out in the middle of nowhere, but the Heat lost $1.76M of public money on the team.

(Also, for a City Slicker like me, I’m happy to say I the website that I was able to find that factoid on was for Country 107.1, “Today’s Country Favourites”.)

Anyway, the Marlies play in Abbotsford again tonight, coming off the 3-0 loss last night. If you get that game on AHL Live, hopefully all the goals will be shown on video. If you’d rather watch a few prospective Leafs players in high-definition, Guelph Storm and Oshawa Generals play on Sportsnet at 7 p.m. Eastern. Tyler Biggs, Matt Finn and Garret Sparks are all in that game. Our prospects man, Justin Fisher, told me last night that he’s caught a lot of Generals games and likes Biggs’ play off the puck a lot, which contributes to Boone Jenner’s scoring totals.

I hope something happens in that game that causes us all to overreact.