Leafs fall to Moose

[Madferret]

Blowout loss lights fire under Manitoba scorers
By KEN WIEBE -- Winnipeg Sun

Manitoba forward Lee Goren celebrates scoring in the 5-2 Moose playoff win last night over the St. John's Maple Leafs. (Winnipeg Sun/C. Procaylo)
Apparently, the Manitoba Moose don't take getting blown out well.

After losing 6-1 last Friday, the Moose responded with a four-goal first period and cruised to a 5-2 victory over the St. John's Maple Leafs last night before a crowd of 8,385 at the MTS Centre to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven American Hockey League North Division semifinal.

The two teams have met 11 times this season and after the Moose won the first meeting on Oct. 25, the two teams have alternated victories ever since. Three of the five wins by St. John's were by five goals, but that didn't prevent Manitoba from bouncing back the next time out.

Game 4 goes tomorrow at 7:35 p.m. as Manitoba attempts to break the trend of win one, lose one and the Maple Leafs attempt to regroup.

"If you can find an explanation, I wish you'd tell me because I'd like to figure that out," said Moose head coach Randy Carlyle. "We've been trying to figure it out for the number of games we've played each other. It's gone back and forth and back and forth."

The Moose came out like a team possessed in the opening period.

Carlyle did a great job of getting Ryan Kesler, Lee Goren and Jeff Heerema out against Maple Leafs top guns Kyle Wellwood and David Ling.

Kesler was alone in front and took advantage of a fortuitous bounce to score the ice-breaker at 1:19 and Heerema extended the lead at 10:07, sparking a span of three goals in two minutes and 39 seconds.

"We were coming off a bad loss and the boys were eager," said Heerema. "We wanted to get on them and we were able to do that."

The third goal was a testament to the Moose forecheck as Nathan Smith jarred the puck loose after taking out Maple Leafs blue-liner Joel Kwiatkowski along the right-wing boards.

Alexandre Burrows sprung free and just when it looked like he was going to shoot, he found an uncovered Jimmy Roy, who made no mistake.

Josh Green eluded the check of Carlo Colaiacovo and converted a pass from Justin Morrison to make it 4-0 at 12:46.

That was the end of the night for Maple Leafs goalie Mikael Tellqvist, who gave up four goals on 10 shots but was not to blame.

Maple Leafs head coach Doug Shedden was shocked by the slow start and didn't feel Tellqvist was to blame.

"It was stupid stuff. Just dumb, dumb mistakes," said Shedden. "Maybe we got caught up reading our newspaper clippings. This is becoming a boring story. They always win the first one and we always win the second. Nobody has been able to break serve yet."

The Maple Leafs got some life at 15:05 when Brad Leeb's shot deflected off the stick of Moose defenceman Kent Huskins and fooled Wade Flaherty, who's started every game of the series for the Moose.

Smith helped Manitoba restore the cushion with a great solo effort at 3:04 of the second, blazing down the right side and roofing a backhand under the crossbar.

Former Moose tough guy Jason MacDonald potted a power-play goal late in the second to round out the scoring.

MOOSE TRACKS: Yesterday's win marked the first home playoff victory for the Moose since May 5 of 2003

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/AHL/2005/04/26/goren_lee250.jpg

[Leafs_Pam]

Not what I wanted to hear. :( I hope they bounce back and win this series so they can move on to Round 2. I would like to see St. John's go all the way since this is their last season in St. John's. Shedden isn't blaming Telly.

Here is the article from St. John's Website

http://www.sjmapleleafs.ca/schedule/gr83.asp

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Maple Leafs trampled

By BRENDAN MCCARTHY, The Telegram-Winnipeg

Water dripping from leaky pipes in and around the St. John?s Maple Leafs? dressing room at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg Monday night only added to the misery the Leafs were feeling after the Manitoba Moose rained on them for a 5-2 win in Game 3 of their American Hockey League divisional semifinal.

The Moose scored the game?s first four goals in the opening 13 minutes, including three in a 2:39 span as they took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 4 will be played in Winnipeg Wednesday.

Ryan Kesler, Jeff Hereema, Jimmy Roy, Josh Green and Nathan Smith scored for Manitoba. Brad Leeb and Jason MacDonald replied for the Leafs, who looked as rattled as guppies at a shark convention in the opening stages of the game.

?It was kind of a shocker. Very disappointing. Maybe we got caught up reading our press clippings,? said St. John?s coach Doug Shedden, whose team was coming off an impressive 6-1 win over the Moose in Game 2 Friday night in St. John?s.

Leafs were in rough waters

?We talked about how important those first 10 minutes were and the need to weather the storm.?

Instead, the Leafs? ship starting sinking almost from the opening faceoff.

It began when a puck thrown in from the point came off a skate and right to Kesler, who scored just 79 seconds into the contest. Then came the flurry of goals by Hereema, Roy and Green.

That led to Shedden?s decision to pull starting goalie Mikael Tellqvist, who had given up the four goals on 10 shots.

The Leafs got on the board when Brad Leeb scored his second goal in as many games at 15:26 of the first. Smith made it 5-1 early in the second, finishing a solo rush from the Manitoba end by beating Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Tellqvist?s replacement, with a backhand shot on the short side.

MacDonald got his goal ? like Leeb?s, his second in two games ? on a power-play late in the middle period. The result may have been predictable for some since the Moose and Leafs have developed a win-one, lose-one pattern in their series all year.

At a loss for words

But David Ling, the team?s leading scorer in the regular season, said there was no explanation for the way the team played.

?It seemed like we were ready in the dressing room,? said Ling. ?Maybe it was more talk and not enough of us going out and doing it.

?I don?t know if it?s embarrassment, but we have to find a something to help us rebound.?

Ling will be looking to bounce back on an individual level as well. He and linemate Kyle Wellwood, the twin batteries that have helped ignite the Leafs? offensive engine most of the season, had absolutely no spark on Monday.

Wellwood was limited to one shot on goal and Ling took what he admitted was a ?stupid? tripping penalty during a St. John?s power play in the third period,

They weren?t alone in having poor performances. For example, defencemen Carlo Colaiacovo, who finished the night at minus-three, and Manitoba native Ian White struggled from the onset.

?Our big guys weren?t very good,? said Shedden succinctly.

The best Leafs were Leeb, super plugger Ben Ondrus and rookie fourth-liners Jeremy Williams and Colin Murphy. Murphy took two hits to free up the puck in helping set up Leeb?s goal. And while too many Leafs seemed willing to let the Moose initiate contact, Williams played perhaps his most physical game all year.

But his efforts will be overshadowed by the team?s overall poor performance. Adding to Williams? frustration level: a scoring chance that ended with his shot ringing off the post next to Manitoba goalie Wade Flaherty in the third period; and the fact that a thundering first-period hit he delivered on Roy seemingly had little effect on the popular Moose veteran.

Williams caught Roy rushing into the St. John?s zone and planted him into the boards. Roy fell to the ice, where he lay, arms and legs outstretched, and there seemed to be good reason to wonder if he?d remain in the game. But Roy eventually got to his feet and returned to the Manitoba bench.

Minutes later, on a subsequent shift, he scored his first goal of the series.

?That?s frustrating. (Roy) has his head down and I caught him with a pretty good hit,? said Williams, named the Leafs? hardest-working player. ?You?re trying to create a little energy and hope it might help to get everyone going a little bit. And then to be on the bench a few minutes later and watch him score, like I said, it?s frustrating.?

If their season-long pattern continues, the Leafs should beat the Moose Wednesday, but Shedden isn?t counting on such tendencies, especially after what he witnessed Monday.

?They always have bounced back and this is definitely something we need to do,? he said, ?but I didn?t see too many things I liked on the bench or on the ice tonight.

?Guys were taking long shifts and trying to do too much themselves.?

Whether that concern translates into changes before Wednesday remains to be seen. Shedden said he?ll ?digest? the Game 3 result before making such decisions. He may also consider the fact Manitoba coach Randy Carlyle didn?t make a single change to the Moose lineup that got thumped in St. John?s Friday.

That meant Carlyle went with Flaherty, who finished with 22 saves Monday, including two notable third-period stops, one on Leeb on a two-on-none shorthanded break with Matt Stajan and another when he swatted the puck off the goal line even as Wellwood raised his arms thinking St. John?s had scored.

Aubin made 22 saves in relief of Tellqvist, including a brilliant second-period stop on Hereema, but Shedden says it?s no sure thing that he will be the starting goalie for St. John?s in Game 4.

?I took out Telly not because he was bad, but because his support was bad,? said Shedden.

http://www.sjmapleleafs.ca/images/actionshots/april25.JPG