Jekyl and Hyde Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost 3-2 in a shootout to the New York Rangers on Saturday night in the Air Canada Centre. The Hall of Fame Game was full of pre-game celebrations as Mark Messier, Al MacInnis, Ron Francis, Scott Stevens and Jim Gregory were introduced to the Toronto crowd. However, the Rangers were able to gut out their first victory all season on the road when Brendan Shanahan and Marcel Hossa scored on New York's first two shootout attempts.

It was another instance of the Leafs giving up one quick goal after another. It appears they are unable to compose themselves once a goal is scored on them, leaving them vulnerable for a couple of shifts after the fact. The Rangers capitalized and went up 2-0 on the Leafs in large part to the up tempo play of the Shanahan, Scott Gomez, Sean Avery line that was buzzing all night. Avery got into a small tussle pre-game with Darcy Tucker and Jason Blake of the Maple Leafs, and the bad blood spilled over into the game when Tucker and Avery dropped the gloves in the first period.

It took two Alexei Ponikarovsky goals for the Leafs to pull even with their original six opponent. But it was not enough to get the two points in the standings. The Leafs lost another shootout, something that has been plaguing them since it was instituted in the 2005-2006 season.

It was the second consecutive game the Leafs played well defensively, allowing only two goals. The previous night they were on the road in Buffalo where they won 3-0 over the Sabres with backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft in net.

For this tilt coach Paul Maurice returned to Vesa Toskala and although it did not result in a win, it was a loss that could not be blamed on goaltending. The interesting factor is that the Leafs have given up more goals than any other team in the NHL and yet have come off of back-to-back games giving up only two goals in regulation, coming away with three out of a possible four points. It would seem they have turned a corner and fixed their defensive woes.

But this team has done this before, this season, last season, and the season before that, building up to looking like one teams, then showing up as another the next night.

Fans, meet Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde