The focus inside the Air Canada Center will be on two relatively untested goaltenders, Scott Clemmensen and Kari Ramo, who are set to mind the posts for their respective teams this evening when the Leafs host the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Leafs have already seen Ramo, who was in net for a 2-1 defeat when the team last visited St. Petes Time Forum. The latest emergence from the prospering Finnish goaltending factory, Ramo was solid in facing 32 shots but few of the shots posed any real threat.
Something will have to give for one of the two clubs tonight, as both enter in the midst of severe slumps. The Lightning have dropped four in a row and seven out of their last eight contests. The Leafs are winless in three and have lost six of their last seven. The Bolts now find themselves in the basement of the East and the Leafs are not a whole lot better off having slid to 13th.
While both teams are desperate, surely the embarrassment on home ice the Leafs experienced at the hands of the Rangers will light a fire under some fundaments and they'll show the jump they severely lacked Saturday night. The defensive breakdowns and inability to generate anything offensively was one thing, traipsing lazily around the ice and taking penalties left, right, and center is simply inexcusable.
The attention is centering around the goaltending situation, but unquestionably it won't matter who is between the posts if the Leafs do not generate more offensively and stay disciplined. Maurice will ice some new forward line combinations in hope that he can lift some pressure off a beleaguered blue-line corps.
Per TSN's Ice Chips and the Sun, the line-up will be as follows:
Forwards: Blake - Sundin - Steen, Ponikarovski - Antropov - Devereaux, Kilger - Wellwood - Belak, Tucker - Stajan - Bell
Defence: Kubina - Kaberle, Gill - White, Colaiacovo - Wozniewski.
Sundin skated alongside Blake and Steen earlier in the season and little came of it. But Maurice's aim seems to be to find more widespread contribution and to relieve the heavy reliance on the team's top two units.
Boyd Devereaux has earned himself the chance to play alongside the twin towers. Nik Antropov will center the line. This trio is capable of delivering the high-pressure forecheck and running an effective cycle down low in the opponent's zone. A smart combination by Maurice, one which will hopefully kick start a struggling Ponikarovsky and a now less productive Nik Antropov.
Fellow HB blogger Howard Berger is reporting that Kyle Wellwood will sit out tonight. If he doesn't play, Jiri Tlusty would surely step in. If he does play, he'll be playing in the strangest trio I've seen assembled in some time.
Its true that the top two lines have not been productive enough as of late. But its a lack of 3rd and 4th line contribution that is partially responsible.
The Leafs will have to deal with the threatening Tampa Bay threesome which I would expect will be countered with the Devereaux line. If these three can be silenced, there is virtually nothing else posing a serious threat from the Bolts forward corps. Still not the easiest task at the best of times.
The Leafs must test Ramo early and often. And by test, I don't mean flick the puck at him from 60 feet out. *Cough* Jason Blake *Cough*
I'm looking for a much more inspired performance and for the Leafs to capitalize on a Tampa team that's down. But I'm certainly not expecting it.
[email protected] 
Join the Discussion:
»