Blue blood

Toronto, aching but battle-tested, will advance

That the Maple Leafs are still standing is remarkable in itself. Throughout the playoffs they've been winning a war of attrition -- with themselves. We know about Mats Sundin's wrist and about Mikael Renberg's hammy. But the list of wounded grows almost nightly. Every game, it seems, someone is taking a slap shot to the leg or a piece of fiberglass wall to the forehead.

Toronto, for better or worse, has cut a bloody swath through the postseason. This is a team that old-time hockey folks love to love, a team of warriors. The Leafs have dished out some ugliness along the way but they've taken more than their share.

Think these guys are giving body parts to the cause? Ask Darcy Tucker, the nasty forward who came out of the Leafs-Senators series with nothing less than a broken left shoulder: "My personal well-being is not the focal point," Tucker says. "I play the game hard. When you play a physical game, you live by the sword, you die by the sword."

Without Sundin, Toronto had no business staying with Ottawa. The Senators moved the puck and swept through the neutral zone more cleanly than the Leafs did. Toronto won the series in the corners and on the hardest edges of the game, and ended up beating Ottawa on the guts of guys like Tucker and Shayne Corson and Gary Roberts. The Leafs also benefitted from the showing of Alexander Mogilny, who in the past few seasons has proven himself to be a far tougher, far more creative playoff performer than anyone believed he was.

Now Sundin is talking about coming back by the middle of the Eastern Conference finals series, ready to join the skating wounded. Just having another able body to put in the lineup -- never mind an MVP-caliber one -- would be a significant addition for this team.

Need I mention Karel Pilar's broken thumb? Garry Valk's sore groin? This team is limping and gimping its way into this series.

And what about Curtis Joseph's wounded psyche? After so much battering, from Salt Lake to Hamilton, it's now on the mend. A Game 7 shutout can make you forget your doubters and remember your better days.

Carolina is a bigger team than is Ottawa, and an edgier one, too. All the Hurricanes have done this playoff season is serve notice that they're coming and coming hard.

A lot of people (including the person writing these words) didn't believe in Carolina when this postseason began. Now you look at the Canes' unceasing effort game after game. You look past the graying temples of Ron Francis and see a team rife with young stars like Erik Cole and the injured David Tanabe, and a hard nucleus of Jeff O'Neill and Sami Kapanen, Bates Battaglia and Glen Wesley. You know that as long as they get pretty good goaltending, this is a team to fear.

The Leafs, though, do not scare easily. This could well be a long series and Toronto, amazing as it may seem, will still be standing at the end.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy covers the NHL and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

 

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