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Inside the NHL
Posted: Tuesday January 18, 2000 01:45 PM The run-and-gun Maple Leafs are not only fun to watch, but they're successful as well By Kostya Kennedy
Were you lucky enough to see the Maple Leafs-Oilers barn burner last Friday night? Neither the number of goals (the Leafs won 3-2 in overtime) nor shots (35 for Toronto, 32 for Edmonton) was high, but the players on both sides skated relentlessly from end to end. The puck whipped back and forth, and both goalies sprawled repeatedly to make saves. Best of all, the match engendered hope that it was a sign of things to come.
For much of the mid-1990s Toronto was just another dull, trapping club. Then Pat Quinn took over as coach before last season and transformed the Maple Leafs into a band of net crashers. With mobile backliners, swift forwards and one of the league's top goalies, Curtis Joseph, Toronto now clearly thinks offense first. The Leafs pass often and crisply, and when they don't have the puck, they love to jar it free on the forecheck and immediately resume the attack. "I like the way the Leafs play," says Hurricanes defenseman Paul Coffey. "People aren't dumb. They want to be entertained." They also want to see their team win, and the Maple Leafs, who through Sunday were 26-16-4-3 and in first place in the Northeast Division, have built a strong case that success can come to those who wheel. Toronto went 45-30-7 last season and then flouted critics of its style by advancing to the Eastern Conference finals. The Maple Leafs' defensive indifference would be costly without Joseph, who this season had faced more shots (1,012) than any other NHL goalie except one and was third in the league in save percentage (.922). Even more noteworthy is that apart from Joseph, star center Mats Sundin and a couple of good finesse forwards such as Sergei Berezin, Toronto thrives with only slightly-above-average talent. At a time when the NHL's skill level has diminished because of expansion, the Leafs are providing welcome proof that even ordinary players can put on a dazzling show. Issue date: January 24, 2000
For more Inside the NHL see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, January 19. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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