ACCESS 7 THURSDAY EYE-OPENER
The Detroit Red Wings are heating up. Justin Abdelkader and Henrik Zetterberg both had a goal and an assist to lead Detroit past the Calgary Flames 3-2. Riley Sheahan also scored for Detroit, which has won five of seven. Mason Raymond and Mikael Backlund replied for Calgary. The Flames reached the halfway point of the season in ninth place in the Western Conference, two points back of the second wild card spot.
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They may have a new head coach, but it was more of the same for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Marcus Johansson and Eric Fehr scored two goals apiece as the Washington Capitals defeated Toronto 6-2 in Peter Horachek’s debut as the Leafs interim head coach. Horachek replaces Randy Carlyle, who was dismissed.
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Rick Nash scored his 25th goal, Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves, and the New York Rangers beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 for their 11th victory in 12 games. Earlier, Patrice Bergeron scored twice, including in overtime, to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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All of the LA Clippers starters put in a dominant performance over the rival Los Angeles Lakers in a 114-89 rout. Blake Griffin scored 27 points, Chris Paul had 24 points and Matt Barnes added 19 as all five Clippers starters reached double digits in points. Griffin just missed a triple-double, with nine rebounds and eight assists.
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Former Raptor Rudy Gay scored 28 points and Darren Collison added 24 to help the Sacramento Kings snap a 12-game losing streak to Oklahoma City with a 104-83 victory over the Thunder.
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Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario, moved into the men’s quarter-finals of the Brisbane International with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin. Maria Sharapova moved into the semifinals of the women’s tournament with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro. The Brisbane International is a warm-up event for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of 2015.
(Canadian Press)
Looks like a time bomb is building up in Leaf Land when the players are starting to make comments about each other like they did last night after yet another blow out by Washington. Looked like Kessel had a Piano tied to his ass whenever it was time to back check. This guy is only interested in scoring goals and that is all he is doing . Leafs get rid of Kessel and the whole teams attitude will change.
Great Sports Cage last night discussing the Maple Laffs.
It's interesting to see some of the things written about Phil Kessel. "He's not a leader" -he's never been a leader, doesn't want to be a leader and doesn't wear a letter. Stop trying to make him something he'll never be. "He doesn't back-check or try hard defensively" -ya well either does Ovie, or Mogilny or Kovalev or Kovalchuk or Brett Hull or Pavel Bure. Why can't people just accept him for who he is? He's an offensive machine. He'll never be a 200 ft player. That's it, end of story. I have never understood why media and fans try… Read more »
Yes, it's time to blow up the team' get rid of bad acquisitions like Kessel and Phanouf that Pat Quinn made. The leafs lost high draft picks over a one way player and a defenceman that no one wanted. Time to start over!!!!!!!
The Leafs have not been in the game since 1967…48 years ago. Most Canadian can't remember when the Leafs were any good. Doesn't matter. Sell out the stadium year after year.Juicy TV contracts…that's what its all about. Winning just doesn't matter. Change the coach occasionally so there appears to be something being done. New coach? Doesn't matter. Same old same old.
The Calgary Flames became a hockey team the same day Jerome Iginla was traded. I believe getting rid of Kessel would have the same effect in Toronto.
The Leafs had had about as much success in the last 25 years as half the NHL. THey just get talked about because they are from the centre of the universe in Toronto.They have been to the conference final four times since 1993 so yes, there's been some succes although no cups obviously.the biggest problem with a lot of teams is when you are average for 15-20 straight years and your draft pick is always about 10-20th range. No stars available usely.Have to trade everyone and start over. Also, let's be realistic here, the Leafs do have some assets to… Read more »
I hope the Leaf talk on the Sports Cage yesterday is balanced with some talk today about a real hockey team – THE HABS.
Yep, real team.
In the what have you done for me lately category….Habs, zero cups in last 20 years.
But who cares. Winning a round or two every few years means f@ck all. Seriously. Habs fans are just aa bunch of pompous pricks. They like to tell everyone how great they are but haven't won shit in a long long time.
The reality is, the Canucks, Flames, Oilers, Leafs, Habs, Rangers, Sharks, Flyers, Blues etc. Are all in the same boat. Haven't won shit!!!
Habs fans just like to think they've been successful lately …. but nope. Not even close.