John Tavares' Redemption
This was a pretty good day for Toronto sports. The Leafs finally clinched a playoff spot by beating the Islanders 2-1. John Tavares got the eventual game winner with his first against his former team. Man, that was really sweet.
The Raptors survived another Orlando Magic test, overcoming an early deficit for a 121-109 victory that was far more lopsided than the final score indicates.
As for the Blue Jays... well, the streak I referred to in the previous post was 24 consecutive scoreless innings by our starting pitchers to begin the 2019 season. It ended in the first inning today against the O's, with emergency starter Sean Reid-Foley allowing four runs. But our bats rallied against their bullpen in late innings and we had a tying run at third with two outs in the ninth in a 6-5 loss. Getting no-hit by David Hess through 6 1/3 innings (DAVID FREAKIN' HESS!@$%) isn't obviously ideal but it's still early in the year and hitters take longer to come around anyway.
My thoughts.
JT's Moment in Uniondale
JT's first return to Nassau was really ugly, both in terms of the fans' visceral reaction and the Leafs' collective response on the ice. The guys simply failed to step up for their teammate. In this one, though, coming off an embarrassing loss to the worst team in the NHL, the boys put together a really solid effort. Outshot 'em 38-29, killed off penalties in some crucial moments, and Freddie played like himself in this one.
But the biggest star was, of course, Tavares, who scored this beauty for a 2-0 lead. (Love the Islanders fans' reaction!)
It's going to sound weird (though I'd like to think other Leafs fans were thinking along the same line) but I was hoping the Isles would score one back to make it 2-1 and make JT's goal stand as the game winner. The other guys did end up scoring one and Tavares was credited with the GWG. He even missed a couple of cracks at an empty-netter late.
He really deserved this moment, after what he had to endure in his first game back there. It all worked out great for the team: he scored, the Leafs won, and clinched a playoff spot.
So it's official: We'll play the Bruins in the first round again. We still have a chance to win home ice over the three remaining regular season games. I honestly don't think it matters either way because, well, I think we'll still lose that series.
Boston has been somewhat scuffling of late, 1-3-0 in the past four games, but we haven't been that much better, either.
But I guess we fans can savor this victory for a bit. There haven't been too many of those lately.
Raptors Take Care of Business
The Magic destroyed us twice earlier in the season and the one win we had against them came on a buzzer beater by Danny G. I dreaded this matchup, since we had just played Bulls-Knicks-Bulls and I wasn't sure if the guys would be mentally ready.
The Magic put up 36 points in the first quarter and led by seven. But Green was locked in from beyond the arc and he single-handedly kept us in the game when other starters were struggling to get it going on the offensive end.
We got it together in the second quarter and closed the half with a 31-10 run. We held the Magic to 39 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters while putting up 66 ourselves. Shooting over 51 percent from downtown also helps.
Granted, some of the past few games have been against far inferior opponents but I like the way we've been shooting the ball of late. Talk about rounding into form. The percentage was 47% vs. Bulls in Chicago, 45% vs. Knicks and 43% vs. Bulls in Toronto, 42% vs. Hornets, and 52% and 39% in back-to-back vs. OKC. I will take those numbers in a seven-game series!
So this was the last time this regular season that the Raptors and the Leafs will play on the same day. I am proud of myself for getting through these double headers for several months.
Hopefully the two leagues will work things out so that those two teams won't end up playing on the same day in the playoffs! In the opening round, the Raptors will have the home court and the Leafs will most likely begin playing on the road.
I just took a quick look at the standings in both leagues, and the Leafs-Raptors and the Bruins-Celtics are currently the only playoff-bound tandems sharing the home arena. The Avalanche are still in the wild card hunt, while the Nuggets are in.
I would think it doesn't really help either league to have teams from the same city playing on the same day during the postseason. Better to spread things out. It's stressful enough to watch two regular season games at once. If I have to do that during the playoffs, I'll probably have to quit my day job or I'll probably be fired anyway.
The Raptors survived another Orlando Magic test, overcoming an early deficit for a 121-109 victory that was far more lopsided than the final score indicates.
As for the Blue Jays... well, the streak I referred to in the previous post was 24 consecutive scoreless innings by our starting pitchers to begin the 2019 season. It ended in the first inning today against the O's, with emergency starter Sean Reid-Foley allowing four runs. But our bats rallied against their bullpen in late innings and we had a tying run at third with two outs in the ninth in a 6-5 loss. Getting no-hit by David Hess through 6 1/3 innings (DAVID FREAKIN' HESS!@$%) isn't obviously ideal but it's still early in the year and hitters take longer to come around anyway.
My thoughts.
JT's Moment in Uniondale
JT's first return to Nassau was really ugly, both in terms of the fans' visceral reaction and the Leafs' collective response on the ice. The guys simply failed to step up for their teammate. In this one, though, coming off an embarrassing loss to the worst team in the NHL, the boys put together a really solid effort. Outshot 'em 38-29, killed off penalties in some crucial moments, and Freddie played like himself in this one.
But the biggest star was, of course, Tavares, who scored this beauty for a 2-0 lead. (Love the Islanders fans' reaction!)
It's going to sound weird (though I'd like to think other Leafs fans were thinking along the same line) but I was hoping the Isles would score one back to make it 2-1 and make JT's goal stand as the game winner. The other guys did end up scoring one and Tavares was credited with the GWG. He even missed a couple of cracks at an empty-netter late.
He really deserved this moment, after what he had to endure in his first game back there. It all worked out great for the team: he scored, the Leafs won, and clinched a playoff spot.
So it's official: We'll play the Bruins in the first round again. We still have a chance to win home ice over the three remaining regular season games. I honestly don't think it matters either way because, well, I think we'll still lose that series.
Boston has been somewhat scuffling of late, 1-3-0 in the past four games, but we haven't been that much better, either.
But I guess we fans can savor this victory for a bit. There haven't been too many of those lately.
Raptors Take Care of Business
The Magic destroyed us twice earlier in the season and the one win we had against them came on a buzzer beater by Danny G. I dreaded this matchup, since we had just played Bulls-Knicks-Bulls and I wasn't sure if the guys would be mentally ready.
The Magic put up 36 points in the first quarter and led by seven. But Green was locked in from beyond the arc and he single-handedly kept us in the game when other starters were struggling to get it going on the offensive end.
We got it together in the second quarter and closed the half with a 31-10 run. We held the Magic to 39 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters while putting up 66 ourselves. Shooting over 51 percent from downtown also helps.
Granted, some of the past few games have been against far inferior opponents but I like the way we've been shooting the ball of late. Talk about rounding into form. The percentage was 47% vs. Bulls in Chicago, 45% vs. Knicks and 43% vs. Bulls in Toronto, 42% vs. Hornets, and 52% and 39% in back-to-back vs. OKC. I will take those numbers in a seven-game series!
So this was the last time this regular season that the Raptors and the Leafs will play on the same day. I am proud of myself for getting through these double headers for several months.
Hopefully the two leagues will work things out so that those two teams won't end up playing on the same day in the playoffs! In the opening round, the Raptors will have the home court and the Leafs will most likely begin playing on the road.
I just took a quick look at the standings in both leagues, and the Leafs-Raptors and the Bruins-Celtics are currently the only playoff-bound tandems sharing the home arena. The Avalanche are still in the wild card hunt, while the Nuggets are in.
I would think it doesn't really help either league to have teams from the same city playing on the same day during the postseason. Better to spread things out. It's stressful enough to watch two regular season games at once. If I have to do that during the playoffs, I'll probably have to quit my day job or I'll probably be fired anyway.
Comments