Phil Kessel celebrating a goal has been a rare sight lately, but the Toronto right-winger is on the same goals-per-game pace as in a big 2008-09 season with Boston. (Abelimages/Getty Images)Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson tried to light a fire under his troops ahead of their game Friday night against the Buffalo Sabres, a team they haven't beaten in their last nine meetings.
Buffalo has outscored Toronto 14-6 in winning all four contests between the clubs this season. The Leafs' last win at HSBC Arena in Buffalo was 13 months ago, a long span for a divisional foe.
The Leafs have been plagued by inconsistency over the past two weeks. A strong effort against Pittsburgh and a rally against Florida have been interspersed with turkeys against Edmonton and Philadelphia, the latter a 6-2 loss on Wednesday.
Several reporters seized on the fact that Wilson barked at Phil Kessel, the closest the team has to a sniper, during Thursday's practice. In the last 10 games Kessel has just one goal, a relatively meaningless score to prevent a shutout late in the third in Edmonton last week.
"I can single out a bunch of guys, but he's our best player and a lot of times that needs to be the message," Wilson said.
The coach tried to downplay the incident with the player the Leafs surrendered two first-round draft picks to obtain from Boston in September.
"Ooh, if he gets singled out in professional sports," said Wilson, who went on to imply that hockey reporters should consider themselves lucky to have heard the exchange, as there are more closed practices in other sports.
Seasonal drought?
While Kessel's slump has some Toronto hockey reporters in a dither, the fact remains he has 14 goals in 32 games. That's on pace for a full-season total of 36, exactly the same number he had in 70 games in Boston last season playing with one of the league's premier set-up men, Marc Savard. Kessel's 2008-09 campaign included a 14-game goalless drought.
Alexei Ponikarovsky scored for the second straight game and Nikolai Kulemin also found the mark in the 6-2 loss in Philadelphia, with Jonas Gustavsson stopping 26 shots.
'We just haven't been able to put together a consistent run of exactly what were going to do and getting everybody on the same page.'—Leafs coach Ron Wilson
The Leafs allowed three power-play goals on Wednesday to only emphasize their standing as the NHL's worst penalty kill, leaving Wilson particularly ornery.
"We just haven't been able to put together a consistent run of exactly what were going to do and getting everybody on the same page," he said. "It works sometimes for two or three weeks and then we have a game … where everything goes wrong on the penalty kill."
Toskala in question
In addition to Kessel, Vesa Toskala could be on the spot on Friday. When the Maple Leafs visited the Sabres on Dec. 18, the Finnish netminder allowed arguably the worst goal in the NHL so far this season, whiffing with his glove on an innocent dump-in from Toni Lydman to put Buffalo up 2-1. The Sabres then cruised over the deflated Leafs, winning 5-2.
Gustavsson was in net three days later as Toronto competed hard but fell 3-2 in overtime to the Sabres at Air Canada Centre.
As the Leafs are playing four games in five days this week, Toskala will get the call either against Buffalo or Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada when the team hosts Pittsburgh (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).
The Sabres burst for three goals in just over two minutes Wednesday at home to Tampa Bay en route to a 5-3 win. Five different Buffalo forwards scored, but coach Lindy Ruff was displeased with a mid-game lull that saw the Lightning twice get within one goal of the Sabres.
The Sabres have scored 19 times in a five-game winning streak. Buffalo (27-11-4) will look to increase its Northeast Division lead this weekend over the Boston Bruins, who are battered by injuries.
Buffalo hosts Colorado on Saturday before embarking on a seven-game road trip.
