Into the Lion's Den

The Leafs had their (insert adjective of choice: modest, promising, short-lived) three game win streak snapped in Florida the other day. The Panthers were backstopped by, guess who, Eddie Belfour, who returned to haunt the team that cut him loose.

Belfour got his revenge, and the Leafs got their lesson in humility, managing all of five shots in the first period, compared to 23 from Florida (speaking of Florida, Todd Bertuzzi, apparently worried that there were still people out there who didn't think that Vancouver made one of the biggest hockey swindles of all time by trading him, had back surgery on Thursday that will keep him out for at least two months).

Toronto will be in tough to rebound when they face Buffalo tonight, and just so we're clear, when we say "in tough", we really mean, "no gotdang chance in hell". Buffalo is a scary good team. Twelve games into the season they have yet to lose in regulation, and have for all intents and purposes clinched the Northeast division already.

As if the Sabres' invincibility wasn't enough for them, tonight's contest takes place in Buffalo's HSBC Arena, a venue where the Leafs have historically scrounged together four wins to Buffalo's, ahem, seventeen. Toronto has a bad habit of leaving their game somewhere on the QEW.

Glimmer of hope for the Leafs? Let's employ some shaky logic: the only blemish on the Slugs' record is a shootout loss to Atlanta (which incidentally stopped Buffalo's undefeated streak at ten, which keeps them tied with our Buds. Thanks Atlanta), the same Atlanta team that lost to Toronto earlier this week. Ipso facto, the Leafs should beat Buffalo. QED.

Jason