For whatever it’s worth, when I was a youngster, we referred to the pre-season hockey games as exhibition. It may seem like making a big deal out of nothing but, so many fans and media take these games so seriously, and for no good reason. The primary purpose for these contests, is for coaches to get a look at players they feel are on the bubble, in terms of staying in the NHL, or being sent down to the minor leagues,and in some cases, back to junior hockey.
A note was left on my Facebook page, from a frantic Leafs fan, after their first exhibition game against Ottawa, expressing concern about the Toronto power play, which went 0-8 on their advantages, with most of their quality forwards not dressed for the game. I advised the frantic fan that exhibition games are exactly that, “exhibition”, and should be interpreted that way, win or lose.
Sure enough, as the second game of the Toronto pre-season got underway with the Senators on Wednesday night, the Leafs went on the power play, and on their first opportunity, Nikolai Kulemin scored a soft goal, on a deflection that goalkeeper Brian Elliott should have stopped with ease. I wouldn’t at all be surprised, if some similarly tormented Torontonian, would incorrectly assume that the Leafs power play is now good, because they scored on their first chance of the game. My response is –so what ? It means nothing,as did the power play in the first game with Ottawa, which was absent of most of the star players for both teams, other than Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. On Wednesday, there was no sign of Senators players like Daniel Alfredsson,Jason Spezza, Alex Kovalev,Chris Phillips, or Mike Fisher.
There is evidence to suggest, that many of the fans do understand the complete insignificance of these matches, and that can clearly be seen by the large number of empty seats that have been paid for by season ticket holders. Why anybody would get upset at all, by anything in these games is beyond belief. In case there were still Leafs fans with pre-season anxiety disorder, Phil Kessel scored a power play goal with a two man advantage, and shortly after,Luca Caputi added a third goal for the Maple Leafs, also on the power play, to give them a 3-1 lead at 17:31 of the first period. The Kessel goal by the way, was also of the soft variety.
Hopefully the lesson learned for the few who don’t understand, is that exhibition hockey is just that , it’s an exhibition and nothing more. You have to be pretty foolish if as a fan, you take anything about it seriously. The name exhibition, is the perfect description of these types of games. Having said all of that, you were no doubt, dying to know, that the Maple Leafs won the nail biter of a game, by a 4-1 score.