Hockey is a funny game.
A few nights ago, the Leafs laid a beating on one of the Eastern Conferences best teams.
On Sunday, it looked like the Flames would never win again.
One game later and everything gets reversed, with Calgary beating the proverbial tar out of the Passion That Unites us all. Yes...the tar. Pay no attention to the score - it flatters the Leafs. The bounces favored Toronto in this one, which is why it didn't end up 6-1.
What's perhaps more significant is: I almost universally agreed with everything Keenan did last night. He ditched the ridiculous Conroy/Iginla coupling, shuffled up the match-ups and dropped Pardy into the third pairing.
Imagine my surprise when Boyd started the game with Jarome -- and remained there (it helped that he scored a couple of goals)! I was doubly surprised when Pardy, who started the night with Phaneuf, was moved to the third pairing after it was clear he was probably going to struggle against anyone besides the lesser lights.
Hallelujah!
With Iginla playing with "third line" guys like Boyd and Glencross, I was curious to see how the match-ups would end up. No way Keenan plays Iggy against the big boys with that configuration...
Iginla line v. Grabovski, Hagman, Kulemin
Conroy line v. nobodies (Steen, Mayers, Tlusty)
Langkow line v. Antropov (Ponikarovski, Stajan)
In case you're wondering who the "first line" is for the Leafs, I think its Antropov and co. Although the Hagman combination might be right behind them. Course, a case could be made that the Leafs have no heavy hitters...
It might be surprising to see Langkow taking shifts against the Leafs top line, given Keenan's past proclivities, but it shouldn't be - Lanks has very quietly been one of the Flames more consistent top 6 fowards at ES this year. And we all know by now that Keenan rates Bourque highly. Bertuzzi is still a liability, but when the opposition is Antropov and parts, that becomes less of a concern.
Will Boyd stick with Iginla? I doubt it. This was a home game, Cammalleri and Lombardi were out and the opposition was relatively soft: it made for a perfect storm for Boyd to get a shot. And, while I liked how they performed, it's not like they beat Hagman's head in: Iggy et al actually had some pretty nominal corsi figures. In other rinks, against better lines, things probably wouldn't go so well.
Still, it did my heart good to see these kinds of adjustments by Keenan. Conroy moved down and played against the lesser lights (as he should) and finally didn't look like a headless chicken. Boyd got some generous ice time. Giordano moved up with Phaneuf and that tandem caused havoc at the good end of the rink.
Good stuff. How much of it will translate over to the next game against the dreaded Sharks is another matter though...
