Leafs leave rookie Pogge hanging in 5-0 loss

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Justin Pogge has not yet graduated from the minors. But like someone fresh out of college, the Toronto Maple Leafs rookie goaltender is in search of worldly experience.

In December, he travelled to Atlanta where he had an easy night against the league's second-worst team in his NHL debut. Last week, he hopped on a plane for Minnesota, where he was humbled by a team in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Wednesday night, the 22-year-old boarded a bus for Buffalo where he encountered his first openly hostile crowd and an even more hostile opponent.

Pogge faced 32 shots in a 5-0 loss against the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena, but the result was not as important as the experience. For the second straight time, his teammates left him to his own devices. But the youngster never stopped competing.

While Leafs coach Ron Wilson had told Pogge that he would be returned to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League Thursday regardless of his performance, the head coach was impressed by his goaltender's effort.

"Thank God for Justin Pogge," said Wilson, whose team managed just 16 shots.

"He had an outstanding game. He made a number of saves, or it could have been really ugly."

Though he was unable to stop the first shot he faced, Pogge looked more NHL-ready in his third career start. The problem was that his teammates played as though they were auditioning for roles in the minors.

The Sabres, who had just returned home from a six-game road trip, had every reason to be jet-lagged. Instead, it was the Leafs who appeared road-weary as they sleepwalked their way through their second game in two nights.

Toronto, which took nearly 11 minutes before registering a shot on net, managed only nine shots through the opening two periods. By then, the team had given up 24 shots and a 3-0 lead.

"We didn't show up for him," defenceman Jeff Finger said of the young netminder. "You don't want to say you feel bad for the kid, but you have to have a better effort for him."

Indeed, Pogge had no chance as the Leafs gave up countless odd-man rushes, second chances and point-blank scoring opportunities. On the Sabres' second goal, Drew Stafford undressed defenceman Mike Van Ryn with a gorgeous between-the-legs deke then picked the top corner on a partial breakaway. In the second period, no one accounted for Thomas Vanek, who swept in a rebound for the third goal. It's hard not to account for Vanek defensively, since he is now tied for second in the league in goals with 32, thanks to his hat trick. Tim Connolly also scored.

For Pogge, who had hardly been tested in a 6-1 win against the lowly Thrashers on Dec. 22, Wednesday night's game mirrored the 6-2 lopsided loss he suffered to the Wild.

"I didn't let in six goals this time, so I'm pretty happy about that," the six-foot-three netminder joked. "It wasn't too bad out there. It wasn't a bashing. It was a respectable score, I guess."

Pogge is able to laugh off the loss, because at least it did not happen in the American Hockey League. Sure, he has allowed 11 goals in his last two starts. But it has been a learning experience.

And if his three games in the NHL have taught him anything, it is that he wants to remain in the NHL.

"I'd rather be here than anywhere else," he said. "I'm happy to be here."

Drafted 90th overall in 2004, Pogge has been trying to prove he belongs in the NHL for the past two seasons. In 34 games with the Marlies, the Fort McMurray, Alta., native has a 16-14-4 record and a 2.63 goals-against average. He is now 1-2-0 with the Leafs.

Wilson has not said when - or how many times - Pogge will play this season.

But with six more back-to-back games remaining on the schedule, the Leafs should have ample opportunity to evaluate whether he might be capable of making the full-time jump to the NHL next season.

Gilmour: 'All-time Maple Leaf'

Rick Wamsley fancies himself a bit of an historian. Not on Civil War tactics. Or the Curse of the Kennedys. Or Italian Renaissance art.

His major lies in the legends, the lore, of hockey.

In the late fall of 1989, he and the Calgary Flames trooped into Moscow for the final stop of their behind-the-Iron-Curtain "Friendship Tour" for a game against the KLMpaced Soviet Red Army billed as the world club championship. Most of Wamsley's buddies were grumbling about the demands of a pre-training camp odyssey of such magnitude, weary of the mysterious food groups and nearly driven mad by the insistent scuttle of adventurous hotel-room roaches.

As the bus pulled up to the rink for practice, though, Rick Wamsley rushed into Luzhniki Arena, the scene of the most indelible, Where-Were-You? moment in Canadian sports, like a nun visiting the Vatican for the first time, and demanded to know from an understandably befuddled Soviet guard at which end Paul Henderson had scored that goal 17 years earlier.

Now, most hockey players don't get interested much beyond the official stats sheet and their bank balance (the two being incestuous bedfellows). If pressed, more of them than you'd imagine might confuse Howie Morenz with Howie Mandel.

But the game, its makers and its magic, matters to Wamsley.

He doesn't treat the past lightly, which makes him able to put the present into perspective.

"Oh, Dougie rates up there," he is saying from St. Louis, where he works as goaltending coach for the Blues.

"With Sittler and Armstrong and Keon and Horton and those guys. There've been a lot of fine players there over the past few decades, the Wendel Clarks and Rick Vaives. But Dougie, I think, goes above that.

"He's an all-time Maple Leaf, in my humble opinion."

The Toronto Maple Leafs tonight honour Doug Gilmour at Air Canada Centre by raising a banner in his honour, the 17th such tribute, linking him forever with Bower, Broda, Salming, Teeder Kennedy and Syl Apps, among others.

Here in Calgary, we think of Doug Gilmour as the final piece in Cliff Fletcher's magnificent Stanley Cup puzzle (imagine a 5,000 piecer from Ravensburger of a polar bear ambling along in an Arctic whiteout, and missing a single chunk of the border to complete it); the man whose two decisive goals drove a stake into the hearts of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 6 at the fabled Forum in the spring of '89.

He took his unique brand of tenacity to seven cities over 23 years, and celebrated his only championship as a Flame.

Still, Maple Leaf zealots think of him only as their own.

"When Cliff made the trade," reminds Wamsley, a component of the 10-player blockbuster that moved Gilmour east, along with Ric Nattress, Jamie Macoun and Kent Manderville, "they didn't have a Hakan Loob there. Or a Joey Mullen. Or a Joe Nieuwendyk. Or an Al MacInnis. They really didn't have much there at all. Oh, I guess there were some what you'd call solid 'pros' around. But that was the extent of it.

"In Calgary, he was a very good player in a team full of very good players -- the best player among the very good players, in my mind. But still just one of a group. In Toronto, be became the focal point. The go-to guy.

Luke Schenn's fight with Tyler Kennedy in the second period last night was a crowd pleaser, but the Leafs were far less enamoured with Kennedy's actions prior to the bout.

Toronto GM Brian Burke phoned NHL disciplinarians last night seeking a review of the incident at 9:36, which the Leafs feel was instigated by Kennedy.

"(Burke) called the league and they are investigating," Leafs coach Ron Wilson said after the Leafs' 5-4 win over Kennedy's Penguins.

"In my opinion, he (Kennedy) came off the bench and instigated the fight, so we'll see what the league's investigation finds."

Kennedy, the Leafs charge, left the bench to seek out Schenn after the Leafs rookie laid a thunderous hit on Penguins star and league-leading scorer Evgeni Malkin.

According to the Leafs, Kennedy also instigated the ensuing fight, which saw Schenn twice topple the Pittsburgh centre. Both acts, should the NHL decide in Toronto's favour, are punishable and could net Kennedy as much as a 10-game suspension.

"He (Kennedy) ended up scoring," Wilson said, referring to Kennedy's tying goal in the third period, one that, in the Leafs' view, should never have happened. "It's a tough situation for the referees, there were a lot of bodies on the ice."

Schenn and Kennedy were handed five-minute majors for fighting. No other penalties were handed out in relation to the incident.

"I was on my way to the (Leaf) bench but he kind of bumped into me ... and he said, `You can't treat our players like that,'" Schenn said. "One thing led to another and then we (were fighting)."

Neither Kennedy nor Malkin commented on the incident, and coach Michel Therrien ended his post-game press conference before addressing the matter. But the Penguins maintain Kennedy was on the ice as part of a line change.

The league rule book outlaws players entering the game (leaving the bench) and instigating a fight after a whistle stoppage or during live action. There is, however, an apparent grey area regarding such actions during a line change.

According to sources, the NHL is reviewing the incident.

If the league hands Kennedy a suspension, it will come either today or before the Penguins' next game, Feb.3 in Montreal.

Leafs' Gilmour Guys reminisce about younger years

It's Doug Gilmour's night at the Air Canada Centre, and - judging by this conversation - it's a pretty big night for a couple of Maple Leafs, too. John Mitchell was being asked about how he felt about the Leafs fêting Gilmour - his favourite player - by raising No. 93's jersey to the rafters tonight when Jeremy Williams interrupted:

Williams: He can't be your favourite player, he's my favourite player.

Mitchell: He's your favourite player too?

Williams: It was either Doug Gilmour or Mario Lemieux.

Mitchell: Did you wear Doug Gilmour's number in minor hockey?

Williams: I wore it in Triple A.

Mitchell: So did I.

Williams: When I was on Team Saskatchewan I wore No. 93. (Williams explained he usually couldn't get the number on his club team.) I lived in a small town and you couldn't pick your number. They just gave you a ratty jersey from 10 years before.

Mitchell: When I played in Hamilton in Triple A, for four years I wore 93. Ninety-three, tucked the jersey in the side. Used the Titan stick. I was a big fan, big supporter.

Williams: Big geek.

Mitchell: No. I was a kid.

Williams: Sure. Dweeb.

Mitchell: I was a kid who idolized his favourite player. What's wrong with that?

Williams: You got picked on.

Mitchell: No, I didn't. I was looked up to, because I wore No.93.

(He now wears No. 39.)

What former teammates say

There might be no better way to measure Doug Gilmour's impact on the Toronto Maple Leafs than by having a conversation with one of his former teammates. While others debate where No. 93 fits on a list of the franchise's all-time performers, the men who played alongside him think he should be right near the top.

Former linemate Dave Andreychuk:

"I've played with bigger players and maybe more talented players, but to me this is a guy that did everything he could to make the team win and to make people around him better. There was nobody better at that, that I've ever played with. I think it's a deserving honour after what he's done for that organization. Those years he was there, he put them to the next level. He provided the excitement for the fans, for us as players, to watch him every day. Why shouldn't they? I see no reason why they shouldn't and I see thousands of reasons why they should."

Wendel Clark, who says Gilmour might have been the NHL's top player shortly after arriving via trade midway through the 1991-92 season:

"I don't know if there was anybody better playing in the game at that time. Those two years he was unbelievable offensively, defensively, the tenacity, everything. All facets of the game. He played with real emotion."

Mike Kitchen, the Leafs' assistant coach at the time of the 10-player trade that brought Gilmour to the Leafs from Calgary:

"The trade gave us an identity. He was terrific in his own end. He would position himself in such a way where he could pick off a lot of passes. By doing that, he was able to get the puck - and who would you rather have the puck?"

Former Leafs forward Mike Foligno:

"He was part of a couple of teams before in St. Louis and Calgary where he wasn't really recognized as being one of the go-to guys and the leaders. When he came to Toronto, I think it was his opportunity to put his stamp on that team for a couple years."

Leafs' Schenn shows off his Killer instinct

On a night when the Maple Leafs feted Doug (Killer) Gilmour and in a season when Wendel Clark was accorded the same honour, it was not difficult to imagine rookie Luke Schenn one day earning fan adoration similar to what those Toronto icons enjoyed here.

Perhaps he'll even follow in their skate strides as the eventual captain in Toronto.

No one is yet reserving a spot in the grey girders of the Air Canada Centre for the defenceman, nor sewing a "C" on his sweater, but he continues to show poise, leadership and grit - the kind of heart to which Toronto fans always respond - beyond what you'd expect from a 19-year-old.

In a 5-4 win over Pittsburgh last night, Schenn laid a thunderous, momentum-grabbing hit on Evgeni Malkin, defended himself in a subsequent fight and made an impressive dash in from the blue line to set up a key goal.

It was more than 23 minutes of dominant, the-future-is-now hockey from what one radio voice called "The Human Eraser" as Schenn was matched up against the NHL's two top scorers in Malkin and Sidney Crosby most of the game.

"I thought in the second and third period, he ended up being the difference in the game," said coach Ron Wilson.

"The play he made put us ahead again, the hit, the fight, just the overall physicality ... for a 19-year-old kid to dominate a game physically like that was unbelievable."

The fans in this city tend to get ahead of themselves, always yearning for the next name to chant as they did when "Luuuuuuke" skated out as the game's first star. The media too is often anxious to anoint the next big star. Whatever happened to Eric Fichaud and Alexei Kudashov anyway?

But Schenn, at a time when many rookies taper off, is coming of age and his teammates are openly touting his leadership capabilities. Heady stuff for the prairie kid with an awe-shucks attitude.

"He definitely doesn't play like a rookie at all," said frequent blueline partner Mike Van Ryn. "Something you guys don't even know is how vocal he is in the room. He's definitely got the makings of a leader, he's got the makings of a future captain. He definitely does."

On the ice, it was Schenn's actions that spoke the loudest as the Leafs dispatched the Penguins to earn their second win in a row. He absolutely hammered Malkin midway through the second, almost putting him through the boards into the Pittsburgh bench.

Tyler Kennedy came off the bench on a supposed line change and challenged Schenn - a move that the league is reviewing for potential supplemental discipline.

"He pretty much said, `You don't touch our players like that,'" recounted Schenn. "One thing led to another and we just kind of dropped the mitts. Sometimes it needs to be done. I don't go looking for it but if the opportunity presents itself like it did there, you don't want to back down."

Early in the third, Schenn made a smart play carrying the puck down from the blue line and driving the net. The rebound popped out to Matt Stajan for a key goal that made it 4-2 for the Leafs.

Schenn says his NHL initiation has been "a big learning curve" but his confidence is blossoming.

And that's left the sense among his teammates that, as good as Schenn was last night, it's only a hint of what he is going to become.

"I'm not going to say he's been a big surprise but he's been awesome back there. He does it all," said teammate Jason Blake, who potted the winner in the third after Pittsburgh rallied to knot the game up.

Kaberle trade isn't top priority for salary cap-strapped Burke

Really, this broken hand doesn't change a whole lot. At least, it doesn't dramatically change Tomas Kaberle's future in a Maple Leaf uniform, which is yet to be decided.

Kaberle's fractured right mitt, of course, does alter the state of the Leaf roster significantly in the short term. Last night, for example, it left the club without a single left-handed shooting defenceman in an entertaining outing against Pittsburgh as the club shot the lights out for a second straight game, winning 5-4 while reverting to their gunslinger personality of the fall for the second straight game, again on a night when Vesa Toskala was rather shaky.

Going without Kaberle will mean more playing time in different situations for others, and Luke Schenn seemed to be the first to respond last night. The Kid from Saskatoon was the best player on either team last night, decking Evgeni Malkin with a thundering check partway through the middle period and later making a terrific play to set up a third-period goal by Matt Stajan.

Maybe the Leafs will be better, maybe they'll be worse. But it's the trade possibilities involving Kaberle that are really of interest, not the Leafs' win-loss record without him for the next few weeks, right?

GM Brian Burke, you should know, hasn't necessarily been that hot to trot on trading Kaberle all along, although he certainly can't have been thrilled with the veteran blueliner's play, either. Let's face it, Kaberle's been okay this season, but just okay, not surprising for a talented defender who has watched the team around him deteriorate steadily over the last four years.

However, Kaberle's not exactly a greybeard at 30 years of age, and his contract is more than acceptable, with two more seasons left at $4.25 million (all figures U.S.) per. So there are certainly reasons to keep him, and he'll be just as valuable a poker chip this time next year.

Still, other teams surely covet him. The Penguins, currently sitting outside the playoffs, have no idea whether Sergei Gonchar, who has just started practising again after serious shoulder surgery, will return at anywhere near full strength this season.

The teams that like Kaberle know what he can do, and they know he'll be back in three to four weeks. The trade deadline is March 4, but even if Kaberle isn't back by then, there would certainly be teams interested in acquiring his rights, with lots of time left before the post-season begins.

Burke, then, would still move Kaberle before the deadline if a team knocks his socks off with a deal. That means a first-round pick and a top prospect.

But if the Leafs can't get it for the Czech now, why not hang on to him?

It's a different situation for Nik Antropov, who's an unrestricted free agent at season's end. The good news for Burke is that Antropov has scored in two straight games now, and Alexei Ponikarovsky scored last night as well. Geez, with Jason Blake now looking like he's headed for a 30-goal season, he might also suddenly be more attractive to other clubs, and his contract ($4.5 million next year, then $3 million for each of two more) doesn't look so ugly.

Interestingly, last night was Doug Gilmour Night, an evening to replay his famous goal against Curtis Joseph in the '93 playoffs and other career highlights. Eleven years ago, of course, Gilmour was also a key figure in one of the better trade-deadline deals the Leafs ever made, with GM Cliff Fletcher moving the centre and rearguard Dave Ellett to New Jersey on Feb. 25, 1997 for youngsters Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan and Alyn McCauley.

That's the kind of transaction Burke would like to make now, much more difficult to do, of course, in a salary-cap world. If he can do it with Kaberle, he'll still do it, broken hand or not.

Leafs pluck Penguins with youthful exuberance

That is how most opposing defencemen view trying to stop Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. The Pittsburgh Penguins forwards are the two top scorers in the National Hockey League, with 75 and 68 points, respectively.

So when Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson told Luke Schenn that he would be matching up against the offensive snipers, no one would have blamed the rookie if he chose to fake an illness or injury.

Not Schenn.

As he has done so many times already in his young NHL career, the teenager rose to the challenge and had what may have been the best games in a 5-4 win against the Penguins on Saturday.

"How many teams would assign a 19-year-old to cover basically the two best forwards in the game?" Wilson asked in his post-game news conference. "He ended up being the difference in the game."

Indeed, Schenn was named the game's first star.

The bruising defenceman had five hits - including one where he nearly sent Malkin into the Penguins' bench - showed offensive flair by setting-up a goal, and earned the sold-out crowd's admiration by winning a fight against the much-smaller Tyler Kennedy.

Most importantly, he finished the game with an even plus-minus rating.

"The play he made that put us ahead again, obviously the hit, the fight, just the overall physicality," said Wilson. "For a 19-year-old kid to dominate the game physically is unbelievable."

For Schenn, it was just another building block in what has been a breakout rookie season.

"They gave me the opportunity to play against Crosby and Malkin," said Schenn. "You always look forward to challenges like that. You want to step up and at the end of the night you want to say that you did a good job. So I looked forward to this game from the start."

The win, which was Toronto's second consecutive, snapped a four-game losing streak at Air Canada Centre.

From the start, the Leafs seemed more energized than the Penguins. Perhaps it was because Pittsburgh had lost 4-3 in overtime to the New Jersey Devils the night before. Or maybe it was because prior to Saturday's game, the franchise honoured past captain Doug Gilmour by raising his No. 93 to the rafters.

The teams were tied 1-1 - Ian White scored for Toronto and Miroslav Satan for Pittsburgh - after the first period. But in the second, Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky put the Leafs ahead 3-1.

It was midway through the middle frame when Schenn caught the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Malkin with his head down. Shortly after the hit, a scrum developed in front of the Penguins' bench. That was when Tyler Kennedy jumped onto the ice and challenged Schenn to a fight.

"I was on my way to the bench and he bumped me and said pretty much, 'you don't touch our players like that,' " Schenn recalled. "One thing led to another and we dropped out mitts."

What bothered Wilson was that Kennedy left the bench to instigate the fight.

According to the NHL rules, that is cause for a game-misconduct penalty. Instead, Kennedy was allowed to stay in the game, and ended up scoring in the third.

"We'll see what their investigation shows," said Wilson. "He ended up scoring, but it's a tough situation for the referees when everybody is going by the bench. But (general manager Brian Burke) called the league and they're investigating."

Crosby and Malkin, as well as Toronto's Matt Stajan, scored in the third. With the game tied 4-4, Jason Blake ripped a wrist shot past goaltender Mathieu Garon for his team-leading 17th of the season.