Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Hartnell picked up a Gordie Howe hatrick, while the rest of the Flyers squad dominated the Maple Leafs in the physical department, as the Toronto Maple Leafs lost a hard fought contest to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night. Hartnell opened the scoring at the 14:38 mark of the first period giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead. seconds earlier Hartnell was taken down at the back of the net by Maple Leafs defenseman, but Hartnell fought his way to the front of the net where he potted his 26th goal of the season. Rewind to last weeks All-Star Game where Hartnell and Phaneuf had an interesting exchange. With many players wearing microphones for the duration of the All-Star Game the odd bout of questionable language was bound to be heard. That said, nobody was prepared for

There are a handful of teams that the opposition measures it’s success against, without question the Philadelphia Flyers are one of those teams. As good as the Toronto Maple Leafs have been over their past ten games (6-3-1), Thursday night’s tilt against the Flyers will be used as a measuring stick for the Buds. Should the Maple Leafs lose, it will reinforce what many pundits are thinking—that the Maple Leafs are a good team, but not capable of beating the elite teams, at least not consistently. The Maple Leafs currently sit seventh overall in the Eastern Conference standings. With the Boston Bruins occupying the second seed in the East that means the Buds would play the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs should the season end today. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the Blue

For those of you familiar with the Toronto Blue Jays organization you’ll remember a time when Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick was referred to as “stand pat” for his long standing refusal to make a move at the deadline, or at least refusing to make a deal of any consequence. To all the haters, Gillick always contested that he would make a splash on the trade market when the right opportunity came around and not before, which is exactly what Gillick did when he shipped Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff to the San Diego Padres in return for future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar and home run hitting World Series Hero Joe Carter. The New York Times called the deal “one of the most stunning trades in years”, and deservedly so. Of course McGriff and Fernandez failed to live

James Reimer and the Toronto Maple Leafs will hit the ice tonight to face Sam Gagner and the Edmonton Oilers. Reimer and Gagner represent the NHL’s third and first stars of the week, respectively, as both players had huge performances with Reimer (who is expected to get the nod between the pipes for the Maple Leafs tonight) earning back-to-back shutouts against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators, while Gagner pulled off an incredible eight-point game against the Chicago Blackhawks, followed by a three-point effort against the Detroit Red Wings. The Oilers enter tonight’s contest with a 4-0-1 record in their past five games, while the Maple Leafs have also gone 4-0-1 in that same five game stretch. With the Maple Leafs recent success the Blue and White have managed to put themselves into a playoff spot, occupying eighth in the

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have a couple of familiar faces in the lineup tonight when they face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Air Canada Center. Both Colby Armstrong and John-Michael Liles are expected to be in the lineup Wednesday night, which should give the Buds an element of grit in the form of Armstrong and a shot in the arm offensively in Liles. Armstrong has suffered through a number of injuries this season, limiting him to just nine games. Meanwhile, Liles will be coming back from a concussion that saw him miss five weeks of game action. To the Leafs’ credit, they have found a way to keep their offense and power play hot in the absence of Liles, but the team has sorely missed the physical game that Armstrong plays for most of the season. With