Official Bob Cole Division Round 2 Results: Trail Smoke Eaters Vs Toronto Mapleleafs

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 1: At the opening faceoff, Tim Horton nods at Lemieux, and with that little gesture, the marque match-up is established. Early one, Horton's legendary combination of mobility and strength is able to contain the Magnificent One. But, the defensive triad of Stevens, Lidstrom and Keon is able to contain the Lafleur/Mahovalich line. Fuhr proves to live up to his reputation and refuses to let in a goal that could be a winner. And eventually, after a bad Bertuzzi penalty, Tremblay scores the power play winner.

Trail wins 1-0

Game 2: The defensive match-ups continue, but cracks begin to form. Mario is able to set-up Bure for a goal and a smart pinch by Cameron gets Lafleur a goal. That's all the offense until overtime as the defensive match-ups continue to define the series. In overtime, once again, Fuhr proves more solid than Belfour. Backstrom scores the winner for Trail.

Trail wins 2-1 in overtime.

Game 3: The monster is unleashed. Mario finally solves Horton and it isn't pretty for Trail. 3 goals and assists on goals by Lidstrom, Recchi and Bure. Trail still can't solve the triad, and this is an ugly loss for trail.

Toronto wins 6-0

Game 4: Desperate to solve Lemieux, Tikkanen joins Horton in his war and makes a huge difference. Tikkanen's abbrassive style proves just enough of a distraction to give Horton an edge, but, not before Mario scores a pair. In an attempt to over come the triad, Irvin splits Mahovalich and Lafleur. The results are immediate, while the Big M could still be shut down, no combination of two could stop Lafleur who scores one and sets up Blake for another. Reforming the triad to stop Lafleur ends with Mahovalich scoring one and setting up Tocchet.

Trail wins 4-2

Game 5: Horton knuckles down against Mario and doesn't give an inch, putting on a defensive cliniche holds Mario to one assist on a Bure goal. Keon chips in another as the Leafs take a solid lead. A bad penalty by Bertuzzi give the Lafleur/Mahovalich connection a chance to refuel their regular season match-up as Lafleur gets a momentum goal. A late goal by Tikkanen sends it to overtime. A breakout pass by Horton to Lafleur, breakaway! Left...right...left, top shelf, LAFLEUR WINS IT!

Trail wins 3-2 in overtime.



Three Stars:
3rd: Guy Lafleur
2nd: Tim Horton
1st: Mario Lemieux



The Train Smoke Eaters have beaten the Toronto Mapleleafs four games to one.

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[God Bless Canada]

The Trail Smoke Eaters would like to thank the Toronto Maple Leafs for a wonderful series. We would like to thank Nalyd Psycho for his always entertaining, thorough and well-researched recaps. And we'd like to thank our fellow GMs for their support.

Obviously beating a draft icon like Leaf Lander is a terrific feat. We know that we haven't heard the end of the Leafs, and that he could very well win this thing in the next draft. But we have long believed that character, team concept, hard work and a winning attitude are the keys to successs in the post-season. And, I don't think it's coincidental that three of our wins were by one goal. We knew from the start that our team would be incredibly tough to beat in one-goal games.