Leclaire, Sens armed, ready for Battle of Ontario

[IE]

While Pascal Leclaire got his first glimpse of the Battle of Ontario from afar last season, he?s ready to step onto the battlefield for real tonight ? on enemy ice.

With the Maple Leafs and Senators both looking for win No. 1 of the young season, it?s likely tonight?s game will feature plenty of intensity.

The Senators won?t confirm their starting goalie until today, but it?s for games like this that GM Bryan Murray dealt for Leclaire. He has only faced the Leafs twice in his career and has a 3.56 goals-against average, with a .865 save percentage.

?I?m looking forward to it. I was here last year when (the Leafs) came (to Ottawa) and the atmosphere in the rink was really special. It was pretty loud,? said Leclaire, who made 29 stops in a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

?I remember watching those games on television when I was younger and I know there?s going to be a lot of hype around them. It?ll be fun. We?re ready. We?ve had two good days of practice and we?re really looking forward to it. Nothing (he faced in Columbus) can compare to what?s going on here. You just have to find a way to win.?

The Senators also need to find a way to get to the net and make sure they put pressure on either Vesa Toskala or Jonas ?The Monster? Gustavsson in the Toronto net. Coach Cory Clouston is forced to make changes with centre Ryan Shannon sidelined with a head injury.

Clouston was pleased with the chances the Senators created against the Rangers, but they need to finish on those opportunities.

?We need to crash the net and make it a little more difficult for the goaltender,? said Clouston. ?We?ve just got to be a little more poised, a little more patient and make the goaltenders that we?re facing work a little harder. It?s still very early in the season. (Scoring is) not a concern.?

Clouston will stick with the line combinations he used Sunday in practice. Mike Fisher moves from the right wing back to centre with Nick Foligno and Alexei Kovalev. The top line of Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson hasn?t changed.

?I don?t think there?s any need to be concerned (about the scoring),? said Fisher. ?We know we?ve added some guys that are going to help us in that department by scoring. We had a lot of chances in Game 1 and obviously (Rangers? Henrik) Lundqvist is a very good goaltender.

?If we do some of those things (they did against the Rangers) and continue to build, we?ll be fine. We know (the Leafs) are going to play hard and come at us. In their building, it?s always fun. We?re going to be ready. We?re going to be disciplined and stick to our game plan.?

 

[IE]

Turning Over Leafs



Toronto is winless in its first two games and is coming off a 6-4 loss to the Capitals in Washington ... Coach Ron Wilson still hasn't said who will start in goal tonight. It's expected G Jonas Gustavsson will make his first NHL start ... With C Wayne Primeau hurting, the Leafs changed their lines yesterday at practice. If Primeau can't play, he'll likely be replaced by F Nikolai Kumelin.

NO CONCERNS

Senators coach Cory Clouston said it doesn't matter if Gustavsson or the struggling Vesa Toskala starts in goal. "Our game plan shouldn't change because of who we're playing," said Clouston. "Some guys have certain tendencies and strengths and weaknesses, but the plan still has to be to get more traffic in front (of the net). We need more second and third opportunities. We have to get the goaltender moving more east-west and get them to open up."

TIDBITS

Ottawa RW Shean Donovan will replace injured C Ryan Shannon. Donovan was a healthy scratch in the opener ... D Matt Carkner, D Erik Karlsson and C Peter Regin will face the Leafs for the first time.

INJURIES

Senators: C Jesse Winchester (knee), two weeks; C Ryan Shannon (head), day-to-day. Leafs: C Wayne Primeau (undisclosed), day-to-day; D Mike Van Ryn (knee), out; RW Phil Kessel (shoulder), early December.

 

[IE]

Tradition says it's Gustavsson tonight


Ron Wilson constructs guessing game about which goaltender will start against Senators


Swedish rookie goaltender Jonas Gustavvson came off the ice at Air Canada Centre ahead of Vesa Toskala after the warm-up skate -- almost a sure sign that he'll get the nod vs. the Ottawa Senators.

The mystery of who will start in net for the Maple Leafs Tuesday night appeared to be solved during the team's morning practice.

Here's what we learned about Jonas Gustavsson on Monday: He bought some of the furniture for his downtown apartment at IKEA and assembled it himself.

"Not maybe the most fancy," the Maple Leafs' rookie netminder said. "But it's enough for me and it's a good price." He recently failed the written part of his Ontario driver's test. The 24-year-old assumed the rules of the road would be universal, but no. Swedes are much stricter about drinking and driving than we are, for example.

He also misses a type of caviar from back home ? "Not the Russian kind" ? but was very pleased to find it at IKEA. Utilitarian furniture and caviar under one roof. That's Swedish ingenuity for you.

On Monday coach Ron Wilson delighted in not revealing whether Gustavvson or presumed No. 1 netminder Vesa Toskala would start Tuesday night.

"You'll just have to come to the game and see who comes out of the tunnel first," he said. You don't need an Allen key to assemble the reasons why this has become a hot debate. All it took was 10 goals against in two games against a rebuilt Leafs defence to get Toronto fans in a lather.

Toskala was mediocre in starting both those outings ? as his abysmal .800 save percentage would attest ? and was yanked after giving up three goals in the first period at Washington on Saturday.

Gustavsson, although still something of a mystery, was hyped on signing as the best goalie not in the NHL. Then he had a good pre-season, other than that little heart surgery whatsit, shutting out the Red Wings over three periods in two games. He then looked respectable in relief of Toskala on Saturday, though Gustavsson's save percentage is only a modest .842.

"We don't question anything about what Vesa's done. We're just going to put in the guy that's playing best at the moment," Wilson said.

Aha! Gustavsson must be getting the nod.

"It's just a matter of getting Vesa comfortable again and I'm confident he's going to get the job done," Wilson continued.

Aha! That must mean Toskala is starting.

So mixed were the messages from Wilson that two veteran Leafs beat reporters left his media scrum and posted contrary stories on their websites. One wrote Wilson was leaning toward starting Toskala, the other's post said the coach was favouring a Gustavsson start.

Wilson certainly defended Toskala, saying the criticism aimed at the veteran is "grossly unfair" and noted all netminders have "struggles" but in Toronto they have to fix their game under "not a microscope (but) an electron microscope."

"It's so unfair just to point fingers at the goalie when other guys were getting beat up the ice. The goalie didn't yell at someone to fall down or make a bad decision so you're facing a 3-on-1," the coach said.

"We've got some defencemen who played like peewee hockey players, but they're not under the microscope the way our goaltending is. I'm not here blaming the goalies. We have to play much better in front of him."

Toskala said he still feels confident and would like to play every game if it was his decision. Gustavsson said he is ready to go if he gets the call.

Here's another thing we learned about the young goalie:

Last season, he sat out the first two games for Farjestads in the Swedish Elite League. He then went in for Game 3 and that was pretty much the last anyone heard of that team's No. 1 goaltender, Reinhard Divis.

Said Gustavsson: "I played about 95 per cent of the games after that."

 

[IE]

For Maple Leafs, it's home-ice disadvantage

Full house that greets the Leafs at each of their home games may not necessarily be a good thing


Home-ice advantage is an elusive temptress.

Her moods remain a mystery even to those who study her closest.

What we know about the psychology of athletic performance on home terrain is frustratingly vague: A familiar, supportive environment can propel soaring athletic overachievement. But hidden in that allure is the threat of stifling pressure that weighs down the legs and diminishes the spirit, sports psychologists say.

Since the 2005-06 post-lockout season, the Maple Leafs have sat on the wrong side of that equation, ranking 22nd in home-ice winning percentage (49.4 per cent), according to win/loss data compiled by the Star.

Last year, the team was next-to-last in the league (ahead of only Tampa Bay) with a lowly 39 per cent at-home winning percentage.

It's a long way from the far more triumphant environs of Detroit, Calgary and even Nashville, where the home team rises to victory more than 65 per cent of the time.

"(Toronto) is a tough place to play," said former Leaf Wade Belak, now with the Nashville Predators. "Especially if you're not playing well, there's the pressure of, `Oh God, if I mess up they're going to be talking about it in the paper all week and I'll get booed off the ice.'

"Down here, you can just worry about playing and not what people are saying about you."

Compared to the relentlessness of Toronto's daily media crush, Predator players have the low-profile luxury of dealing with one or two beat reporters.

And Belak has had only two autograph requests since he arrived in Tennessee, he said.

"Some guys just shy away (from playing in Toronto) and the only reason why you see guys grossly overpaid to go to Toronto is because that's what it takes to get them to go there," he said.

Not so fast, said Cliff Fletcher, former Maple Leafs general manager and current club advisor.

"(High-pressure hockey markets like Toronto) bring out the best in a large majority of players," said Fletcher, who also ran the Atlanta Flames and Phoenix Coyotes. "But you need discipline. When things aren't going well, it's magnified. And when it is going well, it's magnified."

Jason Blake, who has seen his fair share of Toronto-style hockey fanaticism, said it was a tough adjustment coming from the Los Angeles Kings and New York Islanders.

"It's easy to get caught up in it and that has a tendency to make things worse," he said. "I tell the young guys, `Don't read the papers or watch TSN.'"

Leafs coach Ron Wilson, asked about the current pressure on goalie Vesa Toskala yesterday, used the "electron microscope" metaphor.

"It's hard to feel good about yourself when you're always being questioned," he said.

Speaking to reporters, he said players, in Toronto and Montreal in particular, must deal with "all you guys looking for an angle."

Statistically, home advantage in professional sports ? including hockey, baseball, football and basketball ? generally sits between 55 and 60 per cent.

But there's little understanding about why that is.

One academic study on the subject concluded "home advantage remains one of the least understood phenomena in sport."

One thing is clear: hockey home advantage is about far more than getting the last line change, say experts and players.

"The mystique of a building and the fan base can be an X-factor that can serve as the tipping point," said Dr. Cory Bank, a Philadelphia sports psychologist.

On the flip side, academics agree that high-pressure hockey towns, where media scrutiny is intense, can also have a backlash effect.

"Kids can't handle it," said Jim Fannin, a Chicago-based mental performance coach who has worked with dozens of high-profile athletes, including former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado and New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez.

"Environment is an influencer, no question."

In psychological parlance, "reciprocal determinism" explains the theory of home advantage: Playing before boisterous fans can inspire athletes to new heights, in turn, triggering a growing crescendo of fan adoration, thus continuing the cycle.

Except, when it doesn't.

Teams and players in a slump can inspire home-town contempt, which creates a vicious downward cycle of its own.

Some NHL clubs have shown a strong preference for home ice.

Most notably, Calgary has played 23 per cent better at home over the last five years.

Flames veteran Craig Conroy attributes that domestic success to a fanatical fan base that paints the stands a sea of red each game.

But he also said there's an advantage to holding practices at the Saddledome.

"I think being there and always practising there and working out there, you start to get to get in sync with the whole building. You learn every bounce. When I was in L.A., we never practised there and it didn't even feel like our home rink."

Many NHL clubs, including the Leafs, have separate practice rinks.

There's another theory behind Calgary's home success, said Ken King, Flames president and chief executive officer.

"We play at a very high altitude (1,048 metres) and train at a high altitude.

"You might ponder the notion as to whether or not some cities are more difficult to play in."

Dialing back the intensity can liberate many athletes to perform at a higher level, said Garret Kramer, a behavioural coach and former collegiate hockey player who works with NHL players including the Devils' Zach Parise.

"In Toronto, where the scrutiny is incredible, these factors do have the ability to regulate performance. When your state of mind is off, you will never make the right decisions," he said.