Legion 0-9-1 in last ten, looking to change it around.

[Peace 1,532]

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- A nightmare would be too timid to explain the horrors the Toronto Legion are experiencing, and that's putting it relatively politely, as the Legion fell to 0-9-1 after their most recent defeat against the top team in the conference. The situation is pretty bleak, but there is still hope within the Legions' unusually silent locker room. It's only a small glimmer, but being one point up over the Vancouver Wolves gives them an opportunity to correct themselves and recover from this inane free fall. 

Someone has to pull the cord -- be the hero the club desperately needs. 

Whether it's a Hextall, a Magnum, a Lethinen Jr, a McDagg, Killinger -- the list goes on. 

 

For now though let's look at a recap of these ten losses.

 

 

HSK 2, TOR 1; 0-1-0

 

Toronto was competitive this game, but it honestly boiled down to a goalie battle between Hextall and Johnson. Both goaltenders performed superbly, so the only true negative for both clubs would be the undisciplined play. Once again -- despite warnings from his general manager -- Erik Killinger finds himself in the box with three minor penalties for six total PIMs and that is completely unacceptable for a team just entering what they were hoping was a small slide. 

McDagg scored the lone Toronto goal, also the first goal of the game, assisted by Erik Killinger and Fredrik Elmebeck. 


 

PRA 7, TOR 5; 0-2-0

Perhaps the Toronto Legion have warn out Jaxx Hextall -- it should have been expected after he carried the team to a flying start earlier this season. Unfortunately for the young promising goaltender, the Toronto Legions crash back into an unkind reality has hurt him the most. Beyond the disappointment irradiating from the entire Legion roster at the conclusion of this game, it was an offensive display and fans certainly got their money worth even if their favorite team didn't win. 

Down 3-0 in the first period, Toronto stormed back to tie the game 3-3 in just over four minutes from goals by Teemu Lehtinen Jr, Gabriel Gutzwiler and Chad Magnum. Unfortunately for the surging Legion, the Phantoms would score twice in less than ten seconds to end the first period up 5-3. They proceeded to pull ahead 7-3 early in the second, before goals from Kristopher McDagg and Anthony Matthew made it 7-5. 

TOR G relieved Hextall in the first period. 
 

 

 

NYA 5, TOR 2; 0-3-0

What seemed like a great hockey game until 3:16 in the third period, the Toronto Legion remained fairly competitive against the team just ahead of them in the conference. Both teams had similar shot totals, effective penalty kill, but the Legions' defensive efforts were simply overwhelmed by the third period. Hextall recovered from his rough night against Prague, he was amazing at certain points in this hockey game, but with an overwhelmed Legion defense being cycled by an aggressive New York team it was just too much. 

Bjorn Scoringsonn and Kristopher McDagg scored the two goals for Toronto, putting them up 1-0 in the first period and tying the game 2-2 near the quarter mark of the second frame. 

 

 

 

DCD 5, TOR 4; 0-4-0

Had the Legion started Hextall from the start, you could reasonably argue this would have been a 4-0 victory for the Toronto Legion instead. TOR G -- the Legions' often venerable backup goaltender -- simply let the team down after letting in a trio of weak shots by the Dragons. While it is true they were pressing hard, most of the shots against the Legion were either straight misses, deflections on net from outside scoring zones, or a redirection from fortuitous bounces off the back boards.

The Legion drew within one after battling back from that 3-0 deficit when Bjorn Scoringsonn and Teemu Lehtinen Jr scored roughly a minute apart to bring them within striking distance of tying the game. Unfortunately TOR G would let another in, so the Legion were chasing to start the second period. Kristopher McDagg would draw them back within one, but the Dragons would score again, resulting in TOR G being yanked from his start. McDagg would score another, but Toronto would never tie the game. 

 

 

 

MAL 5, TOR 2; 0-5-0

Hextall wasn't the issue in this game, and that's without a doubt in my mind, apparently the Legion came across a hot backup goaltender too... what was the issue was the Legions' inability to solve a backup goaltender while going oh-for-three on the power play. It should be noted here that Toronto still had a healthy point lead over the Vancouver Wolves at this point in the slide, but that lead -- as you now know -- would quickly disappear under the Wolves individual victories during the still ongoing collapse of the Toronto Legion. 

Gabriel Gutzwiler and Anthony Matthews would both score for the Toronto Legion in the second period, but they trailed 2-1 and 3-2 at those points, and never truly regained composure after a 2-0 deficit after the first twenty minutes. 

 

 

 

MOS 3, TOR 0; 0-6-0

In all fairness this was a solid game from Moscow. TOR G played fantastic... surprisingly... and limited the Toronto Legion from building any offensive pressure. There's really nothing more to say CGabout this game, the Legion didn't play terribly, it was just a solid offensive and defensive effort from the Menace.
 

 

 

SEA 3, TOR 2 (SO); 0-6-1

How fitting would it have been for Toronto to end their slide against Seattle? It would have been monumental I reckon, considering the bleeding was just getting worse and the Wolves were creeping up on their playoff position. The game itself though was neck and neck, hence why it needed a skills competition to solve it, where Seattle's Rayz Funk denied all three Legion shooters in the shootout to secure the win for his club. 

Bjorn Scoringsonn and Anthony Matthews -- two names we're seeing quite frequently on this partial breakdown -- scored to tie and take a 2-1 lead in the second period. 

 

 

 

NYA 2, TOR 1; 0-7-1

Honestly this is where Toronto should have come up with a victory, but a remarkable performance from Guy made it difficult for the Legion to secure any goals. Erik Killinger would score in the third period (eventually) but it just wasn't enough, despite Matthews, Scoringsonn and Magnum all recording plenty of shots and creating numerous scoring opportunities. This is the game where a beacon of light exists in what is surely near perpetual darkness. 

Hextall played fantastic, too, and denied every NYA opportunity in the second and third periods where his play strengthened Toronto's attempt at tying the game.  

 

 

 

DAV 6, TOR 5; 0-8-1

If you extrapolated that this game was a back and forth affair based on the score... well you'd be correct. Both clubs exchanged leads, ties, runs and more. Toronto tossed nearly fifty pucks on net, and were honestly rewarded fairly often. Leon Gutzwiler scored the first goal of the game to bring the Legion ahead 1-0, while Fredrik Elmebeck would tie it up 2-2 about six and a half minutes into the second period. Gabriel Gutzwiler and Anthony Matthews would score back to back to bring the Legion back into the hockey game 5-4, and Erik Killinger would score early in the third to keep them within one with a 6-5 DAV lead. Unfortunately that's all she wrote, and the Dynamo skated off with a W. 

 

 

 

CGY 5, TOR 1; 0-9-1

Another game where you have to consider starting Hextall over TOR G could have netted better results, but the truth is we'll never actually know, even if we could replay the game in its entirety. The variables would never match again, but TOR G couldn't keep it together and was yanked at the tail end of the third period. Toronto's offense, however, was creating opportunities but ran into determined Lafontaine who denied 31 of 32 shots against him. 



So now we are here. 

Toronto leads Vancouver with a single point. 

New lines have been submitted and the team is eager to get back on the right track. 

We hope they do. 

[Jubis 1,348]

6 hours ago, Peace said:

McDagg scored the lone Toronto goal, also the first goal of the game, assisted by Erik Killinger and Fredrik Elmebeck. 


 

 

Well this sure brings back September  2019 feels. 

 

GOAL by my first linemate, assisted by my first GM's player , assisted by my first AGM's player

[Victor 10,940]

Pro tip: trade your best players to Davos

[Peace 1,532]

While there are so many great things to write about the current 2-2 series between TOR and CGY... I'm just going to put in my second claim.