The Fifth Liners

Ever since long time star, Jarome Iginla packed his bags and said goodbye to the circus, fans of the Calgary Flames have endured a bleak season in Alberta. Last season was truly one to forget because aside from surprising yet massively amusing line brawl that broke out against Vancouver, they finished only 6th in the Pacific Division with a depressingly low goal total of 209 and a whopping 241 goals against! Along with the retirement of hero goalie Miikka Kiprusoff , the atmosphere at the Canadian Tire Centre had turned barren and many experts wrote the Flames off as a lost cause. But in this off season, a few key acquisitions have paved the way for a possibly brighter 2014-15 season. The first step was drafting young star centre Sam Bennett fourth overall at the 2014 Draft. Touted by many as 1st overall pick, Bennett surprisingly was passed over by Florida in favour of defense-man Aaron Ekblad . Although he may have been disappointed at being denied this distinction, the Flames h...

Last night whilst sat high up in the stands of the Air Canada Center in Toronto, I was witness to an offensive feast as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Islanders 5-2 in an entertaining game. The Leafs got off to a flying start when Trevor Smith beat Isles goalie Kevin Poulin after only 22 seconds played after great work by 1st star Joffrey Lupul The score remain this way for the rest of the period remainder but Jonathan Bernier was forced to make several impressive saves in net for Toronto! Mid way through the second period, Phil Kessel put the Leafs 2-0 up before Casey Cizikas gave the Isles a lifeline with 11.5 seconds left. Mason Raymond put Toronto firmly in charge after scoring a rebound early in the third period before a first leafs goal for David Clarkson pushed them 4-1 ahead! Frans Nielsen briefly gave New York hope with a goal late in the third before Kessel scored his second with 2.43 remaining. Bernier made 35 saves in net in an impressive performance but ...

NHL 2013/14 is under way and last night the Toronto Maple Leafs kicked off their season with an exciting 4-3 win over fierce rivals the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Center. In an action packed first period, James Van Reimsdyck put the Leafs in front after 8 minutes with a skillful wrist shot, but Eller soon scored for the Canadiens to bring us a tie game. Brendan Gallagher then scored to put the Quebec side 2-1 ahead before the end of the first period! In the second period, despite some great offensive awareness by Montreal, a first star performance by Leafs goalie James Reimer kept them at bay as Toronto levelled the scores at 2-2 with a goal from captain Dion Phaneuf and three minutes before the end, Tyler Bozak scored a wrist shot to put the Maple Leafs 3-2 ahead and leave the home supporters fuming! Things got worse for Montreal in the third period as a debut goal from Mason Raymond gave them a two goal cushion and despite Eller scoring again late in the period- it ...

Mason Raymond has reportedly signed a one year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs after a successful trail period. Raymond has lead the team in scoring pre season with 4 points in three games. After spending the last six years with the Vancouver Canucks, Raymond has accumalated over 80 goals and 178 points in 374 regular season games and was part of the Vancouver squad that made the 2011 Stanley Cup final! Mason- we wish you all the best- hope to see you in Toronto this November!