Plenty To Like In Leafs Loss Against Sharks

You gotta be impressed.

Coming into Monday's tilt against the mighty San Jose Sharks, the Leafs were the youngest teams in the NHL with roughly an average age of 25. It would have been the first time the 'Frat Pack' -- Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson and Viktor Stalberg -- would play together in the NHL. But when Hanson fell ill, the Leafs brought in their future ace, 18-year-old Nazem Kadri, as an emergency call up. At that moment, 'Leaf Bud' would have been a better team name.

All signs were pointing to a laugher, but it was anything but.

The Leafs were quick and feisty and surprised everyone by gaining a 1-0 lead in the first period. The Sharks came back with a couple goals, before the Leafs showed some resilience when they tied the game 2-2. They kept trucking in the third -- I mean really taking it to the Sharks -- and if their play determined the outcome of the game, they would have surely won. But a couple deflections and a bad bounce turned the game around. Of course, the Sharks strength on the puck and work on the boards led to those lucky bounces, but as the hockey cliche states: "You have to be good to be lucky, and lucky to be good."

There was no stunning upset, no headline reading "David beats Goliath". Nazem Kadri did not have the magical debut most rookies dream about when they hit the sweet NHL ice for the first time. But man was it exciting. The Leafs were flying, equal to the Sharks in almost every way. And while Kadri had several bad giveaways, coach Ron Wilson entrusted him with considerable ice time, including some on the powerplay. All this against one of the elite teams in the NHL.

With all the losing going on this season, I've been too preoccupied with the parting of our dear first-round pick to truly see the potential of this team. Phaneuf, Kessel, Bozak, Stalberg, Hanson, Gunnarson, Schenn, Kadri -- if they all turn out to be the players management thinks they can be, the Leafs will be alright.

It was one loss I couldn't groan about, that's for sure.