On Marlies and Leafs - Saving the Result creates a Loser-Mentality

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A Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Buffalo Sabres back in November 6, 2010, seems strikingly similar to that of the recent Toronto Marlies' win against the Rochester Americans on December 8, 2012. The only difference is that the Marlies won during the regular play-time and the Leafs lost in a shootout. However, being present at both games, I remember how they went. The Leafs were winning 2-0 until almost the end of the second period. Derek Roy scored the first goal for the Sabres at 18:46, making the score 2-1. Upon seeing that, it would be logical to conclude that the Leafs would try harder in the 3rd period, and not only secure a victory, but score more goals because the 1-goal advantage is not enough: one shot could send both teams into overtime, and possibly a shootout. A game, in which the Leafs had a good advantage of 2-0, turned into a disaster. It happened because of the obvious tactics of "saving the score" or rather killing the 3rd period. With the Marlies, the similarity was in a good advantage, which was two times better than that of the Leafs': 4-0 by the middle of the second period. It was slightly altered by Rochester, changing the score to 4-1 near the end of the second period. Again, the same mentality; killing or saving (your choice) the result led Rochester to score two more goals that made it 4-3 in just less than a minute before the end of the game. Rochester had almost a minute to equalize the score, and, similar to that disaster with the Leafs two years ago, Rochester could have won in the overtime or by shootout. The Marlies were lucky that none of Rochester's last shots reached their final destination. Having compared those two games by how they went overall and by the style of the game, it is unsurprising why the Leafs are not improving. Their farm team. in which many of the players are selected to play for the Leafs, is trained to follow the same saving/killing style of the game. It has no place in modern professional hockey. This may work in soccer (and even in that sport, two goals scored in two minutes are not unheard of), but in such a dynamic game like hockey. The Marlies are the roots of the Leafs, and they need to be pulled out and planted differently. No more of that killing style; if we score, we need to score more. the game ends with the final buzzer.