How the Leafs make the playoffs 101

If the Toronto Maple Leafs are ever going to end their miserable 40-season cupless drought, they're going to have to make the playoffs first. With three games to go, it depends on which Leafs team shows up to run out the string. If it's the team that stunk the joint out worse than the circus did at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, they may as well throw in the towel right now. However, if the same bunch of guys who scored impressive wins over Buffalo, and Carolina last week, decide to lace up the skates, then you should start lining up behind the scalpers for tickets as soon as possible. For the Leafs to be successful, they need all cylinders running, not just half of them. This means they have to utilize their speed, size and forechecking. Once they stop skating, as they did when 4-1 leads were blown to Buffalo and Pittsburgh, they're going to win about as many games as Vanilla Ice had hit singles. With some good sized forwards, the leafs should also be forechecking with two men in on the puck as quickly as possible. They need to wear the defencemen down and control the corners. Guys like Wellwood and Kaberle are excellent playmakers, but need to shoot more. Raycroft needs to equal Jesus when it comes to save percentage and last but not least, they have to stay out of the penalty box, because their penalty killing is about as efficient as a one-legged cyclist. Go Leafs Go, as the witty and original chant goes.