HOCKEY LAST NIGHT: IT'S TGIF FOR TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS FANS

Marián Hossa is officially an early-season Hart Trophy now that he's had a big game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Note the sarcasm.

A headline on on Sportsnet.ca yesterday was "Leafs need a Thrash-ing." They got one -- Atlanta rolled 5-0, with Hossa firing a hat trick and setting up a fourth goal. The Leafs needed it, though, because now they're out of excuses -- no pointing to a hot goalie, because just like Tuesday night against the Bruins, Atlanta's Kari Lehtonen made a lot of saves, but the Leafs didn't challenge him until the Thrashers were up a couple goals.

It's for the best, in the long run, since it forces the Leafs to ask some hard questions of themselves. After 5-0 to Atlanta -- a team that generally flakes off and flies away if you hit them in the first 10 minutes -- there's no plausible deniability any more. They're not working very hard (just look at their hit and blocked-shot totals).

About the only out the Leafs have is that Mats Sundin's only been back for three games and hasn't been reabsorbed into the lineup. The next six games -- Montreal, Atlanta, Boston, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Rangers -- suggest that this slump could stick.

Senators 6 Panthers 0: Good god, is Florida pitiful, and aren't the Leafs better off that they don't play Ottawa again until after Christmas.

Hurricanes 4 Canadiens 2: Like the Leafs, the Habs have some sores to heal up before Saturday night.

Bruins 4 Lightning 3 (shootout): Who knows how long Tim Thomas, the man once chosen 217th overall, can keep this up? He made 34 saves and stopped all seven Tampa attempts in the shootout before Phil Kessel finally ended it.

Avs 7 Oilers 3: Edmonton was brutal in their first game without Ales (Pinto) Hemsky, who's out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.

Ducks 2 Canucks 1: In the kind of game only Gary Bettman could love, Ryan Getzlaf scores the winner on a 5-on-3 after the Canucks took three penalties in a row, the last on Roberto Luongo for shooting the puck out of play. Hey, it's just like the endless free throws at the end of a basketball game, right?

Elsewhere: Capitals 4 Stars 3; Coyotes 7 Kings 4; Flyers 3 Islanders 2; Predators 5 Blues 4.

Tonight's better games: Penguins-Devils, 7:30 p.m.; Rangers-Sabres, 8 p.m.; Red Wings-Wild, 8 p.m.

SAGINAW SPIRIT UPDATE

On last night's Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert co-opted Mike Lupica into his promotion of the Saginaw Spirit and "the most exciting sport in America, Ontario league hockey."

Lupica played along like he was a Saginaw fan. "We play the Kitchener Rangers tonight. We're in the first place the Western Conference. We need to win to stay ahead of Sarnia."

Colbert: "The Sarnia Sting? Those chumps?"

It didn't air until after the Spirit had lost 4-2 to the Rangers, but it gets Lupica off Out of Left Field's personal On Notice board. What did he do to get on it? It was what he didn't do -- namely, not including selecting one Neate Sager's work for The Best American Sports Writing 2005.

(I was on the short list for that year's edition and ended up on the list of "Notable Sports Writing of 2004" instead. Check out page 356 -- and yes, I know, they spelled my name wrong.)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.