Toskala Gets First Star

Vesa Toskala stopped 28 shots on route to a 4-2 win over the high powered Philadelphia Flyers tonight. For the second game in a row the Leafs were out shot by their opponent. This after posting a string of games where they out shot the opposition 17 consecutive times. Another positive note was their ability to hold on to the lead, which has been a problem the entire season, if it wasn't for their un-canny ability to come from behind to win most of their earlier games, they would in fact be the worst team in the league...by far. The box score from tonight's win can be found here.

Both Stajan and Grabovski were held off of the score sheet though both contributed on both sides of the puck. Leafs fans held their collective breath for a few moments after Grabovski was checked from behind in the open ice by the Flyers Josh Gratton. He would later prove to be alright and continued to play after a brief rest on the bench.

Although The Leafs did score on the power play against the Flyers, a trend that should be more than a little disturbing to the coaching staff is the fact that the Leafs can't seem to score with a 2 man power play advantage. Tonight's 5 on 3 was in fact the 14th consecutive 5 on 3 with which the Leafs were unable to convert. Wilson did however try a different approach tonight, employing five forwards for most of the 1:08 two man advantage. Although they still didn't convert the new look certainly had it's chances.

With the exception of a couple of mental mistakes by Tomas Kaberle, the Leafs once again played a better defensive game overall.

I would of course be remiss if I didn't mention the Leafs announcement, that they had in fact made public what was probably, in my opinion the worst kept secret in the history of major league sports. They signed Brian Burke. There , I mentioned it.

Toskala, once again shone in goal making a number of big saves to help preserve the lead. Including a pretty flashy glove save on Savard from in close late in the second.

Another area that the leafs are showing steady improvement is in the face off circle, winning 33 of 24 against the Flyers tonight. Once again due largely to the efficiency of Matt Stajan in that department.