Leafs fall 4-3 in OT to the Stars

After enjoying their first victory of the season against Anaheim the other night, the table was set for the star of something against Dallas, but the Stars had other ideas and the Buds would have to settle for 1 point in a 4-3 overtime loss.

The Leafs were 2nd in the NHL on the Power play coming into tonight's action, thanks mostly to a five PPG outburst against the Ducks on Monday.

Dallas would not be as obliging in regard to taking penalties, in fact, they only took 2 the whole game. For their part, the Leafs did score a power play goal on one of only 2 chances and only took 3 penalties themselves. Unfortunately, their penalty kill is as bad, as their power play is good and they allowed Dallas to score on one of their chances as well.

Nikolai Kulemin beat Dallas Goaltender Marty Turco twice for his 1st and 2nd goals of the season and showed a little grit tonight that we haven't seen yet this year. His second of the game gave the Leafs the lead more than halfway through the third but they couldn't hold on and the Stars tied it up with a little over 2 minutes left to go in regulation.


"With 5 minutes left in [regulation] and up a goal, you have to find ways to close those games out," Blake said. "It's a tough one to take, giving up a late goal, but you learn from that and move forward."

Lee Stepniak also scored tonight, and is on a mini 2 game goal streak.

My favorite Leaf Jason Blake also chipped in with 3 assist tonight to bring his point total to 6 on the season. ( I don't know why he's my favorite, he just is!)

Jonas " The Monster " Gustavsoon stopped 32 of 36 shots tonight, and was obviously upset when Dallas scored in OT to win the game. Almost halfway through the O T, with Dallas buzzing in the Leafs one, Kulemin was late in covering his man and Neal was able to put the backhand past Gustavsson for the win.

Look for the Leafs to hit the win column again on Friday as they face the Buffalo
Sabres. As always, you can hear the action live right here on Bench Brawl!

Until next time, you kids play safe!

Hagman and "The Monster" Feast on Duck!!

It brings me great pleasure to report that our Toronto Maple Leafs have won their first regulation game of the season!!


In a game that saw the return of Jonas " The Monster " Gustavsson, and Niklas Hagman score his second career hat trick, you would of thought that the Leafs would have played better hockey en route to a 6-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks!

Just kidding. Fundamentally their game was sound and they for a change were able to capitalize on the opportunities that were presented to them.

The Ducks would take 17 penalties in total on the night and were out shot 39-28 when all was said and done.

The Leafs on the other hand for the most part were poised, and disciplined for most of the night. Oddly enough, although they didn't seem to have the same intensity and speed that they showed in their previous two games against the Canucks and the Rangers, they still managed to out-play the Ducks for the better part of the night.

Gustavsson stopped 25 of the 28 shots in his return and although he looked very good on a few saves and was obviously comfortable, he was caught looking around a couple of times and his lateral movement was a little slow. All in all, a solid performance.

Niklas Hagman reminded Leafs fans tonight why he's here. He's here to score. Hagman is a proven scorer, who may never reach the 40 or 50 goal mark, but I'll take four 25 goal scorers over one fifty goal scorer any day! Tonight's Hat trick was the second of his career, Kaberle had a goal and four assists, while Stempniak contributed a goal and three assists.


Jason Blake and Alex Ponikarovski were held goal less, although Blake did get an assist. Mikeal Grabovski also scored for the Leafs, his second of the year.

Matt Stajan, who has shown great improvement over the course of the last couple of games had three assists as well, while John Michell chipped in with one.

The Leafs play their third of a five game road trip Wednesday in Dallas, and as always, you can hear all the action, live right here on Bench Brawl!

Leafs Officially Own Record with 3-1 loss to Canucks!

These ' New Look Leafs ' now officially own the record for losses to start the season, while it is a dubious record to have, the Leafs shouldn't be worried about it, after all, the still need to lose another four games to clinch the all time NHL title!

If you watched the game last night, then you're as sure as I am, that the Boys in Blue are well on their way. That was easily the best all around game they've played all year, and save for a bunch of penalty trouble in the first period, the Leafs for the most part played an extremely solid game and took the game to the Canucks for most of the night!


The Canucks first goal of their 3-1 win, was scored off the stick of Leafs d-man Komiserik. Joey MacDonald was very good in net aside from the second Vancouver goal that he simply was too far back in the net to see properly, and Luongo, despite taking a knee to the head from Toronto's Jason Blake, was incredibly lucky all night.

While there were several bright spots for the Leafs, there are still a couple of things that they need to work on.

While they obviously need to stay out of the box, they were 5 for 7 on the penalty kill. Luke Schenn needs to spend some time in the press box to re-evaluate himself. After a pretty good year last year, he has been more of a liability to the team in the early going so far this year.

Lee Stepniak looked very good last night, although, his stick couldn't seem to find the net.

Ian White set a career high in shots and even with a bad give away in the second, played his best game so far this year.

Viktor Stalberg, is still having trouble adjusting to life on the big club, he has only one point in six games as a Leaf, and is a -4, with just 15 shots over all.

Alex Edler put his hand over the puck in the blue ice and there was no call, and there where a couple of other obvious no calls in my opinion that could of made the difference, but alas, the Leafs fall to 0-7-1 on the season and will look to Anaheim Monday night for their first win of the season.

As Always, you can hear all the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Until next time, you kids play safe!

Keeping You in the Loop/ Maple Leafs-Avs Preview

What a difference a day makes! Matt Stajan and Nicklas Hagman will be out of the line up tonight vs. the Avs as they come to town to face the Leafs.

A frustrated Hagman was indifferent at the news,"It's just not working," said the Toronto forward. "There's only one way to go. We can only play better.

"We showed some good things in these games, but we just haven't played well enough to win a game."

Joining the team will be Joey Macdonald who replaces Toskala who has been sent for an MRI. Wilson would not disclose the nature of the MRI but also called up goalie James Reimer on an emergency basis.

Also re-joining the team reportedly will be Tyler Bozak and Viktor Stalberg, who has been out for a week do to a suspected mild concussion.

All things being equal, I like the Leafs to win this one and claim their first victory of the season. With an infusion of some youth and the Toskala question mark answered, at least for today, look for the Leafs to come out with a lot of jump and score early!

The question has arisen about Jason Blake and why he isn't a healthy scratch. That question could have do different answers. The first being simple, despite his lack of production so far this season and his sometime inability to hold on to the puck in his own end, Blake has been the hardest working Leafs on a consistent basis. Keep in mind, NOBODY on the Leafs squad has been producing anything of any note.

The second possible answer lies in a rumor spotted in the Globe & Mail over the weekend, that Burke will soon put both Blake and Toskala on waivers to try and create some cap space for when Kessel returns around mid to late November.

Don't forget, you can hear the tonight's action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Until next time, you kids play safe!

Toskala Shines as Leafs lose in OT

The Maple Leafs played in their seventh consecutive game that needed extra time. That ties them for the all time lead in that department.

Vesa Toskala and Martin Brodeur both put on clinics tonight, combining to make a total of 84 saves. Toskala was easily the busier of the two having to face 52 shots compared to only 32 that Brodeur had to face.

The 52 shoots that Toskala faced tonight, is the second highest total he's had to face, next to the 53 he faced at the hands of the Bruins when he was still with San Jose.

Healthy scratches for the Leafs included, Doninic Moore, and Nik Antropov. Who are both widely believed to be the subject of on going trade negotiations, heading into tomorrows trade deadline.

John Mitchell scored twice for the Leafs, while Clarkson and Elias scored for the Devils. Johnny Oduya added the overime marker for the Devils at 4:48 of the extra frame. Jason Blake got an assist tonight to bring his point total on the season to fifty.



Toronto's next action comes Thursday night as they travel to Washington to face Ovechkin and the Capitals. As always, you can hear the game live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Stapleton's first NHL Point was a good one !

Tim Stapleton played his fist NHL game tonight, and it will be one that he remembers for the rest of his life. The only way that it could have been better for him, would have been to have scored the goal on a penalty shot in regulation, instead of in the shoot-out.

“I didn’t even know I scored until I curled after the shot and saw my teammates jump off the bench,” Stapleton said. “I’m just fortunate it went in.”

The Leafs were 5-4 winners tonight in Long Island despite giving up a 2 goal lead in the second and surrendering 3 more in the third to give the Islanders life.

The Islanders drew first blood in the shoot-out with a goal by Jeff Tambellini.

Jason Blake, who also had 2 assists tonight, scored to tie things up.

Kyle Okposo missed for the Islanders, so, it was up to the 26 year old from LaGrange. He beat Joey MacDonald short side to seal the deal for Toronto.



Toskala turned in another pretty good performance. Despite allowing 4 goals, he did make 40 saves against the Islanders for his 21st win of the season. If he continues to play the way he is, he could very well post his second consecutive, 30+ win season.

The Leafs next action come Saturday when they face the Senators in Ottawa. As always, you can hear all of the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Leafs beat Rangers in Shoot out

Vesa Toskala turned in another very solid performance, turning away 31 shots and turning away all 3 Rangers snipers in the shootout to give the Leafs their second win in a row.

The Maple Leafs have posted a 3-0-1 record against the Rangers this season despite not scoring in either the first or second period of any of the those contests.

This 2-1 victoryis the second victory in a row that they needed extra time to get. An area in which the Leafs have struggled mightily in recent memory.

Nikolai Kulemin scored in the shoot out for the Leafs.


The Leafs next action comes tonight as they face the New york Islanders.

In case you missed the Sundin tribute video from Saturday night here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Toskala Makes 39 Saves to lift Leafs Over Rangers

Vesa Toskala is finally showing some consistency between the pipe for the Leafs making several key saves en-route to a 3-2 overtime win against the Rangers.

“It was a tough loss,” Rangers captain Chris Drury said. “Toskala was playing well. We couldn’t get anything by him. A couple of mistakes, and we lost in OT.”


All in all, the game itself for the most part was fairly face paced, the Rangers frequently had Toronto hemmed in as the Buds seemed to forget how to take the body on occasion, but on this day it didn't much matter.

The Leafs next action comes Wednesday night against this very same Ranger team and as always, you hear all the action live right hear, on Bench Brawl!

Sundin scores Shootout winner bury Leafs

I have to tell you, I really think Sundin misses being in Toronto. When Introduced last night, he received a standing ovation from the crowd at the ACC and even drew applause after scoring the wining goal in the shoot out that helped push the Canucks passed the Leafs 3-2



This entire game was a fast paced exciting affair that saw chance after chance at both ends of the ice Toronto out shot the Canucks 38-37 and both Toskala and Luongo made several brilliant, and lucky saves.

Blake scored the opening goal, and almost scored again on a play where Dominic Moore had a partial breakaway with a broken stick and passed the puck to Blake with his stick. If Blake had managed to score, the goal would have been on highlight reels everywhere for a long time.

Scoring the shootout winner with the entire Air Canada Centre crowd on its feet was one thing. But the most special moment of an entertaining evening came when Sundin was selected the first star and returned to the ice by himself.

He took a bow, blew kisses in the air and waved to the people who came to adore him over 13 memorable seasons with the Maple Leafs. There were even a few tears in his eyes as he skated off the ice in Toronto for what could be the final time as an NHL player.

“There’s been a buildup for this game,” Sundin said moments after giving the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 victory Saturday night. “All the battles and everything we’ve gone through over the last 13 years with the Leafs, so many ups and downs and disappointments and happiness. A lot of feelings came to mind on the ice.

“The ovation from the fans was very special. I’ll remember that the rest of my life.”

“It’s just one of those nights where you give (Sundin) a chance like that, you know he’s going to be able to score," added former Leaf and current Canuck Kyle Welwood.

While some fans chose to boo Sundin in his first game at the arena as a visiting player, he was mostly well-received. The longtime Leafs captain got choked up in the first period when he received a long standing ovation after a video tribute was played on the scoreboard.

“There were tears coming,” Sundin said. “That was very special.”

The ovation actually kept the game from starting up again.

Like everyone else in the building, the players on the ice simply watched Sundin rather than line up for the faceoff. Center Matt Stajan was out for the Maple Leafs and was in no hurry to take the draw.

“It was his moment—obviously, I was going to sit back and let him enjoy it,” Stajan said. “I wasn’t going into the faceoff circle before he did.

All in all, it was one of the best Leafs games that I've seen in while. They played fairly well defensively and had lots of jump offensively.

The Buds next action comes tonight when the travel to New York to take on the Rangers for an 8pm start. As always, you can hear the action live right here on Bench Brawl!

Leafs Lose 4-3 in Shoot Out

Pogge put on a solid performance making 31 out of 34 saves in regulation and overtime, only to see his efforts slip away as Rick Nash scored in the shootout to lift the road weary Blue Jackets past his team by a final of 4-3.

Jason Blake continued to add to his point total, as did Moore and Antropov who hit the 20 goal mark last night for the second consecutive season.

Matt Stajan got an assist last light to give him a new career high in points at 40

Ken Hitchcock also hit a career milestone last night as coach of the BlueJackets earning his 500th win as an NHL Coach.

The Leafs had several good chances in the third to put it away, but couldn't get anything past Mason. Overtime solved nothing so the game went to a shoot out.

Blake scored in the shoot out for the Leafs while Williams and Nash scored for Columbus. Jason Williams claimed to purposely fan on a shot that ended up sliding past Pogge to give Columbus an early shoot out lead. Jason Blake tied it, but Nash buried a no-doubter to put the pressure on Lee Stempniak, who fired wide to end it.

“It was a great trick shot,” Nash said. “I wonder how he practices that one, but we’ll take it.”

Leafs coach Ron Wilson wasn’t so sure the move was what Williams planned.

“Maybe he did. I don’t know,” Wilson said. “We should study that move, it’s a great move.”

Sabres Beat Leafs....Again

The Buffalo Sabres managed to pull off yet another win over the on again, off again Maple Leafs. This one by a score of 4-1

The barage that that Maple Leafs sent Ryan Millers way in the first period, served only to apparently wake the Sabres up. Miller made several very good save to start the game when it looked alot like the Leafs where going to end up winning this game going away, just on adrenaline alone.

But, alas, t'was not to be. The Sabres scored 3 goals on rookie Justin Pogge in the first and added another in the third, sandwiched between the third goal in the first and the fourth goal in the third was the lone Leafs marker by Pavel Kubina.

The resident wonder kid Jason Blake managed to get yet another point by way of an assist on the Kubina goal.



The Leafs next action comes Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and as always, you can hear all the action, right here on Bench Brawl!

Maple Leafs 2009 Skills Competition!

The Toronto Maple Leafs held their annual Skills Competition yesterday, and had a lot of fun doing it!

The 17th annual event saw Pavel Kubina of Team Blue take both the Hardest Shot , and the Accuracy competitions. The accuracy competition saw a shot out between Kubina and Antropov to determine a winner.

Team Blue won the overall competition by a final of 12-11. The complete breakdown can be found here.

All of the video highlights can be found below! Don't forget, the Buds next action is Tuesday night when they face the Sabres and you can listen to the game live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Puck Control


Fastest Skater


Hardest Shot


Judged Shoot Out


Shooting Accuracy


Power Play Challenge


And finally, my favorite! Survivor Shoot out

Leafs Crush Pens 6-2 at Home

After Toskala shook off the cow webs in the first period, he was letter perfect from then on in. Stopping the next 25 shots he faced on route to a 6-2 victory at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins.The Maple Leafs entered the game as one of the NHL’s worst teams on home ice and were returning from a miserable road trip. On top of that, Pittsburgh scored two goals on its first three shots and had the home fans booing goalie Vesa Toskala.

Jason Blake, and Nik Antropov both continued their respective scoring paces, with Blake scoring 2 and Antropov netting a goal and dding 2 helpers. Stajan, Mitchell, and Ponikarovski also scoredfor the Leafs.



After being down 2-0 going into the second frame, despite out playing and out shooting the Penguins, it looked like we were going to see much of the same from a Leafs squad that we have come to expect to lose.

The winner was Blake’s 21st of the season and will be shown on a few highlight reels. He spun and brought the puck from his backhand to his forehand before sliding it behind Marc-Andre Fleury.

“I thought we did a great job in the second period,” Blake said. “We got pucks deep, we had our skating legs, we forechecked well, we had a lot of shots on net. Overall, I thought it was a great team effort and Vesa played great.

On this night however, the Buds never once let up, Toskala made some key save at key time, Dominic Moore was easily one of the best players on the ice for both teams and all 4 lines were defending well and keeping the Penquins hemmed in in their own zone for much of the contest.

Tampa makes Leafs Pay for Penalties

Well, I haven't been able to say this too often lately, but Jason Blake was held pointless tonight! What is that, the second game in the last 30 or something? Although he did have a hell of a chance on breakaway and just couldn't convert.

Martin St Louis however didn't seem to have any trouble with the puck tonight with a goal and 3 helpers as Tampa beat Toronto 6-4 tonight to hand the Buds their second consecutive loss.




The good news is Joseph only allowed 2 goals on 19 shots, the bad is, Toskala allowed 4 goals on only 12 shots. If the Leafs are hoping to deal him before the deadline they won't have many takers if he continues to perform like that. Like i said befor though, i think that he is just a victim of bad timing with the wrong club.

Hagman scored another highlight reel goal to put the Leafs close but at the end of the day, St Louis, Lecavalier, and rookie goalie McKenna proved to be too much.

The Leafs penalty killing and poor positional play by the whole team was once again their weakness tonight and something that coach Wilson will have to address.

The Maple Leafs next action comes Saturday night at home to the Penguins and as always, you can hear all of the action, right here on Bench Brawl!

Panthers take another Bite out of the Leafs

After being ' called out ' by GM Brian Burke, Nik Antropov responded by scoring his 17th goal of the season in his 500th NHL appearance. At the pace he is on now, it is looking like he will at least match his point totals from last year. Which should make a few teams look long and hard at him come the trade deadline on March the 4th.

Toronto's GM went so far as to say, there was no intention of pursuing a new contract with him.(Antropov)

Tonight's game seemed to be well in hand for the Leafs however as they held a 4-1 lead at just about the mid-way point in the 3rd period. Then the wheels on the bus just fell off.

Florida managed to tie things up with just over 5 minutes left and then Zednik, after scoring the tying goal, scored the game winner just over a minute into overtime to give the Panthers the 5-4 win, and defeat the leafs for the second consecutive time.



Toskala turned in another pretty solid performance making 33 stops, while Florida net-minder Tomas Vokoun made 35.

The Leafs next action is Thursday night as they face the Tampa Bay Lightning and as always, you can hear the game live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Schenn-Sational Night for 'Killer' and the Leafs

On a night that Doug Gilmore will remember for a long time, it was easy to lose sight of the fact that there was a game being played. Watching the ceremonial raising of Gilmores banner, brought to life a lot of great Leaf memories.

The inspiration wasn't lost on the team either as they went on to defeat the very one (or should I say two) dimensional Pittsburgh Penguins by a final score of 5-4.



The combination of Crosby and Malkin is lethal to say the least, but, beyond the two of them, the Penguins just don't have that much to offer. Having said that, it would be kind of cool to see the two of them end up #1 and #2 in scoring and the end of the season. A feat that hasn't been seen ironically enough since 1996 when Mario Lemiuex and Jaromir Jagr did it for these very same Penguins.

It was an excellent game to watch. Fast paced, lots of skill. It still amazes me sometimes to watch some of these guys and the things that they can do with the puck.

Luke Schenn was again a pleasure to watch. He has the poise and confidence of a player 10 years his senior most of the time, and will be a very big part of the leafs roster in the future. In the absense of Kaberle, Schenn logged over 23 minutes of ice time tonight was always on the ice with the dynamic duo.

Vesa Toskala however may not. There were three goal scored on him tonight, that probably shouldn't have been. Two of them were simply because of poor positional play. One however, was as a result of a blown call in my opinion. Toskala was literally pushed halfway across his goal crease by the Pittsburgh player which the afforded 'Sid the Kid' a virtually empty net.

Now, I don't typically harp on the officiating too much. However, it seems to me that there should at least be a happy medium somewhere.

Nik Antropov, after going 17 games without scoring a goal had his second in as many games, and Jason Blake added another goal and an assist to his points total tonight. In the last twenty games he has easily been the Leafs best player and has been on a point a game pace.

The Leafs next action comes Tuesday at home against the Panthers and as always, you can hear all the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Leafs remind Raycroft why they let him go!

It would have made for a nice headline, " Raycroft stops fifty shots and Tucker has first six point night of his career in Romp of the Maple Leafs, but alas, it just wasn't to be.

No, on this night it would be " Antropov scores to en 17 game goal less skid " , or ,
" Blake scores again ", or maybe even " Dominic Moore scores career high in goals ".

Yep, you could have taken lot away from this game that saw Toronto lay a rare whoopin' on a team that, granted is missing arguabley their two best offensive players, in Joe Sakic and Paul Stasney, would normily have little trouble with the Buds.

In this 7-4 win it may have actually been a difficult task to pick a N0 1 star of game. Though Jason Blake got the honours, and deservedly so, it could have been any number of other Leafs tonight.

Doninic Moore also had two goals and an assist, Ponikarovsky, Hagman and White also had multipoint nights. Even Toskala, who allowed four goals on just twenty shots, actually made a couple or really good save to help keep the Leafs in it.



This game could have easily slipped away from the Leafs, if it had not been for a timely blown call that went against the Avs. In the third period, Ryan Smyth who unfortunately for him, has a reputation for crashing into opposing goalies,quite probably cost his team the win. On a play to the net, Ryan did in fact interfere with Toskala. I know alot of people will call me, well, names. But if you pay close attention in the highlight videos, you will see that Ryan had actually turned into the front of the net area and was prevented from actually running over Toskala by Shen.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! The Leafs next action comes Saturday at home against Pittsburgh! As always, you can hear all the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Pogge gets blown out on the road

You have to kind of feel for a kid who is put between the pipes , the first game back after the all star break. Traditionally, and I really wish I had an exact number for you, the Buds have never done well the first game back from the All Star break.

There is really no sense in breaking with tradition.

The troubles with the Leafs in this 6-1 loss did not rest solely on the shoulders of the young goaltender though. The Leafs as a team are simply over thinking the game in my opinion and trying to take it on themselves to make the team break out. In watching lately, it seems as though there is simply no support anywhere on the ice. They aren't supporting their goalie and they aren't supporting each other.

The Leafs and Justin Pogge had their collective hats handed to the by the Minnesota Wild last night. Pogge allowed six goals on just 21 shots.


Jason Blake is suddenly on pace for a 50-60 point season, which is great considering everyone, including myself had written him of as a complete bust. While he may not ever return, to the form of a couple of years ago, when he scored 40 goals with the Islanders and had 69 points, if he manages to stay around the level he is at now for the next 3-4 years, he will have made himself a worth while investment in my opinion.

Poor Nik Antrapov may never score another goal again. He had a couple of great opportunities tonight and the puck just didn't want to go in for him, extending his goal less streak to 14 games.

The Leafs next action come Thursday night in Colorado, it's a 9:30 start and as always, you can hear all of the action right here on Bench Brawl

Hits of the week! Courtesy of NHL.com

Bruins nip Buds 4-3 in shoot out

Well, going into the third period things were looking pretty good for the Leafs. Boston hadn't won a game all year when trailing going int o the final period. However, when you take four consecutive penalties to open a period that you should be able to pretty much walk through, you're just flirting with disaster. Especially when you do it against one of this years best teams in the Boston Bruins. Who by the way are now tied with San Jose for the best record in the NHL, at the halfway point of the season.

The Leafs seemed to have the game well in hand until that point, with goals from Jason Blake, Lee Stempniak, and Brad May who scored his first as a Leaf. Stepniak and Blake each had an assist and a shootout goal to round out three point nights for each of them. This 4-3 shootout loss make 3 in row for the Buds who have now dropped 8 of their last 10.



The Leafs acquired forward Ryan Hamilton from the Wild today while forward Robbie Earl went the other way. While it appears by the numbers that Toronto came out on top, one wonders if this was simply a move for the sake of making one.

The Leafs next see action against that same Wild team next Tuesday the 27th, and as always you can hear the game live, right here on Bench Brawl!