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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.”
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
The Leafs won their third in a row, and second against New Jersey this year in a shoot out. Blake scored in the shootout, after Antripov and Williams scored as well to help the Leafs to a 3-2 win in a shoot out. Williams who scored in his third straight game, and has apparently, provided some spark, scored the go ahead goal for the Leafs in the second period. The opportunistic winger, also scored in the shoot out to put the Leafs ahead and setting the stage for Jason Blakes shoot out winner.
With less than ten seconds to go in overtime Toskala stopped Travis Zajac on a breakaway to send it to a shoot out. Toskala for the leafs and Clemmenson for the Devils, each face a total of 27 shots. The Leafs improve to 12-12-6 and remain in 11th in the east just three points out of a playoff spot.
Toronto's next action comes Thursday night in Bean Town at 7:00 pm, and as always, you can listen to the game live, right hear on Bench Brawl!
VesaToskala made 24 saves to keep the Leafs in it until Ian white ( and the Stash ), scored past the half way point in the third to help the team to their second straight victory. Which incidentally, keeps them in 11th in the east, only 3 points out of a playoff spot.You can find the box score here.
I know, I know, we don't want them to make the playoffs. But let me tell ya, it sure is exciting to watch most of the time. Except for the game against San Jose earlier in the month, I'm fairly certain that I have yet to see a team just completely dominate this young Toronto team.
There are several problems with this team, though, none that can't be addressed. Let's start with Kabby. Almost everyone is calling for his head, ( including yours truly ). I may have been a bit pre-mature. As my wife like to point out. The thing is, there are several schools of thought when it comes to him. I said last week that I thought perhaps he wasn't as good a defense man as everyone had first thought, and maybe without McCabe and Gill around to make him look good, maybe, just maybe, we were seeing his true talent level. Another thought is, he's disoriented. Entirely possible, given the fact that prior to this year, he had spent the past ten years or so, pretty well playing with the same group of guys, and the same coaches. Now, everything is different. Not to mention the fact that because everyone else is gone, he may be worried about the same thing happening to him. If Burke does trade him, what will he get in return. There are a couple of defence man in the system, the could turn into good puck movers, but who knows really. So, do you make the trade straight up for a defense man of a similar quality, just to shake things up, or do you trade for prospects and hope someone in the system, develops into the role?
Today is a rare Saturday of for the buds who don't see action again until Tuesday when the Devils come to town. As always, you can hear the game live, right here on Bench Brawl!
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