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!

Leafs down Sens for Fourth in a row

Curtis Joseph now has wins in 19 consecutive calender years, and the Leafs have their fourth win in a row, and sixth straight with at least a point.

On the heels of the Leafs fourth win over the Sens this season, this one a 4-3 overtime victory. Brian Burke will have some tough choices to make in the next four days. Especially if the Leafs manage another win Tuesday night.

As of this moment, the Leafs are only 7 points out of a playoff birth. They are also well out of the hunt for the first round draft pick in the up coming draft. So, does Burke trade for the future as he has stated? As is the mandate of the organization. Or, does he take a chance and try to beef up the existing line up to make a push for a play off spot?

Toronto was 1 for 3 on the power play, while Ottawa was 0 for one.

Curtis Joseph made his 6th start of the season and made 29 save to record his second win. He also achieved a career milestone by posting wins in 19 consecutive calender years.



Tim Stapleton turned in another good effort getting his first official NHL goal, and looks to do a good job in the absence of Hagman who is out with a concussion and could be out for the remainder of the season. Stapleton's first goal however, came of the stick of Jason Spezza, who in a failed attempt to clear the puck away, managed to back hand it in to his own net.

Look for Spezza to be a healthy scratch the next game.

The Leafs next action comes on the eve of the trade deadline as they face the red hot New Jersey Devils at home in the Hanger. As always you can hear the game live, right hear 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!

Leafs pound Habs 5-2 in Montreal

Luke Schenn scored his first goal in as an NHL player tonight, Jason Blake picked up right where he left off after not recording a point in Buffalo, with 2 goals and Vesa Toskala may start making me a believer again if he starts to put up more performances like that every once in awhile!

My friend Patrick owes me five bucks! I love that!

It was obvious right from the first puck drop, that this was going to be a fast paced aggressively played game. The Canadiens once again spent more time chasing Mikeal Grabovski around the ice than they did playing hockey. But, in the end it was Grabovski who got the last laugh, and though he didn't figure in the scoring, the obvious distraction that he was to Montreal certainly didn't hurt!

Vesa Toskala made several big saves in this 5-2 win over the Habs and appeared to be playing with more confidence than I've seen in several games.



The physical display by both teams was bound to take it's toll eventually. Mike Van Ryn was escorted to the dressing room after being checked into the boards, early in the second period. This is the second game in a row, agianst The Habs in which Van Ryn has been injured. The last being Nov 8 when he was checked from behind onto the boards and missed 11 games after that due to injury.

Both teams struggled mightily on the power play with Toronto going 0-5 and Montreal going 1-8. Despite having the worst penalty kill in the league, Toronto dominated tonight thanks in large part to the hard work of both Ian White and Luke Schenn who both logged more than 25 minutes of ice time tonight. (White with 26:38, the most of any player on the ice).

The Leafs next action comes Tuesday once again against Bryan McCabe and the Florida Panthers! As always, you can hear the all the game 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!

" I Wanna Start a Fight "

It was another first period that may have easily spelled the end of the Leafs. This new look Toronto team is apparently one who is quite willing to play come from behind on a regular basis. They are a collective -25 in the first period so far this year.

This latest 3-1 victory over the Senators, puts the Leafs almost at .500 and five points out of a playoff spot.

Last nights game was one of the most physical the Buds have played in a while, and proved to the Sens that they won't be taken lightly or pushed around. Having said that, neither team seemed to lose their edge because of the physical nature of the game which seems to happen more often than not.

All in all last nights game was a good one. There was some good penalty killing that saw Pavel Kubina come flying out of the penalty box in the third period, to scoop up a loose puck just inside the Sens blue line and wire a pass to Alex Ponikarovsky who then wired it past Gerber to put the Leafs one up on the Sens. Jason Blake scored again with a little over four minutes left to put the game on ice for the Buds who see their next action on Tuesday against Bryan McCabe and the Florida Panthers. As always, you can listen to the game live, right here on Bench Brawl!!