After the long 8 game losing streak was finally ended with a 6-3 victory in Anaheim on Monday, one can only hope that this year’s Toronto Maple Leafs are a streaky team and that one of the winning variety will continue tonight at the American Airlines Center, when the Leafs face the Dallas Stars. The Leafs managed to score a season high 6 goals against the Ducks’ and goaltender Jonas Hiller. Three of the goals were scored by former Star Niklas Hagman and four of the tallies were on the Leaf power play, which has been underwhelming for most of the season.

It was nice to finally see the team victorious Monday night, but not everything was roses and candy. There are a number of players who definitely should be candidates for starring roles if they remake the movie “Poltergeist”. Alexei Ponikarovsky has been an apparition at times this season, which is a bit surprising since he seemed to play at a higher and more consistent level after the trade deadline last season when his buddy, Nik Antropov was moved to the New York Rangers. Rickard Wallin has not contributed much so far, garnering only 2 assists in 9 games. It is getting harder to refute the speculation that he was signed as an enticement to get his Farjestad teammate, Jonas Gustavsson, to come to Toronto, rather than being signed for his own abilities. Of course, it is nearly impossible to miss Jason Blake, he does something to attract attention, but it is never something positive or constructive. Usually he is running into goalies, sticking someone in the back of the legs or jabbing someone, but when you look for evidence of his contribution in the box score the following day, it is like looking for the second gunman at the Grassy Knoll.

The Leafs are sticking with the same lineup, including goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who will be starting his 3rd game of the season. Their opponents, the Dallas Stars are 5-2-4 so far this season, currently 6th place in the Western Conference. They are lead by Brad Richards, who has a team high 13 points and Brenden Morrow, who seems fully recovered from a serious knee injury that caused him to miss the last 64 games of the 2008-09 season. Marty Turco is expected to get the start tonight.

From the desk of Mike “In Buffalo” Augello

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