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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger •
Amongst the pomp and circumstance of the annual Hall of Fame recognition ceremonies at the Air Canada Centre last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs showed the hockey world that they have finally emerged out of the doldrums and plan not to be anyone's doormat this year. The addition of young sniper Phil Kessel has aided the Leafs efforts by providing the team an offensive threat they sorely lacked, the settling in of the Leafs defensive corps has provided order and stability in their own zone, but the main reason why this team has earned 10 of the possible 14 points in the last seven games and has risen out of 30th in the NHL standings like a phoenix rising from the ashes is named Jonas Gustavsson.
Not to get totally unhinged or euphoric about a 24-year-old goalkeeper who has played seven NHL games, but his play in every one of them has been competent throughout and at times has been spectacular. He is the type of goaltender that most NHL teams crave, someone with an even keel, dependable and consistent, that can rise to the occasion, make big saves and infuse his team with confidence. After a performance Friday night in Raleigh-Durham in which the dandy from Danderyd, Sweden almost single handedly kept the game tied until Jason Blake netted the winning goal late in the 3rd, the Leafs decided to give Gustavsson his first back to back start against the NHL's answer to Team Sweden, the Detroit Red Wings. Granted, the Red Wings have been playing shorthanded with the losses of front liners Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula, but they were a team that appeared to have regained its footing after a slow start, winning their last three games playing a more defensive style.
Shockingly, the Maple Leafs managed the Herculean task of scoring the first goal at 10:34 of the opening period on a shot from the fourth liner Wayne Primeau that beat Chris Osgood between the legs. Before the end of the period, Phil Kessel scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf on a tap-in of a Jason Blake shot that had managed to get through Osgood and slowly drift towards the net. In the second stanza, seldomly used Jeff Finger scored at 5:21 as the trailing man on a three-on-two break. In the third, Detroit managed to get on the scoreboard with a nice play where Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski feathered the puck to forward Dan Cleary who caught Gustavsson attempting to poke check and wristed the puck past the prone goaltender. The Leafs finished off the scoring, putting away the Wings with two goals in the middle of the third, one coming on the power play from John Mitchell, who tipped in a Phil Kessel shot and the other on an Alexei Ponikarovsky backhand that found the back of the net. Detroit outshot Toronto 36-28 and a sizable portion of those shots were decent scoring chances that Gustavsson managed to stop. The aspect of his game that was most impressive last night was his quick, lateral movement, which enables him to move from post to post with relative ease. For a goaltender of Gustavsson’s size to be that nimble, it is an impressive sight to see.
There was an interesting little tidbit on Hockey Night in Canada's Satellite Hot Stove last night, as reporter David Shoalts confirmed the rumor making the rounds that Eklund and Hockeybuzz's John Jaeckel had reported earlier this week of possible interest in Tomas Kaberle from the Chicago Black Hawks. Shoalts had checked with his sources and had found no smoking gun, which does make sense since the Black Hawks have an excellent young defensive corps with the likes of Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Cam Barker and Brian Campbell, the need for a veteran puck mover like Kaberle does not seem to fit. But rest assured, this will be the first of many Kaberle rumors, who is having a renaissance year leading NHL defenseman in scoring with 18 points. The interest from other NHL teams looking for a power-play quarterback and a puck moving defenseman, especially one that has an undervalued contract will tempt Brian Burke as the trade deadline gets closer. The bidding war that Burke tried to generate at last year's trade deadline and during the off-season might just be get lucrative enough to ask the veteran blue liner to waive his no trade clause, but he must keep performing at the high level he has performed at so far this season to make it worth their while.
From the desk of Mike "In Buffalo" Augello
Not to get totally unhinged or euphoric about a 24-year-old goalkeeper who has played seven NHL games, but his play in every one of them has been competent throughout and at times has been spectacular. He is the type of goaltender that most NHL teams crave, someone with an even keel, dependable and consistent, that can rise to the occasion, make big saves and infuse his team with confidence. After a performance Friday night in Raleigh-Durham in which the dandy from Danderyd, Sweden almost single handedly kept the game tied until Jason Blake netted the winning goal late in the 3rd, the Leafs decided to give Gustavsson his first back to back start against the NHL's answer to Team Sweden, the Detroit Red Wings. Granted, the Red Wings have been playing shorthanded with the losses of front liners Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula, but they were a team that appeared to have regained its footing after a slow start, winning their last three games playing a more defensive style.
Shockingly, the Maple Leafs managed the Herculean task of scoring the first goal at 10:34 of the opening period on a shot from the fourth liner Wayne Primeau that beat Chris Osgood between the legs. Before the end of the period, Phil Kessel scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf on a tap-in of a Jason Blake shot that had managed to get through Osgood and slowly drift towards the net. In the second stanza, seldomly used Jeff Finger scored at 5:21 as the trailing man on a three-on-two break. In the third, Detroit managed to get on the scoreboard with a nice play where Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski feathered the puck to forward Dan Cleary who caught Gustavsson attempting to poke check and wristed the puck past the prone goaltender. The Leafs finished off the scoring, putting away the Wings with two goals in the middle of the third, one coming on the power play from John Mitchell, who tipped in a Phil Kessel shot and the other on an Alexei Ponikarovsky backhand that found the back of the net. Detroit outshot Toronto 36-28 and a sizable portion of those shots were decent scoring chances that Gustavsson managed to stop. The aspect of his game that was most impressive last night was his quick, lateral movement, which enables him to move from post to post with relative ease. For a goaltender of Gustavsson’s size to be that nimble, it is an impressive sight to see.
There was an interesting little tidbit on Hockey Night in Canada's Satellite Hot Stove last night, as reporter David Shoalts confirmed the rumor making the rounds that Eklund and Hockeybuzz's John Jaeckel had reported earlier this week of possible interest in Tomas Kaberle from the Chicago Black Hawks. Shoalts had checked with his sources and had found no smoking gun, which does make sense since the Black Hawks have an excellent young defensive corps with the likes of Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Cam Barker and Brian Campbell, the need for a veteran puck mover like Kaberle does not seem to fit. But rest assured, this will be the first of many Kaberle rumors, who is having a renaissance year leading NHL defenseman in scoring with 18 points. The interest from other NHL teams looking for a power-play quarterback and a puck moving defenseman, especially one that has an undervalued contract will tempt Brian Burke as the trade deadline gets closer. The bidding war that Burke tried to generate at last year's trade deadline and during the off-season might just be get lucrative enough to ask the veteran blue liner to waive his no trade clause, but he must keep performing at the high level he has performed at so far this season to make it worth their while.
From the desk of Mike "In Buffalo" Augello
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