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The Maple Leafs were able to take advantage the early miscues of the struggling Washington Capitals to earn a 3-2 victory at the Verizon Center on Tuesday night.
James van Riemsdyk scored twice in the first period to give Toronto an early 2-0 lead, but Marcus Johansson scored a power play goal late in the period to half the lead. Midway through the second, the Leafs reaped the benefits of offense from an unexpected source, as Korbinian Holzer’s long shot bounced and beat Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth to increase the lead to 3-1.
The goal was Holzer’s first NHL point and only his fifth in 145 games between the AHL and NHL.
Washington rallied in the third period, as leading scorer Mike Ribeiro scored his third goal of the season to narrow the gap to 3-2, but the Caps could not get the equalizer past backup
Ben Scrivens, who made 24 saves for his second victory of the season.
The win brought the Leafs back to .500(5-5-0) and improved their road record to 4-1-0.
Only the Eastern and Western Conference leading Pittsburgh Penguins(6-1-0) and Chicago Black Hawks(6-0-2) have better records on the road.
In spite of the victory, there are some problem areas that Coach Randy Carlyle to will have to address if he is going to keep his club competitive in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Leafs coach shook up the power play units, placing Dion Phaneuf with John-Michael Liles on the first defensive pair and moving Mike Kostka to the second pair with Cody Franson. This did not have any effect in generating more offensive chances against the Capitals, as Toronto went 0 for 3 on the night and have only scored two goals in their last 30 man advantage opportunities.
On the flip side, both Capital goals came by way of the power play, as Toronto’s penalty killers looked as disorganized as they ever did under former coach Ron Wilson. They have now surrendered nine power play goals in 32 short-handed situations and currently rank 27th in the league(71.9%).
The Leafs face the Jets tomorrow at the MTS Center in Winnipeg.
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As most teams are about to reach the quarter pole of the season this upcoming weekend, trade speculation is bound to start picking up. One such indicator of that was at the end of the Leafs recent homestand, as scouts from a number of teams littered the Air Canada Center press box.
According to David Pagnotta, former Habs GM Andre Savard and Atlanta GM Don Waddell, who scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins, were sighted at the Leafs-Hurricanes on Monday, which once again resurrected rumors that the current Eastern Conference leading Pens having interest in Toronto winger Nikolai Kulemin.
Kulemin, 26, who signed a two year, $5.6 Million contract extension last summer and has six points in 10 games for the Leafs this season, has long been rumored to be on Pittsburgh’s wish list, as he and center Evgeni Malkin have history going back to junior and played together during the lockout with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
The interest has long made sense from the Penguins side of the ledger, since it would allow a winger like James Neal to move up to play alongside Sidney Crosby, while Kulemin is partnered with Malkin, but it makes little sense for Toronto. Kulemin scored 30 goals in 2010-11, but followed that up with a dreadful seven goal campaign in 2011-12, He remains one of Toronto’s better two way forwards, working well with the recently re-signed Mikhail Grabovski and appears to have the trust of Coach Randy Carlyle to play in key defensive situations late in the game.
There are likely few players on the Leafs that are untouchable to GM Dave Nonis, but what would the Leafs be looking for in return from the Penguins?
Malkin, Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Neal and Kris Letang are all untouchables, while veterans such as Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis, Brooks Orpik, Matt Cooke and Paul Martin are all in their early to mid 30’s.
Pittsburgh has young promising prospects in 2012 draft picks Derrick Pouliot and Olli Maatta, but both are defenseman and Toronto is loaded with future blueline prospects in Morgan Rielly, Matt Finn, Stuart Percy, Jesse Blacker and Jake Gardiner.
The only player that would seem to make any sense as a target would be 23 year old Brandon Sutter, who was acquired last June in the deal with Carolina for Jordan Staal and would answer Toronto’s need for size up the middle, but he is a perfect fit as a third line checking center behind Crosby and Malkin.
The Kulemin to Pittsburgh rumor will continue to percolate and pop up from time to time, but there does not seem to be a good fit for a deal between the two teams.
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