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!

Hagmans Goal of the Decade Candidate

McCabe and Panthers burn Leafs in OT

All good things must come to an end. Although, depending on your thinking as to whether the Leafs should play to lose or play to win, this may be just what the Doctor ordered. I only mention this because, I talk to people all the time about how the Leafs are doing, where I think they're going to end up, and what I think they should do ( or not do ). I often find myself repeating the same old tired conversation about how, the Leafs should or shouldn't be playing for a draft pick. I, am of a minority when I state that my position is and always will be, the Leafs should always play to win. If I thought for a second that they were playing to lose, I'd never watch them again. To those who would disagree with me, I say this. Shut up, you're an idiot!

Now, on to the business at hand. The Buds did in fact play tonight and lost 4-3 to the Panthers, thanks to a Bryan McCabe overtime goal at 3:30 of overtime. Toronto seemed to have the game well in hand, leading 3-1 after two periods but couldn't hold the lead.


Stephan Weiss scored early in the third to make it close, and then Stillman scored at 19:07 on the powerplay to send the game to overtime.

Hagman opened the scoring with a highlight reel goal, Antropov scored for the third straight game and I don't think you'll see Luke Schenn try that fancy little spin-o-rama move at the blue line again any time soon, judging by the look on coach Wilsons' face as he left the bench.

The Leafs won't have time to sit around thinking about it though as they shuffle off to Buffalo for a Wednesday night tilt with the Sabres. As always, you can hear all the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!