Saturday, February 28, 2009

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!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Stapleton's first NHL Point was a good one !

Tim Stapleton played his fist NHL game tonight, and it will be one that he remembers for the rest of his life. The only way that it could have been better for him, would have been to have scored the goal on a penalty shot in regulation, instead of in the shoot-out.

“I didn’t even know I scored until I curled after the shot and saw my teammates jump off the bench,” Stapleton said. “I’m just fortunate it went in.”

The Leafs were 5-4 winners tonight in Long Island despite giving up a 2 goal lead in the second and surrendering 3 more in the third to give the Islanders life.

The Islanders drew first blood in the shoot-out with a goal by Jeff Tambellini.

Jason Blake, who also had 2 assists tonight, scored to tie things up.

Kyle Okposo missed for the Islanders, so, it was up to the 26 year old from LaGrange. He beat Joey MacDonald short side to seal the deal for Toronto.



Toskala turned in another pretty good performance. Despite allowing 4 goals, he did make 40 saves against the Islanders for his 21st win of the season. If he continues to play the way he is, he could very well post his second consecutive, 30+ win season.

The Leafs next action come Saturday when they face the Senators in Ottawa. As always, you can hear all of the action live, right here on Bench Brawl!

Leafs beat Rangers in Shoot out



Vesa Toskala turned in another very solid performance, turning away 31 shots and turning away all 3 Rangers snipers in the shootout to give the Leafs their second win in a row.

The Maple Leafs have posted a 3-0-1 record against the Rangers this season despite not scoring in either the first or second period of any of the those contests.

This 2-1 victoryis the second victory in a row that they needed extra time to get. An area in which the Leafs have struggled mightily in recent memory.

Nikolai Kulemin scored in the shoot out for the Leafs.


The Leafs next action comes tonight as they face the New york Islanders.

In case you missed the Sundin tribute video from Saturday night here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Toskala Makes 39 Saves to lift Leafs Over Rangers

Vesa Toskala is finally showing some consistency between the pipe for the Leafs making several key saves en-route to a 3-2 overtime win against the Rangers.

“It was a tough loss,” Rangers captain Chris Drury said. “Toskala was playing well. We couldn’t get anything by him. A couple of mistakes, and we lost in OT.”


All in all, the game itself for the most part was fairly face paced, the Rangers frequently had Toronto hemmed in as the Buds seemed to forget how to take the body on occasion, but on this day it didn't much matter.

The Leafs next action comes Wednesday night against this very same Ranger team and as always, you hear all the action live right hear, on Bench Brawl!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sundin scores Shootout winner bury Leafs



I have to tell you, I really think Sundin misses being in Toronto. When Introduced last night, he received a standing ovation from the crowd at the ACC and even drew applause after scoring the wining goal in the shoot out that helped push the Canucks passed the Leafs 3-2



This entire game was a fast paced exciting affair that saw chance after chance at both ends of the ice Toronto out shot the Canucks 38-37 and both Toskala and Luongo made several brilliant, and lucky saves.

Blake scored the opening goal, and almost scored again on a play where Dominic Moore had a partial breakaway with a broken stick and passed the puck to Blake with his stick. If Blake had managed to score, the goal would have been on highlight reels everywhere for a long time.

Scoring the shootout winner with the entire Air Canada Centre crowd on its feet was one thing. But the most special moment of an entertaining evening came when Sundin was selected the first star and returned to the ice by himself.

He took a bow, blew kisses in the air and waved to the people who came to adore him over 13 memorable seasons with the Maple Leafs. There were even a few tears in his eyes as he skated off the ice in Toronto for what could be the final time as an NHL player.

“There’s been a buildup for this game,” Sundin said moments after giving the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 victory Saturday night. “All the battles and everything we’ve gone through over the last 13 years with the Leafs, so many ups and downs and disappointments and happiness. A lot of feelings came to mind on the ice.

“The ovation from the fans was very special. I’ll remember that the rest of my life.”

“It’s just one of those nights where you give (Sundin) a chance like that, you know he’s going to be able to score," added former Leaf and current Canuck Kyle Welwood.

While some fans chose to boo Sundin in his first game at the arena as a visiting player, he was mostly well-received. The longtime Leafs captain got choked up in the first period when he received a long standing ovation after a video tribute was played on the scoreboard.

“There were tears coming,” Sundin said. “That was very special.”

The ovation actually kept the game from starting up again.

Like everyone else in the building, the players on the ice simply watched Sundin rather than line up for the faceoff. Center Matt Stajan was out for the Maple Leafs and was in no hurry to take the draw.

“It was his moment—obviously, I was going to sit back and let him enjoy it,” Stajan said. “I wasn’t going into the faceoff circle before he did.

All in all, it was one of the best Leafs games that I've seen in while. They played fairly well defensively and had lots of jump offensively.

The Buds next action comes tonight when the travel to New York to take on the Rangers for an 8pm start. As always, you can hear the action live right here on Bench Brawl!