A GOALTENDING CLINIC AT MSG

Vesa Toskala, Stephen Valiquette and a few goal posts stole the show. It was only fitting that it happened at one of the most famous arenas in the world, Madison Square Garden.

Throughout the game the Leafs showed great promise with their speed, and battled in the corners. Their puck control was relentless and the shots on goal piled up to only five. It looked as if it should have been more, but a lot of shots went wide of the target. Etobicoke native Stephen Valiquette kept the New York Rangers in the game after the first.

One of the better lines for the Leafs so far this season, Nik Kulemin, Niklas Hagman and Mikhail Grabovski played a great cycle game and caused havoc. Dominic Moore also showed his great speed and it always looked as if he was the first man on the loose pucks.

The second and third periods were more of the same, with great goaltending and strong offensive play from both sides.

In the second period it was pretty tight, both teams skated and battled hard. In the third period the Rangers took over and the Leafs were hanging on by a thread. Horrible penalties were taken and I mean stupid. That was the case when Alex Ponikarovsky got called for hooking in the offensive zone, which should never happen. So far this season he has had a slow start or misses Mats Sundin a whole lot at centre. I guess he was one of those players that Mats Sundin made better. Luckily for the Leafs, Vesa Toskala bailed out the team and so did those two red piped behind him.

On back-to-back rushes the Rangers hit three posts. The first came off a slap shot through a crowd that hit one post, which caused the puck to slide across the red line and hit the other post. On the next rush, the Rangers only hit one post, but kept their attack going, and it was furious.

60 minutes couldn’t solve the dead lock and overtime was needed to settle the scoreless game. Both teams had two minute power plays to try and crack the goalies.

First it was the Leafs when Hagman drew the penalty skating into the zone on a strong solo rush, and Michael Roszival got called for holding.

The power play still needs work as the Leafs didn’t score, had plenty of ice to work with and didn’t manage to get a man in front of the net. With an opportunity to show head coach Ron Wilson he deserves to play, Matt Stajan played on the power play and was invisible. On the other side the Rangers didn’t score on their chance, but only had 90 seconds to work with, due to overtime ending.

For consecutive games the Leafs headed into a shoot out and still couldn’t get the extra point.

The Rangers sent out Nikolai Zherdev, Nigel Dawes and Fredrik Sjostrom. The Leafs countered with Matt Stajan, Nik Kulemin and Jason Blake. The Rangers shot first, as Zherdev and Sjostrom scored and Kulemin was the only scorer for Toronto.

Matt Stajan was given another opportunity to get the coaching staff to think twice about him, but hardly made a good move to score. And the top line of Alex Ponikarovsky, Nik Antropov and Jason Blake had another slow game. That line has hardly been noticeable and didn’t do too much in the offensive zone. That line only has two goals combined on the season and Nik Antropov still hasn’t scored.

The Leafs as a whole played a good game, but minus the penalties. Luke Schenn still continues to impress with his game, and is showing he deserves to stay the whole year. Vesa Toskala kept the Leafs in the game with his solid goaltending and has saved the Leafs from either losing or losing badly in two of the four games played so far.


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