A MESS ON THE ICE ALREADY

It was a game of thirds. The Leafs ripped things up in the first (1/3) and got ripped in the last two periods (the other 2/3) by the St. Louis Blues.

In the first the Leafs dominated the game making up for their poor start against Montreal, but that was all the Leafs made up for. Three goals were scored in the first frame, from good puck control in the offensive end and some strong back checking to take a 3-0 lead. The first goal came right after an early power play for the Leafs had expired, and St. Louis couldn’t get their positioning back. Tomas Kaberle scored his first goal of the year from Mike Van Ryn who also got his first point of the year and as a Maple Leaf. Nikolai Kulemin scored his second goal of the year on a backhand and Alex Ponikarovsky scored his first of the year. Nik Antropov had two assists in the period. Both goals came off of strong back checking and a good cycle game. That was shown when Ponikarovsky scored as Jason Blake slid a pass to the net and was deflected in. The 3-0 lead looked good, but the Leafs forgot to play the rest of the game.

The St. Louis Blues came right back and in a hurry to tie the game. Brad Boyes scored his third goal of the year off a rebound let out by Vesa Toskala. The save that lead to that rebound was high light reel stuff, as the Blues were on a 3 on 1 rush. One play that really helped St. Louis get back into the game was when Ryan Hollweg hit Alex Pietrangelo from behind. Hollweg was called for a five minute boarding major and a ten minute game misconduct, which got him tossed from the game. With that, he will most likely receive some sort of punishment, either a hefty fine or another suspension, which could last up to three games. With the Blues on a five minute power play they scored twice and had the Leafs penalty killing unit scrambling.

The Leafs did take back the lead when Niklas Hagman scored his first goal of the year and as a Leaf, off a face off won by Jamal Mayers. On the scoring line, Mayers picked up his first point as a Maple Leaf, and rookie John Mitchell registered his first career NHL point with an assist. While in the second, the Leafs had a four minute power play after Pavel Kubina was cut on a high sticking double minor. During that power play, the Leafs then got a 5 on 3 advantage and didn’t score. They couldn’t even set up in the zone and add to the 4-3 lead. Special team were also a problem, were last year, and it looks like will be again.

With a 4-3 lead in the third, the Leafs got caught up in an up and down game which was very exciting. The end result was a game tying goal from Paul Kariya off a backhand. It was a pretty equal third period which then lead to overtime, where neither generated much success. In the shoot out the Blues won going 2 for 2 and won the game 5-4, while the Leafs went 1 for 3. Nik Antropov went first and missed the net, Nik Kulemin went second and scored, and Pavel Kubina went last to tie the shoot out, but was stopped by Manny Legace. The St. Louis shooters were Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes.

Just to add, Ryan Hollweg is a stupid hockey player and a liability every time he steps onto the ice. Forget about him being tough, because he isn’t, due to the fact all he does is hit players from behind and get suspended. The really stupid thing was how he got suspended in the pre-season for doing the same thing. You have to be real a dumbass to get suspended in the pre-season.


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