Maple Leafs Strike back against the Senators
Justice is served. Toronto fans have been avenged and the Leafs have restored their honour after first having been decimated by the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday nights preseason opener. On Tuesday the senators handed the Leafs a 5 nothing defeat. In Wednesday
night’s rematch the Leafs returned the favour with a 4 – 1 victory.
Tyler Bozak Phil Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin were at the centre of the Leafs offensive. The trio proved highly effective. Tuesday’s line up was mostly an experiment and it ended badly but on Wednesday night Toronto brought a more NHL worthy line up on the
ice. Kessesl and Bozak have great chemistry on and off the ice. Teammates have begun calling them ‘Bert and Earnie’ of the maple leafs.
Bozak has had alot of help from the more experience Kessel. “He tells me what it’s going to be like. The teams we play against, the guys we’re going to be up against, what their tendencies are.” Bozak greatly benefits from Kessel’s experience and they work
brilliantly together. Coach Ron Wilson said that Kessel is always looking for the Puck and Bozak works with him to that end and at present is the most compatible player for Kessel.
On Wednesday the Bozak, Kessel, Kulemin trio hammered out shot after shot on goal. The Usually dull Leafs power-play was in action. In the first period both Kessel and Kulemin got in power-play goals. The first goal of the game came in the third minute power-play
and at the hands of Nikolai Kulemin. Kulemin was assisted by defensemen Francois Beauchemin and Jesse Blacker. “We were ready for the start of the game,” said Kulemin. “We played hard from the start.”
The ferocity of their play was unmistakable. Ottawa was riddled with penalties in the first half and to great relief of Toronto fans, the Leafs were able to capitalize. 3 of Toronto’s 4 goals were in the first period and during power-plays. The second Leafs
goal came a little later in the period. In the 16th minute Phil Kessel, assisted by defensemen Francois Beauchemin and Jesse Blacker again, scored an astounding 41 feet goal. Kessel’s goal came during a two-man advantage. The offensive wasn’t finished
yet though. Barely a minute later Toronto had scored again.
The third Maple Leafs goal belonged to Luca Caputi with assist from winger Clarke McArthur and defenseman Juraj Mikus. Caputi’s goal came on a 4 on 5 power-play as the winger drove hard into the net. “It’s no secret that’s what I do,” Caputi said as he went
on to explain his play. “Get pucks deep, work down low and then I go to the net and look for rebounds.” That worked out for him on Wednesday and he said that he was looking forward to creating more opportunities for the Leafs.
Coach Wilson said that he wasn’t entirely sure which line Caputi should be on as he had played with different guys in scrimmage. In the end Wilson paired him with Grabovski. It turned out to be a highly effective pair as both forwards scored and it was Caputi
who made the assist in Grabovski’s second period goal. Wilson said that Caputi delivered the kind of game he expected from him.
The only goal for Ottawa also came in the first period. In the 9th minute, with assists from centre Jesse Winchester and defenseman Jared Cohen, winger Nick Foligno scored Ottawa’s only goal in the game. At that point the game was tied 1-1 but
the Leafs had other ideas for the first period. In the first 20 minutes the Senators took 5 shots on goals and scored once. The Leaf took 12 shots in the same period and were successful three of those times. This was Foligno’s second goal in as many games.
The Senators have been icing a team short of some of the biggest Ottawa names and in this line up Foligno has a more important part to play.
Winning a pre-season game has no rewards of its own. What Toronto would take away from Wednesday night would be the possibility of having a workable special team. “Little bit closer to what I would hope our power play would look like," Wilson said. Compared
to the eight lost opportunities on Tuesday, the Leafs already have covered a lot of ground. Now Wilson needs to work on the rest of the lines and make the Leafs work before the regular season.
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