Toronoto Maple Leafs hammer Atlanta Thrashers 9-3
Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and MacArthur scored two goals apiece to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a thumping 9-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers at the Philips Arena. The game marked Toronto’s third consecutive win on the road.
Both teams were quick to get out of the blocks, as they fired shots and came up with some brilliant passing. The Atlanta Thrashers looked the stronger of the two teams early on. They not only created chances but managed to score through Tobias Enstrom to
take the lead in the third minute.
Toronto Maple Leafs started to gain confidence and settled into the game as the opening period progressed. The Maple Leafs successfully scored through Kris Versteeg in the 10th minute to level the scores. Toronto continued to pile on the pressure,
and finally got ahead of the Thrashers when Mikhail Grabovski scored in the 16th minute. The period ended with Toronto leading 2-1, as they made 16 goal attempts while Atlanta Thrashers made 13 goal attempts.
Atlanta Thrashers started off brilliantly in the second period. They made strong attacks and it looked almost certain that they would score; but unfortunately they didn’t. They dominated the first half of the period and could have easily scored but their
finishing let them down.
On the other hand, Toronto Maple Leafs emerged very strong in the second half of the period, and successfully scored through Colby Armstrong in the 13thminute. Toronto’s continued pressure resulted in the Maple Leafs scoring two more goals in
the 14th and 16th minute. The first goal was scored by Nikolai Kulemin, while the second was scored by Mikhail Grabovski.
The Maple Leafs kept on piling the attacks, which resulted in the away side scoring three goals in the final two minutes. The first of those was scored by Nikolai Kulemin from a decent strike, while the second was scored by Clarke MacArthur. The period ended
with Toronto scoring their third goal through Clarke MacArthur once again. The period ended with Toronto Maple Leafs leading 8-1. During the period, Toronto made 12 goal attempts while Atlanta made 11 goal attempts.
Toronto Maple Leafs continued their dominance into the final period, and scored their final goal in the second minute through Phil Kessel’s flick shot. The Thrashers had nothing to lose, so they just attacked hoping to score some goals. They managed to score
through Patrice Cormier in the 15th minute and Andrew Ladd in the final minute, as the Toronto Maple Leafs won the match 9-3.
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