Toronto Maple Leafs tames Florida Panthers as it clinches a 3-4 victory over Panthers – NHL Updates
On Tuesday night we saw many shootout wins for teams across the nation who were ready to make their mark at the start of the post All-Star Break season. Canadian teams except for Ottawa Senators are looking stronger than ever and giving the impression that
they want to take the Stanley Cup home this time. After being named the least liked coach in the NHL, Ron Wilson had something to prove in this match and he did as he played the percentages against Scott Clemmensen very well, in a 3-4 victory over Florida
Panthers.
"We were going to win it or lose it with righties tonight", Head Coach of Toronto Maple Leafs, Ron Wilson, said. "If you have the (numbers) available, use them", added Wilson, analyzing the past record of Panthers’ goaltender, Scott Clemmensen, who tends
to have a better saves-ratio with left-handed shooters compared to right ones.
Selecting such strategies can mean only two things that you are going to win the match or lose it, it’s a do or die situation and nothing else, but it proved to be in favour of Toronto.
Right wing, Kris Versteeg, left wing, Nikolai Kulemin, and the German centre, Mikhail Grabovski, all scored for Maple Leafs in the first 2 periods, but remained dry in the third while luckily only 1 goal was scored by Panthers in the last regulation period.
Toronto Maple Leafs had an exhilarating opportunity in the final moments of the contest when Phil Kessel had a breakaway chance but couldn’t match up to Clemmensen who easily deflected the shot.
Maple Leafs’ centre, Kessel, the last Fantasy Draft pick of the All-Star Game 2011, hasn’t been able to score for the past 8 games now.
This could be karma related to the incident when Kessel was sent to the penalty box for elbowing which lead to Cory Stillman tying the game at 3-3 a few seconds later.
"I thought he was buzzing", teammate, Clarke MacArthur, said while talking about Kessel, "He had a lot of shots; they just didn't go in for him".
Panthers, on the other hand, had 1 goal in each of the 3 periods. It is headed in the wrong direction, standing 11th in the Eastern Conference since it has won only 1 game in its past seven and ahead by only 5 points of Toronto.
As the playoffs close in, Panthers is struggling to finalise its spot and if it continues like this, teams that were considered weak in front of Florida might knock it out in the end.
With no outcome in overtime, Leafs emerged successful in the Shootout, scoring 2 out of 3 goals through Bozak and Armstrong, both right-handed players chosen by Toronto’s coach, Wilson, to play against Clemmensen.
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