Toronto Maple Leafs win 5-4 against the Atlanta Thrashers
The first game of Monday saw the Toronto Maple Leafs play host to the Atlanta Thrashers. This was the 796th game of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series which was played at the Air Canada Centre and expected to be a very tough and tight encounter
between the two sides. The match was very close as the teams were level on scores when we went into the final period.
However, Maple Leafs managed to score more goals in the final 20 minute and emerged as 5-4 winners of the match. Nikolao Kulemin of the Toronto Maple Leafs was named the stat selection of the match as he scored the crucial goal of the match which led to
the Maple Leafs winning the match.
Atlanta Thrashers were quick out of the blocks and with the quickness in their game; the away side dominated the early stages of the match. Not only this, but the Thrashers managed to score in the 3rd minute through Evander Kane from a well placed
flick shot.
After the goal, both teams attacked and occasional slip ups were seen in defence. Though both of them were equally matched but the Thrashers proved their productivity once again and scored in the 17th minute through Dustin Byfuglien from a powerful
strike to double the lead. Toronto Maple Leafs tried hard to score and made a few goal attempts as the period neared its end but they failed to find the back of the net.
The period ended with the Atlanta Thrashers leading 2-0 as the teams went into the break as they made 18 goal attempts while the Maple Leafs made 11 goal attempts.
Toronto Maple Leafs made a great start to the second period and unlike the first one, they attacked and defended really well. After looking at the early shots by the home crowd, the fans backed them as they pushed ahead to score goals.
It didn’t take too long as the Maple Leafs scored in the second minute through Dion Phaneuf from a powerful strike to cut the lead to just one goal. A few minutes later with the Maple Leafs continuing to pile pressure on the Thrashers, they scored through
Mikhail Grabovski to level the scores.
However, Atlanta Thrashers managed to get back into the lead in the very same minute as they scored through Nik Antropov from a quick fired shot that caught the goalkeeper by surprise. Toronto Maple Leafs certainly emerged as the better of the two teams
in the period and scored once again through Clarke MacArthur in the 16th minute to level the scores on 3-3 as the period ended. During the period, Thrashers made 7 goal attempts while Maple Leafs made 10 goal attempts.
The final period saw the Toronto Maple Leafs continuing with the dominating performance at the start of the final period. The home team much to the delight of the massive home crowd scored in the 5th minute through Nikolai Kulemin from a brilliant
backhand shot to get into the lead.
The Maple Leafs soon doubled the lead with another goal in the 10th minute scored by Tim Brent from a well place shot. Though Atlanta Thrashers managed to cut the lead to just one goal by scoring in the 12th minute through Andrew Ladd
but this proved to be the final goal of the game.
Toronto Maple Leafs won the game 5-4 in the end as they made 11 goal attempts in the final period while Atlanta Thrashers made 9 goal attempts.
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