Toronto open regular season with a win over Montreal
The Toronto Maple Leafs gave fans something to cheer about. In their first regular season game the Leaf beat Montreal Canadiens 2 – 3 on Thursday night. That is exactly the kind of start they were hoping for. Last year the Leafs didn’t win a game until their
ninth matchup. “It's one game. We're not going to get carried away...but I'm sure tomorrow they'll be planning a Stanley Cup parade,” Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson joked. The fans are going wild and the Leafs are ecstatic but it is too early to be day dreaming
about hoisting the Stanley Cup. Still, hockey mad Toronto would already be planning that parade because they want it that badly. Toronto has not won the Stanley Cup in 43 years.
Opening a season with a win is always rewarding but the fact that it was their long standing rivals who were beaten only further sweetened the victory. “The crowd was really into it tonight, it doesn't get any better than a Leafs-Montreal game,” said Toronto
goaltender Jean Sebastian Giguere. He added further that even though it is just one win, it is significant because opening the season on the right footing is very important. “For me and the rest of the team it feels good to get that first win. You don't want
to be chasing that win,” Giguere said.
That win didn’t come easily for the Leafs or Giguere. The Habs were the Eastern Conference finalists last year. During Thursday’s game they were more aggressive offensively with 28 shots on goal against the Leafs 24. The definitive factor was Giguere who
stopped 26 of those pucks, two of them from point blank range to frustrate the Habs. Defenseman Luke Schenn said that Giguere was great for Toronto. “When he makes saves like that at key times at the end of a game, it makes us feel pretty good about ourselves
having him back there.”
The first goal of the game came off the stick of centre Tim Brent 6 minutes into the first quarter. Making the assist was Leaf’s captain Dion Phaneuf. Brent deflected Phaneuf’s shot into the net to score his second NHL goal in 20 games and the first one
for the Leafs. The Leafs spread their lead further two minutes later with a 14 feet Phil Kessel goal that came off assists from Tyler Bozak and defenseman Mike Komisarek. The Canadiens won the faceoff but Komisarek took the puck after landing a hit on Habs
winger Mathieu Darche and sent it up to Bozak.
The Canadiens came back in the 12th minutes when Dustin Boyd put the puck past Giguere for the first time without an assist off a snapshot. The Leafs took 12 shots on goal in the first period against 7 from Montreal. They also didn’t give up any
penalties while Montreal had to kill off two power plays in the period.
In the second period the Leafs showed how much they had improved their special teams since last year, not much of a challenge since last year they were the worst in the league. In the second period the Leafs conceded three power plays to the Canadiens
but were able to hold them back and didn’t allow any goals. They didn’t even let the Habs take too many shots on goal either. Over the 3 power plays the Habs were allowed only 2 shots on goal. For a team that was worst last year, that counts as a very important
improvement. Giguere stopped both power play shots and the eight other the Canadiens tested him with during the period. No goals were scored by either team.
Toronto started the next period with their third goal. Centre Mikhail Grabovski took back the puck and passed it on to Nikolai Kulemin after losing a faceoff to Montreal. Kulemin made the assist for Clarke McArther for the 21 feet backhand goal.
The Habs’ forward Jeff Halpern scored the second goal for Montreal minutes later. In the final minute the Canadiens even took out goaltender Carey Price for an extra attacker but Giguere wouldn’t concede. The game ended 2 – 3 for Toronto.
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