Leafs Ride “Poni” & Kabi En Route To Overtime Loss To Hated Habs

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter

For Toronto Maple Leaf players, heading into Montreal to take on the Canadiens is akin to being at the depths of hell. With that in mind, it was poetic justice that last night’s tilt between the Leafs and Canadiens in Montreal fell on Halloween night.

Keeping with the Halloween theme, the Canadiens came out wearing their historic red, white and blue striped Centennial Jerseys, which wreaked of “Costume.” The only thing missing on this night was the Leafs dressing Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson in net. Sadly, Wilson’s decision to rest the young netminder may have cost the Leafs the game.

For Leaf and Canadien fans alike, last night’s game echoed the great games of yesteryear. There were a combined 34 hits thrown, 17 penalties handed out, including the proverbial two Mike Komisarek penalties, 69 combined shots on net, a total of nine goals scored, overtime, a shootout and plenty of verbal jabs from Leaf and Canadien fans.

After playing to a scoreless tie after the first period, with the Habs' Marc-Andre Bergeron in the penalty box, the Leafs' Alex Ponikarovsky got things started when he put a wrist shot past Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak just 10 seconds into the power play.

The Habs responded quickly when Toronto native Glen Metropolit scored a goal from a seemingly impossible angle. Halfway between the boards and the net and positioned on the goal line, Metropolit threw the puck at the net and, with Leafs goaltender Vesa Toskala hugging the post, somehow got the puck behind the stunned goalie.

Montreal scored two unanswered goals from Guillaume Latendresse and Hal Gill, respectively, before the Leafs Lee Stempniak scored a power play goal, beating Halak threw traffic on a hard point-shot.

The Habs got their two-goal lead back when Montreal defenseman Roman Hamrlik tipped a puck past Toskala at 9:50 of the third period, putting the Habs up by a score of 4-2.

The teams traded scoring chances for much of the third, but both goalies played well down the stretch. Then, with about four minutes left in the game, Montreal fans broke out en masse with the dreaded “Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, hey-hey-hey, goodbye" song.

Apparently that song translates to “Comeback” in English, as the Leafs put together three-and-a-half minutes of beautiful music on the ice and, with goals from Alex Ponikarovsky and Tomas Kaberle, tied the game to force overtime. That shut ‘em up!

Overtime solved nothing, so the teams were forced to go to the shootout to decide the game.

Toskala, who has a horrendous record in shootouts, gave up goals to the Habs' Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez who seemingly had the book on the goalie, both scoring in the upper corner on the deflated goalie.

The Leafs answered with Lee Stempniak; yes, Lee Stempniak and defenseman Tomas Kaberle. Stempniak inexcusably shot from inside the blue line, a shot which Halak had no problem stopping. Kaberle met the same result on his attempt, but with four points in the game (one goal, three assists), you can’t fault Leafs head coach Ron Wilson for giving Kaberle a shot.

So, after fighting back on two consecutive nights, the Leafs end up with a lousy two points to show for their efforts against the Buffalo Sabres and Canadiens. Clearly, a victory against the hated Habs would have gone a long way in instilling some much-needed confidence to the hard-luck Leafs. But on this night, it was not to be.

Other game notes include Leaf defenseman Mike Komisarek getting booed every time he touched the puck. Komisarek, who was signed as a free agent this summer after spending parts of six seasons with the Canadiens, ended up a minus-2 on the night, which brings him to an alarming minus-9 on the season.

Alexei Ponikarovsky scored two goals on the night and now sits second overall on the team with five goals on the season, one goal behind teammate Nik Hagman.

Leafs defenseman Ian White had another solid game. His flawless pass to Ponikarovsky led to a beautiful goal and put his team in the position to tie the game and force overtime.

White has had a solid season to date. In fact, outside of Kaberle, White has been the Leafs' best defenseman this season and I suspect he will be rewarded with an increase in ice time very soon.

With the win, the Canadiens leap-frogged the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and the surprising New York Islanders and, with 14 points earned, secured the seventh overall spot in the Eastern Conference standings, one point ahead of the aforementioned teams all knotted up at 13 points a piece.

With a record of 1-7-4 on the season, the Leafs sit 30th overall. On the positive side, there is nowhere to go but up for the Leafs and there is good news coming in the form of Phil Kessel.

Next up for the Leafs? A home tilt against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, a game which should see Kessel make his season debut for the Blue and White.
Kessel’s addition to the lineup couldn’t come at a better time as it has become very clear that the Leafs need more offense, something Kessel should be able to deliver.

Until next time,

Peace!