Kaberle, Kessel,Toskala and The Maple Leafs Ready For Another Busy Week!

The Toronto Maple Leafs start the week only four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. With all but two of their remaining seven games this month against Eastern Conference teams, ( including one against the Habs ) the new year could find the Leafs right in the thick of things in the playoff picture!

While there are several contributing factors to this team rounding into form, one of the most obvious has to be the consistent improvement of goaltender Vesa Toskala.

Toskala is 3-1 in his last four games and with a win against the Senators tonight, will even his season record at five and five. While Vesa is still allowing the odd goal that makes all scratch our heads, he is playing with much more confidence and is making some spectacular, and timely saves.

After a very productive start to the month, Phil Kessel and Niklas Hagman have all but disappeared from the score-sheet. While Hagman is very quietly racking up about a point a game, Kessel hadn't netted a goal (until Saturday night against Washington), since December third against Columbus.

Tomas Kaberle must have read my previous article.

I am not at all surprised by the Leafs turn around, who for the most part have been out playing other teams since October 17th against the Rangers. That was the first game of the season that I really started to see the Leafs out work their opponents, of course, even then they couldn't seem to score enough to win most games, but the effort was obviously there.

Now, all the hard work, and "creative coaching", is paying off. Alexei Ponikarovski and Matt Stajan are enjoying themselves as much as anyone, both players are on their way to enjoying career a high in goals scored.

"There is a lot of skill in this room too — I think we have shown that — and it's great to see the goals going in for us," Stajan told the Toronto Sun. "I know (he and Kessel) are getting a feel for each other, and having Poni on our line is good because he is a big body."

In addition, Mikail Grabovski has three goals and five assists during a six-game points streak for the Leafs. Mike Komisarek has been a much more productive member of the team since his return from injury, and got his first point of the season in a losing effort against the Bruins on December 10th.

Jonas Gustavsson practiced this past Friday after his second heart ablation procedure, and hopes to return to the line up very soon.