Toronto Maple Leafs Win Battle of Ontario: J.S. Giguere Shines

The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a great start to the 2010-11 season—beating the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 3-2 on Thursday night’s home opener, followed by a 5-1 butt-whopping of the Ottawa Senators.

Nikolai Kulemin opened the scoring at 01:38 of the first period, followed by Phil Kessel second of the season at 07:51—giving the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead over the hated Senators.

Clarke MacArthur shot a high-powered wrist shot past Ottawa Senators goaltender Pascal Leclaire at the midway point of the second period, followed by two third period goals from Kris Versteeg—the Maple Leafs first power play marker of the 2010-11 season and Cambridge, Ontario native Tom Brent’s second of the year, before Ottawa Senators forward Jason Spezza beat J.S. Giguere at 07:11 of the third.

Throughout the game, the Leafs used their superior speed, passing abilities and finishing touch to outclass a Senators squad that looked slow and out of position for  most of the game.

The Maple Leafs took it to the Senators right out of the gate, getting that early goal from Kulemin and besting the Sens in the shot department by a margin of 17-6 in the first.

Toronto followed up a strong first period with another good period in the second, outshooting the Senators by a margin of 14-6 and emerging with a 3-0 lead.

The third period went as expected—with the Maple Leafs continuing to dominate the Sens in all areas of the game and with the Senators looking for a measure of revenge in the form of blood shed from the Leafs enforcers.

As sure as the sky is blue, the Senators flexed their muscle at 6:04 of the third period when Sens enforcer Chris Neil dropped the gloves with Maple Leafs tough guy Mike Brown—a spirited affair that saw both combatants land a few good punches.

Less than three minutes later Matt Carkner and Colton Orr dropped the gloves—the fifth time in their careers that they have gone head-to-head in a scrap, with Orr taking this one.

Then, in a strange matchup, newlywed Mike Fisher exchanged fists with Leafs newcomer Kris Versteeg, a fight that, while spirited, saw very few good punches landed.

Note to Versteeg: the Leafs need you on the top line, not slumming it out in a fight with Mike Fisher...

When all was said and done the Maple Leafs emerged from the battle of Ontario with a 5-1 victory, their second of the season, and the Leafs second of the season against a division rival—which may be very important down the road when playoff positions are being decided.

There were plenty of bright spots for the Maple Leafs on the night, including two point nights from Clarke MacArthur, Kris Versteeg, and Phil Kessel and a 17-save performance from Leafs goaltender J.S. Giguere—who was excellent on the night.

With so much attention directed towards the Maple Leafs forwards in training camp, there was little talk of their goaltending, Well, through two games on the season, Giguere helped to steal the Maple Leafs a win in game one of the season and kept the Leafs out of trouble in game two—solidifying his place as the Leafs No. 1 goalie for the foreseeable future.

Giguere, who came to the Leafs via trade with the Anaheim Ducks, had his fair share of critics both last season and heading into the 2010-11 campaign. Through it all, Giguere has taken the high road and let his play do the talking, which, for the most part, has been stellar.

With two goals and three points on the season, Phil Kessel is well on his way to a 70 point or more season and is looking like a shoe-in to hit that 35-40 goal mark I projected him hitting.

Overall, game two of the 82-game 2010-11 season was an excellent game for the Leafs, in which all four lines continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to their roles and an ability to create offense.

Defensively the Maple Leafs looked better than game one—although I did notice that Francois Beauchemin’s penchant for giving the puck away for the second night in a row.

The Maple Leafs will now turn their attention towards beating Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins—the Leafs next opponent on Wednesday night at the Penguins new arena.

A 2-0 start for the Maple Leafs is a dream come true especially when you consider how poorly this team started the 2009-10 season.

Maybe, just maybe this team is finally on the right track and, after a hellish streak of no playoff action, perhaps this Maple Leafs squad will surprise us all and make the playoffs...maybe.

Until next time,

Peace!