We’re number 29!

By Paul Bruno

The Maple Leaf juggernaut rolled into Raleigh last night in a battle for the basement in the NHL.

The Leafs had been creeping up on the ‘Canes due to a recent surge that had seen Toronto pick up points in their last 5 games.

Last night Toronto showed some spunk and actually completed a comeback, as opposed to just tying the proceedings only to lose in overtime as they did in their two prior contests.

This, too, is progress.

Why they keep spotting the opposition is beyond me, though. The Leafs have given up the first goal in 13 of 14 games and have trailed 2-0 in 10 starts so far. Truly ridiculous numbers.

If you are a believer in the law of averages, that has to change and should bode well for a continuation of the recent uptick for the Leafs.

Critical to the improvement is the steady play of rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who has clearly passed the struggling Vesa Toskala in the goalie pecking order. The Monster was huge in the third period of last night’s game, when the Leafs managed the only goal (which turned out to be the decisive marker) despite being outshot 18-8.

The offense had a different look as John Mitchell centered Phil Kessel and Jason Blake. That unit counted two of the three goals for Toronto, while Nikolai Kulemin notched his third of the year, on a nice bit of passing with his mates, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Mikhail Grabovski. With the improvement of Lee Stempniak, the hard work of Niklas Hagman and Matt Stajan’s playmaking, the Leafs have the makings of three pretty solid lines.

They are now out of the basement and primed to move up some more and can do so very quickly if they continue with spirited efforts, like we have seen recently.   

Naysayers are finally starting to quiet down around this team. That is refreshing.