1ST PERIOD NOTES;
Toronto forchecks aggressively off the opening faceoff. Matt Stajan scores after Joe Corvo gives the puck to Alexei Ponikarovsky, who feeds Stajan in front of the net for the goal at 1;01.The Leafs are penalized as Rickard Wallin gets called for slashing at 2;14. Only one scoring chance for Carolina, near the end of the man advantage. The Hurricanes get penalized, with defenseman Bryan Rodney penalized for hooking at 4;29. The ‘Canes do a good job killing off the penalty, carrying the puck into the Leafs end.Phil Kessel gets a close opportunity in front of the the Hurricanes net. The ‘Canes blue liner Andrew Alberts hits the post on a scramble deep in the Toronto zone. Brandon Sutter sets up a scoring chance in front of the leafs net that Carolina fails to capitalize on. Lee Stempniak scores on a shot that Manny Legace should have stopped at 14;21, to give the Leafs a 2-0 lead. Toronto applies pressure in the Carolina zone on the forcheck. Jonas Gustavsson gets hold of the puck on a brief scramble in front of the Maple Leafs net. Mikhail Grabovski scores on another careless giveaway in the ‘Canes zone at 18;26 to give the leafs a 3-0 lead.
2ND PERIOD NOTES;
Andrew Alberts penalized for elbowing at 12 seconds of the period. The Hurricanes had a brief shorthanded scoring opportunity in the Toronto zone in front of the Leafs net.Jussi Jokinen and Tuomo Ruutu with scoring chances in front of the Maple Leafs net. The ‘Canes go on the power play with Rickard Wallin penalized for hooking at 4;18. Carolina can not take advantage of their scoring opportunities in front of the Leafs net.Jamal Mayers and Tom Kostopoulos have a wrestling match and Mayers gets the pin after 7 seconds. They get 5 minutes to recover from their match at 6;31. Leafs go back on the power play immediately after the fight with Chad LaRose penalized for hooking at 6;46. Not much in terms of scoring chances for Toronto. Ian White gets penalized at 9;18 for hooking. Niklas Hagman gets a partial breakaway on the penalty kill. This game looks like an NHL practice, with lots of open space and line rushes going both ways. Carolina finally scores at 16';47, as Stephane Yelle picks up a loose puck in the crease which Gustavsson lost sight of, as the Leafs lead 3-1. Carolina scores again, as Matt Cullen scores on the short side of the net at 17;30 on a weak play by Gustavsson in terms of his positioning. Carolina outshot Toronto 17-4 in this period.
3RD PERIOD NOTES;
Carolina defenseman Niclas Wallin gets a solid shot on Gustavsson. Eric Cole gets hit fairly by Ian White and Cole then wrestles White but the ‘Canes left winger loses the tussle.. Cole gets an extra two minutes fore crosschecking to put Toronto on the power play at 3;25. Joe Corvo with another poor defensive play, allows Ponikarovsky to score on the power play to make it 4-2 at 3;43. Tim Gleason scores for Carolina at 8;08, on a slap shot from the point which appeared to be screened by players in front of Gustavsson, to cut the Toronto lead to 4-3. Ian White gets penalized for a high stick for 4 minutes at 8;51,as Tom Kostopoulos gets cut by a high stick. The ‘Canes score on the power play at 11;56, as Gleason shoots over the shoulder of Gustavsson to tie the game at 4. Ian White should not have been penalized on the high stick as the infraction was carried out by a Carolina players stick. Toronto gets penalized again as Carl Gunnarsson gets penalized for hooking at 14;19. The Leafs kill the penalty. Ian White scores in the last minute on terrible defensive play by the Hurricanes, who did nothing to check the Leaf players on the rush, to make it 5-4 Toronto at 19;30. Un BE- LEAF -ABLE !!!!!!!!…… The ‘Canes tie the game with just seconds remaining in the period. This is usually called choking !!!! Eric Cole gets the goal at 19;57.
OVERTIME-SHOOTOUT, AND GAME SUMMARY;
Jonas Gustavsson looked awful in the shootout. The ‘Canes goals by Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen made Gustavsson look completely lost. He seemed to have no clue as to how to approach either player. Much like a new pitcher or hitter in baseball, they have an advantage the first time around the league. After being seen however, opposing teams pick up on their weaknesses. Gustavsson has been exposed for his struggles in handling the puck around the net, and after tonight’s shootout, you can bet every team in the league will be watching the tapes of“The Monster” being haunted in the shootout, the way few goalkeepers in the N.H.L. have been before. He really did look like a Deer in the headlights in this situation. He’s going to have to prove to other teams that he can adjust to his vulnerabilities in a big hurry.
It was smart for Ron Wilson not to use the blown call on Ian White for a high sticking double minor, as a reason for the Leafs losing the game. It was a bad call by the officials, but Toronto shouldn’t have allowed themselves to be in that situation in the first place. The Ian White goal at 19;30 of the third, should have been enough to win the game, and they never should have blown a big 3-0 lead to begin with. Based on the first 20 games of the season, it seems that Brian Burke overestimated the talent level on this team, by suggesting that he thought of them as a playoff team. For the Leafs to accomplish that goal, they have a substantial uphill battle on their hands for the rest of this season. They can not afford any slumps, or injuries to key players for the duration of the schedule. At this very moment,the Boston Bruins have the number one choice in the June 2010 N.H.L. draft, which of course, is one of the three picks Toronto gave up in the Phil Kessel trade.