It doesn’t get much stranger than the Saturday night Toronto- Montreal game, at the Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs dominated the second and third periods. They got off to their usual slow start, falling behind 2-0 in the first 5 minutes. On the first goal, Gustavsson failed to grab a rebound on a man advantage for the Habs. Scott Gomez took advantage of the opportunity. Very shortly after that, Tomas Plekanec beat “The Monster” on a breakaway, with a high shot over the shoulder, after Gustavsson went down early on the play.
Once the second period began, Montreal stopped working. The Habs were outshot by 17-5 in the second period, and 16-8 in the third period. It must be painful for any of the Canadiens greats from decades ago to watch this current edition of the NHL’s most decorated franchise. It’s hard to believe any professional team can just punch the clock and fill time ,like the Canadiens did for two periods on Saturday night. I’ve seen some bad Montreal hockey, as we all have,the last few years, but this particular game was the worst I had ever seen of a team looking disinterested in what they were doing. If not for the sensational goalkeeping of Jaroslav Halak, Toronto could have scored five or six goals. Just when it looked like Montreal was done, they get by the third period into overtime, and at that stage, they were lucky to escape with one point. One of the few players for Montreal who appeared to be giving a solid effort, aside from Halak, was Andrei Markov, who was injured in the season opener at Toronto. In this game, he was making smart plays throughout, as he is known to do. Sure enough, he was involved in the overtime winner, as he got the assist on Andrei Kostitsyn’s goal. In reality, it was a soft shot that Jonas Gustavsson should have stopped easily, allowing the Canadiens to shockingly escape with a 3-2 overtime win.
I can’t help but think that some NHL players might take the Leafs lightly, when they see Toronto on their schedule. Of course, it is stupid to take any team lightly, but for professional athletes with close to 100 games to play, including pre-season, playoffs, and add in the Olympics for some, you can’t really blame them for picking their spots. There are too many games, but the NHL is gate driven in terms of revenue, so they will never cut back on the their schedule. It was clear in watching the Toronto game in Pittsburgh, that the Penguins weren’t exactly busting their tales against the Leafs Sunday night. As Leafs coach Ron Wilson politely professed following the game on the Penguins effort: “I don’t think Pittsburgh had their ‘A’ game …”. There was the understatement of the year. The third Leafs goal by Jason Blake was one that Marc -Andre Fleury should have stopped easily, but he seemed un-prepared for the shot that went between his legs. The Penguins didn’t start playing the way they are capable of, until halfway through the third period. Fleury also stepped up his game in the second half of the third period,making some crucial saves, to keep the score close. In the end however, after the Penguins rallied to tie the game, with only a couple of minutes remaining, Fleury let in another bad goal, on a shot by Ian White. You would expect a lot more from a Stanley Cup winning goalie, but even he can’t do it 80 times a year. No doubt,Ron Wilson and the Maple Leafs are grateful for that.