Belfour Wins Goaltending Duel With Theodore

The Maple Leafs were finally able to record a victory in a tight goaltending duel against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. This game brought a lot of positive things forward, things that Maple Leaf fans were expecting to see last week when the team kicked off their season against the same Montreal Canadiens. Belfour was excellent all night as he and Theodore were trading saves throughout the game.

Defensively, the Leafs looked very confident limiting the Canadiens to only 15 shots. This was, by far, their most efficient game of the season. They were able to keep good scoring chances to a minimum. Belfour made a couple of big saves late in the game to preserve the one goal lead.

Rick Jackman really stood out by playing his best game of the season. Jackman, who led the Leafs in ice time during tonight's game, recorded the only goal of the game, his second career goal and his first since 1999. Coach Pat Quinn showed confidence in Jackman by putting him on the ice for the last minute of play. Jackman seems to be improving each game he plays. If he continues to receive a good portion of ice time including power play time where he is excelling as well, there is no reason why he could not develop into a solid defenseman potentially scoring 10 to 15 goals throughout the course of the year. Jackman had a very offensively prolific junior career but has never been able to recapture his offensive touch in the NHL. Should Coach Pat Quinn continue to use him on the power play, he could probably register a respectable point total just as Bryan McCabe did two years ago when he spent a lot of time on the power play.

Another positive was the Maple Leafs ability to avoid taking unnecessary penalties. Had they been chewing up the ice to the penalty box, the victory would have most certainly slipped away as Leaf fans have seen already too many times this season. Whether the decrease in unnecessary penalties came as a result of Wade Belak being out of the lineup for the game or not remains to be seen. It is imperative for the Leafs to continue their disciplined play shown in tonight's game to allow a good chance of winning tight games. Belak has had a poor start to the year with far too many trips to the box for penalties that were unnecessary and untimely.

The Leafs take on the Islanders on Monday in what is sure to be a physical game as it always is when these two bitter rivals hook up. With the confidence gained tonight, hopefully the Leafs can carry that through to pick up a win.