Leafs Fight Back For One Point Against Buffalo

The Leafs did the same thing in last night’s game as they have been doing for about the past five games now: they fell behind early in the game and had to spend the third period fighting back to at least salvage one point. However, contrary to recent games, the Leafs looked much better in the first period last night, dictating the tempo of play and coming out with a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission. The second period proved, once again, to be troublesome for the Maple Leafs as they surrendered their lead and eventually fell behind 3-1. All three goals resulted from defensive breakdowns and in one case, a lack of execution in clearing the zone on a power play.

Matt Stajan followed up his strong game on Thursday against Boston with another strong performance last night. Stajan’s line which also included Darcy Tucker and Tie Domi were probably the Leafs’ best line last night. They generated chances and played with a lot of energy causing problems for Buffalo in their own zone throughout the game. Some more good work by their line ended up in Stajan scoring the tying goal by deflecting in a point shot from Ken Klee.

Offense from the defense has been something the Leafs have been proficient in all year and it was prevalent again last night as the Maple Leafs defensemen registered five more points, all coming on assists. Bryan McCabe and Ken Klee each had two assists along with Tomas Kaberle who recorded one assist. Ken Klee is producing at a far higher pace than the Maple Leafs could have expected when they signed him in late September. Still not even past the halfway point in the season, Klee has surpassed his previous career high in points.

The Maple Leafs will have one of their busiest weeks of the season this week as they will play four games in six nights. Two games are against lower caliber teams including Pittsburg and Nashville, and the final two games are against bitter rivals including Ottawa and New Jersey.