Leafs Jump Back Into First Place

The Maple Leafs jumped back into first place in the Eastern Conference after briefly being passed by the Ottawa Senators after their 4-1 win against Phoenix on Thursday. However, the Leafs are not on easy street quite yet. A win tomorrow in a head to head match up with the Senators is essential if the Leafs hope to retain that first place position. In fact, the Leafs will play the Senators twice in the next week with the second game coming on Thursday. These two games will be crucial in determining which team comes out with the conference lead.

The Leafs played a solid game against the Thrashers dominating the final two periods of play. Trevor Kidd looked very strong in goal especially when the Leafs were under heavy pressure in the first period. Kidd made twenty five saves, many of which were of the difficult variety.

Balanced scoring was the key to the Leafs attack as goals came from four different players on three different lines. All four goals were of the highlight variety, the best of which was Matt Stajan’s goal. Stajan picked up the loose puck at the blueline, split the defense and put a backhand shot over the shoulder of Pasi Nurminen.

Defensively, the Leafs struggled in the first period but tightened things up and cut down on the amount of quality scoring chances they gave up in the second and third periods. The defense also contributed offensively as they have often done this season with Pilar recording two assists and Kaberle contributing one.

Tomorrow’s game against the Ottawa Senators is arguably the most important game so far this season as it will determine first place in the conference. It should be interesting to see how the Leafs play after having been throttled 7-1 in the last head to head meeting.