Alex Is Great In Thrilling Comeback

After a long absence of over forty games recovering from hip surgery, many wondered if Alex Mogilny could step back into the lineup and find a way to continue his magic. Judging by his performance in last night’s thrilling comeback win in overtime against the team he first started with in the NHL, Mogilny is going to be just fine.

Since his return to the lineup, Mogilny has contributed one goal and eleven assists for twelve points. His assist on the game tying goal with less than a minute to go marked a milestone that has long been within reach. Before his injury, Mogilny was expected to become the first Russian player to record one thousand points in the NHL. However, as Mogilny was just eleven points shy of the milestone, he went down with a hip injury allowing Sergei Federov to take the honour. After last night’s game, Mogilny commented about the milestone by saying, “It means a lot. It was a long time coming, one thousand points. I’m the first Asian.”

At the end of the second period, the Leafs were trailing by a score of 5-2, a typical storyline when the Leafs play in Buffalo. With Trevor Kidd and the Leafs poised to take their third loss in a row, Owen Nolan took over.

At the 4:30 mark of the third period, Nolan flew down the left wing sending a centering pass in front of the net that was inadvertently deflected in by a Buffalo defenseman. One down, two to go.

As the Leafs looked to have missed their opportunity to get closer midway through the third on a power play, Nolan struck again with his second, arguably sketchy, goal of the period. At the 14:58 mark, a long point shot was fired wide of the net ricocheting off the end glass allowing Nolan to fire a quick shot toward the front of the goal from behind the icing line having it go in off the leg of Buffalo netminder, Martin Biron. Two down, one to go.

With two minutes left, the Leafs had numerous chances but were unable to find a way to beat Biron. After Brian Leetch raced down the ice to touch up an icing with forty seconds to go, Joe Nieuwendyk stepped in to take the draw. He won it back to McCabe who found Mogilny at the side boards for a quick wrist shot that was deflected past Biron by Gary Roberts for the tying goal. Comeback achieved!
The Leafs were still not in the clear for a guaranteed point for sending the game to overtime. Trevor Kidd, who has been heavily criticized for his poor play of late, came up with a huge stop with about ten seconds to go allowing the Leafs to take a shot in overtime and, more importantly, secure a much needed point in the standings.

Kidd was not yet done with his heroics though. In overtime, the Leafs were forced to kill off a brutal penalty call on Alex Mogilny for barely hooking his man in the neutral zone. On the ensuing penalty, Buffalo got a point shot through that resulted in a rebound off to the left of Kidd. In what looked to be a sure goal, a Sabre player shot it toward the empty net but Kidd dove across and made a remarkable glove save to preserve the game.

As Mogilny’s penalty ended, he stepped out of the box and took a pass springing himself and Tomas Kaberle off on a two on two rush. Once he crossed the blueline, he stopped quickly loosing his defender and sent a quick pass right on the tape of Kaberle’s who had went hard to the net where he deflected the winner past Martin Biron.

Hopefully this inspired comeback will shake the Leafs of a slump they seemed to be falling into. The Leafs will get right back at it tonight against the Boston Bruins in a huge match up at Air Canada Centre. If the Leafs win, they will hold first place in the Northeast Division.