Ex-Leaf Haunts His Former Team

When Travis Green was picked up by the Boston Bruins last fall in the annual NHL waiver draft, many people around Toronto were disappointed in loosing a dependable two way player who is good on faceoffs and who will not shy away from physical play. Them’s the breaks for clubs with a lot of depth up front. However, since being picked up by the Bruins, Green has struggled scoring only six goals all year until last night when he came into his former home arena and made the difference in the game.

Green registered two power play goals for the Bruins propelling his new team to an important 2-1 win over the Maple Leafs who are desperately attempting to catch the Bruins for first place in the Northeast Division. The win now puts the Leafs three points back of the Bruins for the division lead. The first of Green’s two power play goals came in the second period on a nice shot over the glove of Ed Belfour to tie the game for the Bruins. His second goal put the Bruins ahead for good as he was able to fight off Tomas Kaberle infront of the goal and jam in a rebound.

Boston also got solid goaltending from Calder Trophy candidate, Andrew Raycroft. Raycroft, who is in his first full season in the NHL, gave the Bruins excellent goaltending in the last few minutes of the game as the Maple Leafs tried to recreate some comeback magic from a day ago in Buffalo.

Unlike most years where there is a clear cut favourite for the Calder Trophy, this year’s race is wide open with the frontrunners being Boston’s Andrew Raycroft, Montreal’s Michael Ryder and the Islander’s Trent Hunter. Also people like Toronto’s Matt Stajan, Colorado’s John-Michael Liles, and Anaheim’s Joffery Lupul will get some votes. Raycroft seems to stand out though as it is much more difficult to step in as a rookie goaltender and be solid every night backstopping your team to first place in their division than it is to come in and play fifteen minutes on the fourth line.

The Leafs will not have any easy games in the near future as they will take on the Flyers in Crazyville, USA, also known as the Wachovia Centre and then will return home to take the Colorado Avalanche.