Leafs Return Florida’s Favour

It was just shy of two weeks ago that the Maple Leafs were crushed by the lowly Florida Panthers by a score of 4-0. This time; however, the Leafs were a much more confident group of players, partly because of the excellent deadline acquisitions and partly because of Ed Belfour being in the Leafs goal. There was no messing around in last night’s game as the Maple Leafs dominated the Panthers from start to finish resulting in a 5-0 win for the Leafs. In the process, Ed Belfour made fifteen saves to record his seventy-second career shutout.

Matt Stajan made his return to the Leafs’ lineup after a short stay in St. John’s for roster purposes. Stajan was reunited with Owen Nolan, a combination that had success earlier in the season. Stajan fed Nolan a pass in the slot early in the first period which Nolan blasted home, giving the Leafs a 1-0 lead and ending Nolan’s nine game goalless drought. Stajan also added a goal himself later in the third that essentially put the game out of reach for the Panthers. Today in practice, Stajan skated on a line with Nolan and newly acquired Ron Francis in preparation for tomorrow’s game against Pittsburgh.

Gary Roberts also had a strong game scoring two goals. Sundin with Roberts and Mogilny is really shaping up to be a great line that produces practically a scoring chance per shift which, should it continue you, will quickly force that line to be regarded as one of the best in the NHL.

The Leafs will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.