McCabe Fires Two Against Rangers

It seems to be becoming a habit for Bryan McCabe but as far as his team is concerned, it is a habit that McCabe can just keep on developing. Tonight’s game marked the fifth game this season in which McCabe has notched the game’s opening goal. McCabe would go onto score another goal which eventually turned into the game winner on a play that was almost a carbon copy of his first goal. Kaberle and McCabe are quickly becoming one of the most dominant defense pairings this season on the power play and tonight’s game proved no different.

The Leafs also managed to hold the Rangers to under thirty shots on the game, something they had not done to any opponent in quite a while. Against a team with weapons like Jagr, Straka and Nylander, on paper it seemed as though the Leafs would have their hands full keeping the Rangers under control but apart from a few prolonged stretches, the Rangers were held to a reasonable number of scoring chances. When called upon, Belfour was solid and made a few big saves down the stretch.

With two of their next three games against division rival Boston, this is the time where the Leafs need to put together a four or five game winning streak to put some distance between themselves and the Bruins in the standings. After squandering a few opportunities early in the season, the Leafs again have a chance to firmly entrench themselves in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.