Leafs Dismantle Islanders In Special Night At ACC

Mats Sundin said it best during an on ice interview following the Maple Leafs 8-1 trouncing of the New York Islanders. “Even the team that wins the Stanley Cup is going to lose some games big this year and it’s how you respond after a loss that shows the good teams,” professed the Maple Leafs captain. His team was in desperate need of a confidence building effort against the team that surpassed them on the final day of the regular season to secure the final playoff spot, not to mention a win and a valuable two points in the Eastern Conference Standings.

The Maple Leafs were vastly improved forty eight hours after an embarrassing performance against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. Starting off well in the first period would be key for a fragile Maple Leafs team and they did so, building an early 2-0 lead as well as raising their defensive zone play to a far more competent level. The Islanders did get on the board when Ruslan Fedotenko scored on a power play midway through the first period but that goal would mark the end of their offensive production in this game. From the second period onwards, the Maple Leafs dominated the Islanders scoring six unanswered goals while continuing their high-paced, energetic play that is essential to any kind of success they will see this season.

Head Coach Paul Maurice juggled his lineup against the Islanders by giving the nod to Andrew Raycroft along with dressing Wade Belak and Toronto Marlies call up Simon Gamache. Bates Battaglia, who has struggled so far this season, and Alexei Ponikarovsky, who suffered an ankle injury in Wednesday’s practice, both sat out against the Islanders. Belak and Gamache were welcomed additions as they injected sparks of energy to a lineup that was in need of a wake up call. Gamache was very impressive picking up a goal and an assist while Belak got into a spirited tilt with Andy Sutton and led a relentless fourth line attack with Kris Newbury and Chad Kilger.

Topping off the night was Mats Sundin finally breaking Darryl Sittler’s long time records for most goals and most points as a Toronto Maple Leaf. It was first thought that Sundin had surpassed Sittler’s mark of 916 points when he was awarded an assist on Tomas Kaberle’s goal at 7:15 of the second period. However, replays clearly showed Sundin had no involvement in the goal forcing the celebrations to be cued back up. At 9:54 of the third period, Sundin would take care of both records when he scored giving him his 390th goal and 917th point sitting him first all time in goals and points as a Maple Leaf. In an appropriate honour, Sundin was named the first, second and third star of the game.

Mats Sundin responded, the Maple Leafs responded and for now, if for just a day, all is right once again in the land of the Maple Leafs.