Kubina Makes Amends In Florida

Two nights earlier in Tampa Bay, Pavel Kubina or at least his broken stick, was wearing the goat horns after his exploding cue cost the Maple Leafs an odd man rush against which eventually led to a Vincent Lecavalier goal with less than a minute to go in a tie hockey game at the time. Fifty nine solid minutes of work put forth by the Maple Leafs and nothing to show for it. Couple that occurrence with the last minute implosion against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and all of a sudden what appeared to be two solid road performances yielded the Maple Leafs but one meager point.

On Saturday night against the Florida Panthers – their fifth game on this seven game road trip – the Maple Leafs played an equally strong game for the first fifty nine minutes but this time, they managed to survive the final minute of the third period and eventually went onto win the game in overtime by a score of 2-1.

Fittingly, it was Pavel Kubina who netted the overtime winner on a blast from the point with the Maple Leafs working on a man advantage situation. Since Bryan McCabe suffered a wrist injury on December 15th against the Montreal Canadiens, Kubina has been given more ice time and has excelled - when his stick has allowed - in anchoring the Maple Leafs blueline. Kubina played twenty eight rugged minutes against the Panthers and is arguably playing his best hockey as a Maple Leaf.

Kyle Wellwood opened the scoring early in the game when he scored his fifth goal of the season with the Maple Leafs on the power play. Olli Jokinen tied the game for the Panthers with twenty seconds remaining in the second period.

The score stayed tied at one goal apiece in large part due to the netminding of Vesa Toskala who turned in another tremendous performance making twenty nine stops throughout the course of the game.

The Maple Leafs head into the brief Christmas break tied for eighth spot with thirty seven points in the Eastern Conference standings along with the Florida Panthers. The Buds will hit the ice again on Boxing Day to take on the New York Islanders.