Leafs Drop 2-1 Decision to Islanders for First Loss of the Season

The Leafs four game win streak to start the season came to an end tonight against the New York Islanders. Both teams showed tremendous speed and poise, but the Islanders pulled out the win on the reliable play of goaltender Dwayne Roloson and by capitalizing on a few lucky breaks.

Matt Moulson opened the scoring for the Islanders at 2:17 of the second period after a beautiful pass from linemate Frans Nielsen. Moulson roofed the puck after beating Jean-Sebastien Giguere on a backhander. Several minutes later, Dion Phaneuf fired a puck on goal from the slot, which was batted out of the air by Kris Versteeg and shot into the net past Roloson. The goal was immediately waived off after it was ruled as a high stick.

The Isles played a cautious third period, leaving one forward high and the other two forwards in the neutral zone, to limit the Leafs bid to create scoring opportunities. Toronto maintained attack, led by the breakout by Dion Phaneuf to move the puck up the ice. The Leafs defence anchored the play for the majority of the game at both ends of the ice.

Midway through the third period, Colby Armstrong jumped on a loss puck behind the Islanders net and banged the puck past Dwayne Roloson, but couldn’t beat the post. The puck slide across the goal line and was scooped out by John Tavares. Upon review, the goal did not cross the line, but it appeared that Tavares covered his hand over the puck. The Islanders still led 1-0 with half of the third period to play.

Toronto had several chances to get the puck past Roloson, but he continued to shut the door. However, with just over two minutes remaining in the third, Phil Kessel snapped the puck between Roloson’s five hole to even the game at 1-1 on a powerplay goal to force overtime.

Brett Lebda took a goaltender inference penalty 3:07 into the overtime frame, giving the Islanders a 4-on-3 advantage. Leafs goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere had a couple of nice saves in the early minutes of overtime, but couldn’t stop a powerful one-time shot from John Tavares 3:26 into the overtime period. Islanders forward P.A. Parenteau fed Tavares with a crisp pass to set him up for a perfect shot to give his team a 2-1 win over the Leafs. Tavares has 5 points in 5 games played at the Air Canada Centre over his first two NHL seasons.

Dwayne Roloson also continued his excellent play in Toronto, stopping 29 of 30 shots. He also had two fortunate breaks on disallowed goals to Kris Versteeg and Colby Armstrong.

Leaf fans will be cringing after watching their team suffer their first loss of the season. Many positives can be taken out of tonight’s game, including the impressive play from Dion Phaneuf and Luke Schenn on the backend. Toronto’s third and fourth lines also continued their success on the special teams by killing off two of three penalties. Despite the loss, the Leafs still hold the number one seed in the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference.

Toronto has two days off before facing the New York Rangers on Thursday at the Air Canada Centre. Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get the start in net for Toronto.

Game Day: Leafs vs. Islanders

The Toronto Maple Leafs (4-0-0) are aiming to record their fifth straight win tonight as they faceoff against John Tavares and the New York Islanders (2-1-2).

Here are tonight's projected lineups for both teams:

Toronto Maple Leafs Lines

Forwards
Kris Versteeg – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin – Mikhail Grabovski – Clarke MacArthur
Fredrik Sjostrom – Tim Brent – Colby Armstrong
Mike Brown – Mike Zigomanis – Colton Orr
Ex. John Mitchell

Defense
Francois Beauchemin – Dion Phaneuf
Tomas Kaberle – Luke Schenn
Brett Lebda – Mike Komisarek
ex. Carl Gunnarsson

Goalies
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Jonas Gustavsson

New York Islanders Lines

Forwards
Blake Comeau - Josh Bailey - Doug Weight
Matt Moulson - John Tavares - P.A. Parenteau
Nino Niederreiter - Frans Nielsen - Michael Grabner
Jon Sim - Zenon Konopka - Trevor Gillies

Defense
Radek Martinek – Mark Eaton
Mike Mottau – James Wisniewski
Milan Jurcina - Andrew McDonald

Goalies
Dwayne Roloson
Rick DiPietro

Tonight's game starts at 7:00pm on Leafs TV.

Leafs Defeat Pens for Best Start Since 1999

The Maple Leafs continued their winning ways tonight with a 4-3 decision over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tonight's win gives the Leafs a 3-0 record, which is their best start to the season since 1999 when they finished first in the Northeast Division with 45 wins and 100 points.

Clarke MacArthur led the way with 2 goals to bring his current total to 4 goals, which ties him for first in the entire NHL. Colton Orr and Francois Beauchemin both contributed by each scoring their first goal of the season.

Orr opened the scoring at 5:18 of the first period by tipping in a shot by Luke Schenn. Pittsburgh forward Chris Kunitz responded six minutes later with his first of the season from Evgeni Malkin and Alex Goligoski. Maxime Talbot gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead in the final minutes of the first period, on a wrist shot from Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy.

Clarke MacArthur evened the game at 2-2 after scoring his third of the season, with assists from Tomas Kaberle and Dion Phaneuf. Francois Beauchemin gave the Leafs their first lead of the game on a slapshot from the blueline through traffic. MacArthur tipped in his second of the game on a no-look pass from Mikhail Grabovski to give the blue and white a comfortable lead. Mike Brown’s aggressive forecheck created the scoring opportunity for MacArthur.

At 19:16 of the second period, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby beat Jonas Gustavsson on a backhander to bring the score to 4-3 after 40 minutes.

The Leafs controlled the game with overall team speed and pursuit of the puck. Toronto’s first line didn’t have an impact on the score sheet, but their second and third lines played hard all game.

Colton Orr left the game midway through the second period after being shaken up in a fight with Deryk Engelland of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The rookie Engelland connected with a punch to Orr’s jaw, which knocked him down to the ice.

Jonas Gustavsson earned his first win of the season, stopping 22 shots for a %0.880 save percentage. Marc-Andre Fleury had only 10 saves in a losing effort. Jean-Sebastien Giguere is expected to start Friday’s game against the New York Rangers.

Phaneuf's Off Season

Here is an inside look at Dion Phaneuf's off season training regime, courtesy of Red Bull Canada.

Game Day: Leafs vs. Penguins

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Coming off back-to-back wins to start the regular season, the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-0-0) will look to win their third straight game tonight as they visit the brand new Consol Energy Center to face the Pittsburgh Penguins (1-2-0).

Toronto defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in their home opener last Thursday and strolled into Ottawa two days later to dominate the Senators in this season’s first chapter of the ‘Battle of Ontario’.

Ron Wilson is expected to dress virtually the same lineup that brought success for the team in the first two games against Montreal and Ottawa. With Brett Lebda returning from a shoulder injury, he might be slotted into the third pairing with Mike Komisarek, however it appears more likely that he will return on Friday when the Leafs meet the New York York Rangers.

Jonas Gustavsson will start his first game of the season, despite Jean-Sebastien Giguere's outstanding play in the Leafs first two games, stopping 43 of 46 total shots. Wilson indicated yesterday that he intends to let Giguere and Gustavsson split the games for the first month of the season.

On the other end of the rink, the Penguins have had a slow start to the season, with its star players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin combining for only 2 points in 3 games played. Newcomer Paul Martin is leading the way on defense with 1 goal and 3 assists in 3 games.

Jordan Staal (foot), Arron Asham (upper body), Zybnek Michalek (undisclosed) and Brooks Orpik (undisclosed) are all on the injury reserve for the Penguins.

Toronto Maple Leafs Lines

Forwards
Kris Versteeg – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin – Mikhail Grabovski – Clarke MacArthur
Fredrik Sjostrom – Tim Brent – Colby Armstrong
Mike Brown – Mike Zigomanis – Colton Orr
Ex. John Mitchell

Defense
Francois Beauchemin – Dion Phaneuf
Tomas Kaberle – Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson – Mike Komisarek

Goalies
Jonas Gustavsson
Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Pittsburgh Penguins Lines

Forwards
Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Mike Comrie
Eric Tangradi – Mark Letestu – Evgeni Malkin
Matt Cooke – Maxime Talbot – Tyler Kennedy
Michael Rupp – Craig Adams – Pascal Dupuis

Defense
Kris Letang – Paul Martin
Zybnek Michalek – Deryk Engelland
Alex Goligoski – Ben Lovejoy

Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Brent Johnson

The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to get their first win at their new arena, so they will come out hard from the beginning and put the pressure on Toronto. The Leafs must continue their winning ways by playing quality special teams and clearing the crease in front of Giguere.

The game starts at 7:30pm on TSN.

Leafs Waive Finger

The Maple Leafs placed Jeff Finger on waivers earlier today with the intention of assigning him to the Toronto Marlies. With the return of Brett Lebda from a shoulder injury, there appears to be no room on the Leafs blueline for another high priced defenseman.

This move clears $3.5 million in cap space and currently puts the team $4.8 million under the salary cap. There have been rumblings that the Leafs were in talks to acquire another forward, but TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger denied all speculation to the contrary.

Finger joins a very formidable Marlies defense that includes Keith Aulie, Simon Gysbers, Korbinian Holzer, Matt Lashoff, Juraj Mikus, Drew Paris and Danny Richmond. More reason to go see an AHL game this season.

Season Preview

To prepare Leaf fans for the upcoming season, we have been posting daily articles with profiles for each member of the Leafs roster with expectations and predictions for the season, along with statistics from last season and questions surrounding each player. Here is the full archive of the Season Preview series to get you ready for puck drop:

Jean-Sebastien Giguere (August 31st)

Jonas Gustavsson (September 1st)

Dion Phaneuf (September 2nd)

Tomas Kaberle (September 3rd)

Francois Beauchemin (September 4th)

Mike Komisarek (September 6th)

Luke Schenn (September 7th)

Carl Gunnarsson (September 8th)

Brett Lebda (September 9th)

Phil Kessel (September 12th)

Tyler Bozak (September 13th)

Kris Versteeg (September 14th)

Nikolai Kulemin (September 16th)

Mikhail Grabovski (September 17th)

Clarke MacArthur (September 18th)

Colby Armstrong (September 19th)

Tim Brent (September 20th)

Fredrik Sjostrom (September 21st)

McKegg, Ross Shine in Respective Debuts

The Leafs top two picks from this past June's NHL Entry Draft earned weekly honours for their outstanding play during the first week of the junior hockey season.

Greg McKegg of the Erie Otters was named the Ontario Hockey League player of the week (September 27th to October 3rd) after posting 3 goals and 4 assists, along with a +2 rating, in 7 games with Erie.

Leafs 2010 second round pick (43rd overall) Brad Ross was named the Western Hockey League player of the week after scoring 5 goals and 1 assist, along with a +6 rating, in 4 games with the Portland Winterhawks.

Toronto's seventh round pick in 2010, Josh Nicholls, has gotten off to a strong start with the WHL's Saskatoon Blades, with 10 points in his first 6 games. The 6-foot-2, 170-pound centre is flourishing in his new role with the Blades.

Leafs Make Final Cuts

The Toronto Maple Leafs finalized their opening right roster this morning by sending down four players to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

Forwards Luca Caputi, Christian Hanson, Nazem Kadri and goaltender Jussi Rynnas were all demoted, while Danny Richmond, Jay Rosehill and Mike Zigomanis were placed on waivers by the Leafs. Upon clearing waivers, Richmond and Rosehill are expected to be assigned to the Marlies. Speculation continues to persist that Mike Zigomanis has earned a spot with the big club.

Off season acquisition Matt Lashoff continues to rehabilitate from an injured shoulder, but will likely be placed on waivers once he is healthy.

The official roster can be found here.