After defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Tuesday and falling 5-2 to the Calgary Flames on Thursday, the Maple Leafs were looking to go 2-and-1 on their western Canadian road trip tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.
Entering the game, the Canucks were undefeated in their previous seven games against Toronto, dating back to 2003. The consistent play of Jonas Gustavsson, and secondary scoring from Clarke MacArthur and Mikhail Grabovski, gave Leaf fans some hope that their team could pull out a surprising win versus one of the league’s most dominant teams.
Both teams had a number of quality scoring chances in the first period, with the Leafs edging the Canucks 11-9 in shots through the first 20 minutes. It was a penalty filled affair – six minor penalties combined – that was capped off with a tap-in goal by Alexandre Burrows, for his sixth of the season. Kevin Bieksa earned his 4th of the season on the play, while Henrik Sedin was credited his 22nd assist of the campaign.
Toronto forward Kris Versteeg took an undisciplined slashing penalty at 11:33 of the second period. On his way to the penalty box, he expressed his frustration by mouthing off the ref. Versteeg was issued an unsportsmanlike penalty to give the Canucks a four minute powerplay and a prime opportunity to take a commanding lead. The 29th rank Toronto penalty kill managed to kill off the penalty and stay within one goal midway through the second period.
However, a giveaway by Phil Kessel at the Vancouver blueline caused an odd-man rush led by Jeff Tambellini, which eventually led to a beautifully set-up goal by Jannik Hansen. His third of the season was assisted by Ryan Kesler and Jeff Tambellini.
As the Canucks appeared to be pulling away, Mikhail Grabovski snapped home his 11th of the season and sixth goal in seven games to bring the Leafs within one. Clarke MacArthur dropped a pass to Grabovski in the high slot to set up a stoppable goal on Roberto Luongo. MacArthur’s assist evens his offensive totals to 16 assists and 25 total points in 32 games this season. Not bad for making only $1.1 million this season.
Christan Ehrhoff buried his 5th of the season on a shot from the point that squeaked through the five hole of Jonas Gustavsson. Jannik Hansen picked up an assist on the play for his second point of the game and ninth point of the season. Alexander Edler was also credited with an assist.
The Canucks ended any hope that the Leafs still had on an empty net marker by Henrik Sedin, who fought off two Leaf players to find the net. Despite scoring 27 points, only six of which are goals.
Roberto Luongo received first star honours in a 27-save performance. Ryan Kesler was tonight’s second star with an assist and an outstanding 66.7% success rate at the faceoff circle. A two-assist performance by Kevin Bieksa made him deserving of third star honours.
Toronto struggled mightily on faceoffs tonight, with Tyler Bozak recording the best success rate at only 37%. On a positive note, Clarke MacArthur continued his point streak with another assist, while Phil Kessel appears to be getting back on track. He led all Leaf shooters with six shots on net.
The Leafs will fly back to Toronto tonight and prepare for a Monday night matchup against the Atlanta Thrashers, who are 6-2-2 in their last ten games and currently sit in 2nd in the Eastern Conference. With Jean-Sebastien Giguere currently day-to-day with a pulled groin, Jonas Gustavsson will once against start between the pipes.
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